Loteshwar is a village and an archaeological site belonging to

Indus Valley civilisation The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form 2600 BCE to 1900& ...

located at Patan district,

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

, India. This site is locally also known as Khari-no-timbo and located on a high sand dune on left bank of Khari river, a tributary of Rupen river.

Archeology

Ancient site

Loteshwar is recognized as ancient site occupied since sixth millennium BCE by hunter gatherer community and by fourth millennium BCE domestic animals like sheep and goat were also kept.

Excavation

Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, M.S.University, Baroda carried out excavation at Loteshwar during 1990-91. The excavation revealed two different cultural periods with Period I belonging to Monolithic culture and Period II belonging to a culture having affinity with the Harappan culture.

Period I

Period I, with 60 cm deposit on a sand dune, yielded large number of microlithic tools, flat sandstone "palettes", grinding stones and hammer stones. Tools were made of chert, jasper, agate and quartz. Two burials were also found.

Period II

Period II was represented by 80 cm deposits but deposits connected to habitation was about 20 cm to 25 cm thickness. Large number of pits (0.5 m to 2 m diameter, 0.5 m to 2 m depth) which were invariably filled ashy soil, potsherds, animal bones and other insignificant materials were found and the significance of these large number of pits is not fully understood. Pottery collection from this site was predominated by gritty red ware and red ware, which were analogous in shape and style with similar pottery found at Nagwada and coarse redware and polychrome pottery found at Surkotada. Red ware was usually well fired and made of fine clay.

Artefacts

Bowls and pots with shades of black and red on cream/white background, coarse red ware and grey ware with incised designs, terracotta pinched type lumps, ''mushtika'' type lumps, steatite micro beads, agate beads, carnelian beads, amazonite beads etc. Terracotta objects found at this site included a figurine, bangles, clay lumps with impressions of reed etc.

Culture

The ceramics found at Loteshwar, distinct from Amri-Nal pottery, is associated with the

Anarta tradition The Anarta tradition or Anarta ware is a chalcolithic archeological culture, culture tentatively dated between c. 3950 BCE to 1900 BCE based on radio carbon dates from Loteshwar and Gola Dhoro. The sites associated with it are located in Gujarat, ...

. It is of different nature from those of early Harappan period and suggest earlier pot-making activity in this area. The crested ridge technique of blade production is absent in Loteshwar. Loteshwar shows two fold cultural sequence (Mesolithic and Chalcolithic). The site has very thin Chalcolithic deposit showing about 2000 years of occupation which could be seasonal. It has several pits of varying diameter but there are no other structures. After the long time of Chalcolitic occupation, sheep and goats were introduced here.

Other findings

Other findings from Loteshwar include large amount of funeral remains in the form of skeletal remains of land animals like sheep, goat and cattle and fish as well as turtle.

Places of interest

There is a temple of Loteshvar Mahadev with a reservoir, ''Loteshwar Kund'', in front, called ''pretgaya''. A yearly fair, attended by about thousands of pilgrims, is held here on Phagun vad Amavasya (March - April). A bath in the pool, and certain religious ceremonies, are believed to draw out evil spirits and, at the same time, give them freedom, mukti, and absorption into the eternal Brahma.

References

Notes

Bibliography

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: {{Patan district Villages in Patan district Indus Valley civilisation sites Archaeological sites in Gujarat Former populated places in India