Gandhinagar, 8 October 2014

The Times of India has reported discovery of a 5,000-year-old stepwell located in the eastern reservoir Dholavira in Kutch which is three times bigger than the Great Bath at Mohenjo Daro, by experts from the Archaeological Survey of India.

The site represents the largest, grandest, and the best furnished ancient reservoir discovered so far in the country. It’s rectangular and 73.4m long, 29.3m wide, and 10m deep.

The report quotes V N Prabhakar, visiting faculty at IIT and superintending archaeologist, ASI as saying that spot analysis will be conducted in December as various surveys have indicated other reservoirs and stepwells may be buried in Dholavira. He pointed out a possibility of a huge lake and an ancient shoreline buried in Dholavira site. Experts will investigate the advanced hydraulic engineering used by Harappans for building the stepwell through 3D laser scanner, remote sensing technology and ground-penetrating radar system.