The State of Gujarat is known to be the jewel of the west and it stands true to its words. Along with the wide diversity of their culture, language, food and demographic and geographic characteristics, Gujarat also displays various amazing archeological presence in several places like.

Lothal

This site is known as the ‘Land of the death’. It is worth visiting as one will definitely fall for its wonder it has flourished at that time. This is a known site of Indus Valley or Harappan civilization. The unique characteristic of this place is the presence of Lock gate dockyard of Indus valley civilization. The Museum at this place displays all the information about the Harappan Civilization.

Dholavira

This place carries few of magnificent structures of Harappan civilization. This is the 5th biggest settlement in India. There were huge signs of Harappan script detected from this place. The Harappan cities comprises of three parts like middle town, lower town and Acropolis.

Surkotada

This is one among the best Harappan Civilizations. This was extended between Sindh and Gujarat. The Unique characteristic feature of this excavation is that it is divided into 3 categories

• Period 1A

During this period, Harappan discovered Surkotada and constructed their residential annex from mud lumps, mud bricks and rubble. These houses consisted of bathrooms and drains.

• Period 1B

There was a considerable change in the area of pottery as they began using red pottery along with several other things like Chisel, Harappan beads, chert blades and copper belt etc.

• Period 1C

Beads industry beautifully flourished during this period as good number of black and red wares, nascent stage beads along with coarse pottery came into existence.

Raivoli

For fossil lovers, this is a treasure site as it carries the largest Dinosaur site in the whole world. Those fossils date back to 65 million years. There is one common feature in Harappan sites i.e. in every excavation there is a citadel, the place where priests and wealthy merchants lives. This citadel is known to consist of huge walls protecting the city from huge floods.

Lower Town

This is placed below the citadel. This is the place for petty merchants and craftsmen. Their houses were divided by broad roads. Their drainage provision is really appreciable.
Thus, the Harappan Civilization in Gujarat gives an idea about the simple but powerful brains of the people who lived during 2300 BC.

Architecture of Gujarat

Gujarat architecture mainly consists of Muslim, Hindu and Jain architectural style. Jainism is the main religion of Gujarat and hence majority of architecture goes to Jain temples. Hindu architecture was at their fullest during 11th to 13th century, i.e., Vaghela and Solanki period. During the Muslim invasion, the Jain and Hindu temples were destroyed and the raw materials were employed to construct mosques. There are many significant monuments in the city of Ahmedabad which speaks volumes about their Islamic architecture.

The destroyed Indo-Aryan temples are fine examples of delicacy and richness of Gujarat architecture. Apart from these, wooden architecture also played a main role in Gujarat architecture. One can detect highly detailed carving methodology in this wooden architecture. These wooden houses are still traceable in Ahmadabad’s old residential places which are referred as Havelis. The buildings after independence are a mixture or traditional and colonial Indian architecture.