Surkotada

Archeological site in Kutch, Gujarat, India

Surkotada is an archaeological site located in Rapar Taluka of Kutch district, Gujarat, India which belongs to the Indus Valley civilisation (IVC). It is a smaller fortified IVC site with in area.

The site at Surkotada is located north east of Bhuj, in the district of Kutch, Gujarat. The ancient mound stands surrounded by an undulating rising ground clustered by small sandstone hills. These hills are covered with red laterite soil giving the entire region a reddish brown colour. The vegetation is scarce and consists of cactus, small babul and pilu trees and thorny shrubs. These give green patches to the red environment. The mound was discovered in 1964 by J. P. Joshi of the Archaeological Survey of India. The mound is higher on the western side and lower on the eastern side and has an average height of In the ancient days, a river 750 m (½ mi) wide flowed past the north eastern side of the site. This river, which emptied into the Little Rann, might have been an important reason for siting the town here. Now this river is only a small nalla (stream).

The chronology of the occupation of the site at Surkotada is not the same as other Harappan / Indus Valley civilization sites. The dates from Surkotada are later than most Harappan sites but conform well with the occupational dates from Lothal and Kalibangan. In other words, the Harappans did not establish a settlement in Surkotada in the earliest phase of Harappan maturity but did so almost towards the end. The site of Surkotada was occupied for a period of 400 years with no breaks or desertions. Archaeologists have divided the history of settlement in Surkotada into three cultural phases. The following is a description of the three phases in terms of the building activity:

After the fire of period IB, a new group of people came to Surkotada though the site does not show any break in the continuity of settlement. The new people followed their predecessors in the layout of the settlement and made a citadel and a residential complex on the same lines made of rubble and dressed stones. These measured respectively

The total built up area of Surkotada of the period IC is in the form of a rectangle aligned along the cardinal directions. It measures east west and about north south. Despite its small size, archaeologists consider Surkotada very important. It had been treated by its builders at par with Kalibangan and Lothal in terms of planning. The gates of Surkotada have also been treated with care and in some respects are different from general Harappan trends. Moreover, many scholars feel that the location of Surkotada was strategic to control the eastward migration of the Harappans from Sind. Surkotada also supports the concept of the feudal system of administration in the civilization In other words, Surkotada could have functioned as a regional capital or garrison town. The plan of Surkotada is composed of two squares the one to the east is called the residential complex and measures while the one on the west is the citadel and it measures The citadel is the higher of the two. The fortification wall of the citadel has an average base width of and has two bastions on the southern wall. Similar bastions are expected on the northern wall but have not been excavated yet. On the southern wall of the citadel there is a centrally placed gateway projecting out. This gateway measure and has steps and a ramp leading up to the main entrance which has two guard rooms. There is a wide passage leading into the entrance. The citadel consists of large houses some of which have up to nine rooms each. From the citadel there is an entrance in the east wall, again wide, for access to the residential complex. The residential area consists of houses which are the smaller than the citadel houses. A typical example is a house with five interconnected rooms, a courtyard closed on three sides and a platform outside facing the street. The platform would have been used for transactions and as a shop. The southern fortification wall of the residential area also has an entrance which has received a different treatment by its builders. It differs from other Harappan gates in the sense that it is a straight entrance and not a staggered or bent one. The gate itself is set in the thickness of the fortification wall while there are two guard rooms projecting out. The fortification wall of the residential complex has an average thickness of and has bastions at the corners which are smaller than the ones on the citadel fortification wall. All these features show mature Harappan traits even up to 1700 BC which chronologically is quite remarkable. Mature Harappan principles were being followed in Surkotada long after the civilization itself had started declining and most other sites had decayed or died out. As of today there is no evidence of a city scale settlement near the citadel complex of Surkotada, as one might be expected on the lines of Mohenjo daro and Kalibangan. About south east of the citadel, there is a low mound which represents some sort of small habitation but the Harappan vestiges are scarce. Archaeologists feel that the possibility of the existence of a large settlement is remote but cannot be ruled out.

During 1974, the Archaeological Survey of India undertook excavations in this site. J. P. Joshi and A. K. Sharma reported findings of bones at all levels (circa 2100 1700 BCE), which they described as horse bones. Sándor Bökönyi (1997), on examining the bone samples found at Surkotada, opined that at least six samples probably belonged to true horse. However, archeologists Richard H. Meadow and Ajita Patel disagree, on the grounds that the remains of the Equus ferus caballus horse are difficult to distinguish from other equid species such as Equus asinus (donkeys) or Equus hemionus (onagers).

Presence of Mongooses were found in Surkotada as well as in Mohenjadaro, Harappa, and Rangpur, indicating that these animals were kept as a protection against snakes. Elephant bones and wolf bones (tamed?) were also found at Surkotada.