Civil Engineering Department of G H Patel College of Engineering & Technology (GCET), a Charutar Vidya Mandal institute, Vallabh Vidyanager, organized a technical visit to Lothal on 13th March, 2015. Head of the department, faculty members and students visited Lothal by college bus. Lothal city is one of the well-known cities of the ancient Indus valley civilization. The origin and history of Lothal can be dated back to 2400 BC. Lothal in Gujarat is one of the primary sites of archaeology though, it was unearthed in the year 1954, but its excavation work began on the February 13, 1955, which continued till May 19, 1960. It was done by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). It is believed from evidences that Lothal was a port city about 4000 years ago. The most important are the sites of the ancient dockyard, the acropolis, the lower town, the bead factory, the warehouses, and the drainage system. The site was protected against floods by 13 m thick mud brick wall. We could see the remains of a well-planned city with old road layouts, dockyard, a sewage system, houses, walls made of fine burnt bricks etc. Lothal is an Indus Valley site and is famous for its dock of old times. In old times, Lothal had trade links to Mesopotamia and Egypt. Govt. of Gujarat has also put up a Museum showing old artifacts recovered from excavations. The excavation of Lotal yielded a variety of artifacts which includes beads, seals and sealings, shell, ivory, copper and bronze objects, tools, animal and human figurines, weights, rituals objects etc. We could see walls, platforms, wells, drains, baths and paved floors made up of broad and thin bricks. The visit was really fruitful and interesting for the Civil Engineering team to know about the ancient civilization and the history of Civil Engineering.

Department: Civil Engineering