The recent heavy rains and floods have taken a heavy toll on the archaeological site of Mohenjo-daro. Pakistan’s Department of Archaeology has said that Mohenjo-daro might be removed from the UNESCO world heritage list, if urgent attention towards its conservation and restoration is not given.
So far three sites removed from World Heritage List
- There are around 1,100 UNESCO listed sites across its 167 member countries.
- The World Heritage Committee in its 44th session in China, decided to delete the property ‘Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City’ (UK) from the World Heritage List, due to the irreversible loss of attributes conveying the outstanding universal value of the property.
- The first venue to be delisted by the UNESCO panel was the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in Oman, in 2007.
- Another site to be removed from the World Heritage list in 2009 was Elbe Valley in Dresden, Germany, after the construction of the Waldschloesschen road bridge across the Elbe river.
About Mohenjo-daro
- Mohenjo-daro-a group of mounds and ruins, is a 5000-year-old historical Harappan city located about 80-km off the city of Sukkur.
- It comprises the remnants of one of two main centres of the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation, the other one being Harappa.
- Mohenjo-daro is located west of the Indus River in Larkana District, Sindh, Pakistan.
- Mohenjo-daro, which means ‘mound of the dead’, was one of the oldest cities of the world.
- Known to be a planned city of the ancient civilisation, the houses here had bathrooms, toilets and drainage system.
- The ruins of the city were discovered in 1920 by RD Banerji.
- Like other large Indus Civilization cities, Mohenjodaro was also divided into two parts–a citadel on a higher mound on the western side and a lower town on the eastern side of the settlement.
- At Mohenjodaro the ‘Great Bath’ is the most important structure.
- Another structure here located to the west of the ‘Great Bath’ is the granary. It consists of several rectangular blocks of brick for storing grains.
- The bronze ‘dancing girl’ figurine was discovered at Mohenjodaro.
- A well-known piece of art of the Harappan period is a stone sculpture of a bearded man discovered at Mohenjodaro. In the opinion of some scholars it could be a bust of a priest.
- The Pasupati Seal or Proto-Siva seal was also excavated at Mohenjodaro. He has three heads and is sitting in a yogic posture surrounded by four animals viz elephant, tiger, rhinoceros and a buffalo.
