Bet Dwarka
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Bet Dwarka

The island is a narrow, crooked strip about 13 km long, and comprises of sand and rocks. The eastern part of the island consists of sand-hills and bushes and is called Hanuman Point. Its southwest-half is rocky tableland 15 to 20 m high. The reef, north to this point is called Hanuman Dandi and extends west for 2 km to the northeast of the sand-hills that border the north side of Bet Dwarka. The island from the northeast to southwest measures about 8 km. But being a narrow and crooked piece of land, is, in its windings, about half as long again. Its southwest half is rocky tableland 15 to 20 m high. Between the sandy southeast side of the Bet island and the mainland of Okhamandal, the passage is very shallow, having a bank in mid-channel, which is nearly dry at low tides. The water deepens towards the southern end of the island. The inner harbor of the island is unfit for large vessels because of the rocks. There are several channels to Bet at high water. The passage round the east side of Saiani island is the best as the rocky point shows plainly. The tides also increase in velocity near Bet from 2 to 3 knots, and at Dwarka to 3 and 4 knots.

Archaeological investigations on the entire island yielded 6 potential archaeological sites which have been termed as BDK-I to BDK-VI in sequence. The southeastern coast of the Bet Dwarka island has maximum deposits of archaeological remains. A long section, more than a kilometer in length exposed to the sea, witnessed a large amount of damage to the archaeological remains. At this location three trenches, namely BDK-I, II and III were exposed to the natural soil. Trench BDK-IV was laid on an agriculture land. However, except on the surface, no cultural deposit was noticed during the excavations. BDK-V is located on the southwestern coast of the island, which is situated in the inter-tidal zone. The last trench, BDK-VI, was laid in the northeastern coast of the island. This is a late Harappan site in the island. The excavation was carried out till the archaeological findings continued and till few centimeters into virgin soil in each trench. There is also an underwater archaeological sites was marked towards the north of present passenger jetty. The brief description each site is given below.

Bet Dwarka I

The trench was exposed on the southeastern side of the island. The excavation was carried upto a depth of 2.65. The large number shell artifacts including columella and apex portions of turbinella pyrum have been found besides pottery. The lowest cultural level in the trench is lower than the present high water line by about 80 cm. The archaeological assemblage and radiocarbon dates suggest the cultural deposit belong to the early historic period.

Bet Dwarka II

The trench was laid at the highest point in the southern coast of the island. A total deposit of 3.45 was noticed in this trench, and 11 layers were identified. The initial habitation is lying on a sloppy area, which was extended in similar manner as of BDK-I, however at later stage the habitation is also extended shoreward. The lowest cultural level in the trench is lower than the present high water line by about 70 cm. Layer 9 has been identified as liquefied material, which could be the result of an earthquake. A full fledge study on the remains of earthquake from Bet Dwarka has been published in Current Science

Bet Dwarka III

The trench was laid towards the eastern side of trench BDK-II and near to the present water pump house. It measures 5 X 2.5 M. A total deposit of 2.35 m was noticed. A number of terracotta beads, balls, a toy-cart, wheel with painted spokes were noticed from lower level. A carnelian bead, glass beads and a pestle were important findings besides a few iron artifacts. As usual lots of pottery including plain red ware, red polished ware, red burnished ware, black ware and a few grey ware sherds. The important shapes are jars, basins, dishes, bowls, cooking vessels and lids.

Bet Dwarka V

The site is lying near Khuda Dost Dargah on the western coast of the Island. This site submerges during high tide. During low tide section facing towards sea was scraped and pot sherds and broken shell bangles were recovered from this place.

Bet Dwarka VI

The trench was laid in an agricultural land east of the village Par and near a Mosque. The antiquities collected earlier from here belong to the late Harappan phase and the aim of the present excavation is to know a total deposit of the site, hence a trench measuring 2.5 X 2.5 was laid here. Total deposit from here was 95 cm and 2 layers were identified. The important finding from here include a big copper fish hook and a copper antimony rod besides a large number of dentalium beads, broken shell bangle sand waste of shells

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