Morning tour with Bhuvan Vikrama, superintendent for Agra and the Taj. 
Anabel Ford with B. B. Lal. 
Sidi Saeed Mosque stone work. 
Opening at the IIT Gandhinagar. 
New Dholavira camping resort. 
Tent room. 
Dr. Bisht enthuses at the S gate. 
Midtown with Dr. Bisht. 
A map of Dholavira. 
Finding respite from the heat. 
Closing remarks. 
Flamingos enjoy the waters of the Little Rann. 
The obligatory breakdown in Rapar, gateway to Dholavira. 
Generosity with a restroom in Rapar. 
Ahmedabad Airport. 
Made it to the Taj Mahal.
Bringing together scholars working on civilizational processes from around the world, 13 accomplished researchers from around the world convened in India with another 19 researchers from India to highlight new insights form Egypt, Mesopotamia, Indus, China and Mesoamerica. I was among them! Our charge was to share advances on Craft production, trade networks, town planning, water management, writing system, and how new technologies provide insights into ancient civilizations. A remarkable group of archaeologists between the investigators of India and abroad and an incredible wealth of information was pooled.
Opening in Delhi on Oct. 8, the inauguration with National Geographic and the Archaeological Survey of India was convened with Minister Mahesh Sharma of Culture, Environment, Forest and Climate Change (India is not denying the relationship between culture, nature and climate change). The feature was the incomparable professor B. B. Lal, a fit man of 96 years whose work on the Harappan civilization is legendary. He knew those who worked at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, he taught all archaeological Gurus of India, and his legacy is ever apparent among all scholars of India.
At the opening, I was fortunate to sit right next to the honorable Lal. As we sat awaiting the opening and his phenomenal presentation reflecting on the Indus and Harappan civilization, all of his archaeological disciples came to greet him with a touch to his feet and namaste; he was most gracious to all.
After the formal opening, it was Lal’s moment, and what an opportunity this was. This is an individual on the top of his game — and at 96! His presentation was informative as to the broad arc of research on the Indus and Harappan sites, amusing as he reflected on his elder colleague and their ability to jump to conclusions, and serious as he sees the new generation of archaeologists making breakthroughs that he might never had imagined. He had compiled a short booklet based on his talk, and this would serve us well in the coming days of our conference.
Oct. 9-14, the whole group moves west to Ahmedabad, in Gujarat, where our two-day presentations would be held at ITT G and at the Harappan site of Dholavira. These would be intense days, starting early and ending late with opening panels, staged school performances, 36 professional presentations, and site visits. A remarkable context for the dialogue.
Themes of crafts, trade, planning, writing, water and technologies wove together the arc of the story of civilizations. My presentation was on water management based on my research in the Maya area. Coming to the semi-arid setting of the Harappan sites, the case of the tropical Maya may seem irrelevant, but as we know in California, water is critical for daily needs, vital to agriculture, essential on the landscape. The Maya have an annual dry period and face the issues of managing water just as the other civilizations. Harappan sites all have water tanks, the precursor of the later stepwells, and the Maya have the reservoirs integrated into the civic architecture.
Our daylong trek to Dholavira crossed Gujarat to the Kutch, where the famous site was located. The remote area is slated for big things. We did not know what to expect and were warned that the area could be very primitive, but this was not the case! We arrived in the dark to find a row of individual tents that were set up like private rooms with electricity, a fan, lights, two beds and a bathroom. Ask Agusta MacMahon of Cambridge, who works in Mesopotamia: glamping — combining glamor and camping. We had all the necessities, including — surprise — WiFi. We were the initiation of this “resort” with plans for creating a safari experience to the Harappan civilization.
The next day featured tours of Dholavira in the early morning with the ASI, which had cut its teeth learning the challenges of archaeology at this site with Dr. Bisht and then later with the celebrity himself who had come into the site the night before to much fanfare.
To say that this was an extraordinary experience would understate this tour. We learned about the broad brush in the morning and the reflections, stories of discovery, critiques of interpretations and memories of events in the afternoon. Told that Dr. Bisht was ailing (he is in his late 70s) and that he had not been to the site in years, we expected to share a brief time with him at the site. He outshined the youngest of us, proceeding across the site exactly in his element and energized by the visit. While I stayed to the end, the hot sun and the dry air combined with thirst and hunger were telling. Dr. Bisht was unfazed.
Our late lunch was followed with the finale, where Dr. Bisht shared his insights and several other Indian archaeologists discussed their work at smaller sites nearby. These presentations were followed with the heat of the dialogues where we were all encouraged to share our considerations. This was a time of proposals, thanks yous and future ideas. It was the ASI Joint Superintendent Ota who revealed a plan: ASI will publish the proceedings of this conference as a commemorative of this great event.
Our long ride back to the Ahmedabad airport gave us a chance to see the salt flats of the Features of the Little Rann of Kutch. This included the salt flats that were dry but can be a wetland mash and the flamingos and cranes in from Siberia. We experienced our obligatory breakdown, remarkable that it was relatively easily patched since the differential whined at such a pitch as to make talking impossible. While there, I befriended the local gas station owner who had a restroom, Prakash Morbia. He obliged us all!
In spite of it all, we made it to the airport early and following the local airport custom gave our goodbyes to those not flying, showed our passports and plane information, and went on to fly to Delhi and go our separate ways — for me, it was Agra and a lecture tour.
The adventure continues …
— Anabel Ford Ph.D. is the director of UC Santa Barbara’s MesoAmerican Research Center and president of Exploring Solutions Past. Ford, UCSB’s resident expert on Maya archaeology, discovered the ancient Maya city-center El Pilar, which bridges Belize and Guatemala. By decoding the ancient landscape around El Pilar, she is creating a sustainable model in conservation and agriculture that can regenerate the threatened Maya forest. With investment and support, her model can assist environmental efforts worldwide. Click here for more information about El Pilar. Click here
