Surkotada

Surkotada is an Indus Valley civilisation site in Rapar Taluka of Kutch, 160 km north-east of Bhuj. The Archaeological Survey of India's J. P. Joshi found the mound in 1964. It covers just 1.4 hectares among small sandstone hills, whose red laterite soil gives the area a reddish-brown colour. A river 750 m wide once ran past its north-eastern side towards the Little Rann; it has since shrunk to a small stream.

Occupation ran without a break for 400 years from 2100 BC, through three phases, and a thick layer of ash marks the end of the second. Despite its size, archaeologists consider it very important: its planning was on a par with Kalibangan and Lothal, and it could have served as a garrison town or regional capital. The excavated plan shows a higher citadel to the west and a residential complex to the east, with a southern gateway reached by steps and a ramp, and citadel houses of up to nine rooms.