Gulf of Khambhat
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The Gulf of Khambhat is a major part of the eastern Saurashtra coast and has preserved the remains of the oldest Civilization of the subcontinent. The famous Harappan port town at Lothal is situated at the head of the Gulf of Khambhat. Other prominent Harappan sites include Padri and Hanuman-no-Timbo in the estuaries of the river Shetrunji at the entrance of the Gulf. Budhel, another small Harappan site is situated close to Bhavnagar on a seasonal river that merges with the Gulf in the eastern direction. The historical period remains have been discovered at Vallabhi on the western coast and Hathab on the southwest coast of the Gulf.  

This region of the Saurashtra coast has been vividly described in the Periplus of the Erythrenean Sea dating back to the 1st century AD. Ancient Sanskrit text such as Vishnu Purana described the tidal range of 510 angulas (about 32 feet) and it is closely matching with the present day trends of the tide in the Gulf of Khambhat.

The explorations on this area yielded a large number of stone anchors at Gogha, Hatab, and Gopnath. These are very similar to those reported from western coast of the Saurashtra particularly at Dwarka, Bet Dwarka, Miyani, Visawada and Somnath. The stone anchors can be used to decipher the understanding of anchoring point in the past and the size of ship/boat.  Interestingly, a large quantity of glazed ware was also collected from inter tidal zone of Gogha along with stone anchors. The possible date of this glazed ware may be between the 10th and the14th century AD. Elsewhere also we have dated similar type of stone anchors to this time bracket.

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