Khirasara

Khirasara is an Indus Valley Civilization site on the bank of the Khari river in Nakhatrana Taluka, Kutch district, 85 km from Bhuj. During exploration in 1976-77, an Archaeological Survey of India official turned up a big cubical weight, pottery fragments and red polished ware here. Digging began in December 2009, after a fortification wall enclosing 300 square metres came to light. The settlement is now understood to have been a major industrial centre of the mature Harappan period, flourishing from around 2600 to 2200 BC.

The finds include a 'warehouse' of 14 parallel walls measuring 28 by 12 metres, with wood and daub above them, and houses of brick and mud with linked rectangular rooms, cooking furnaces and foundation pillars. Outside them ran footpaths laid with mud, shells, small stones and bits of vessels. Excavators also recovered bone pots, fine perforated pottery and a survey instrument compared to a modern prismatic compass. Seals from the site are on show at Kutch Museum.