Kot Diji

Pakistan, Pakistan

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Kot Diji is both an ancient archaeological site and a modern town in Sindh, Pakistan, located about 25 km south of Khairpur in the Khairpur District, on the east bank of the Indus River roughly opposite the famous city of Mohenjo‑Daro.

The site is known as one of the earliest and most important pre‑Harappan and Early Harappan settlements, with occupation attested from around 3300–2800 BCE, and it is considered a forerunner of the mature Indus (Harappan) civilization that flourished from about 2600 to 1750 BCE.

Kot Diji’s remains consist of two main parts: a citadel on high ground (about 12 meters high) and an outer residential area, showing a division between administrative and living zones that was common in later Indus cities, and excavations carried out in the 1950s by the Pakistan Department of Archaeology revealed a stone rubble wall, early pottery with a distinct Kot Dijian style, and evidence of a major fire that damaged the settlement before the mature Harappan phase.

Adjacent to the archaeological site is the well‑preserved Kot Diji Fort (also called Fort Ahmadabad), an 18th‑century Talpur‑era citadel built between about 1785 and 1795 by Mir Suhrab Khan of the Talpur dynasty, situated on the ridge of the Rohri Hills and overlooking the surrounding plains.