UMERKOT, Jan 8 A two-member team of freelance explorers claim to have stumbled upon Marul Kot, an elusive 13th century small fort built by Dholo Rai on the bank of now dried up Rain river, which was a small offshoot of the Indus river.

Zaheerud Din Shar, researcher and curator of Umerkot fort and Asif Ali Sangi, EDO of Information Technology, who have keen interest in Sindh's history and archaeology, told Dawn on Friday that they had explored the site of Marul Kot, which had remained an unsolved riddle for historians and researchers for decades.

They said the fort's remains were located at Shah Hassan Baghban graveyard near Haji Jeo Chawro village, 37 kilometres from Umerkot town and five kilometers far from Samaro town on the east of Kunri link road.

They said that many books on Sindh's history had referred to and wrote about Marul Kot but failed to give its exact location, which remained a mystery till date.

Mr. Shar, an M.Sc and M.phil in archaeology, said that historian Mamoor Yosifani had written in his book “Shah Ja Thar Te Bhera” (Shah Latif's visits of Thar) that 13th century ruler of Amarkot, now Umerkot, Hamir Soomro, abducted Dholo's wife, Marul who was daughter of ruler of Jaisalmir Pongal Rai.

Since Dholo ruled a small state Datt he could not gather courage to wage war against the more powerful Hamir. So he waited until his wife made a escape from Hamir's fort.

Afraid of Hamir's reaction, Dholo took off with his wife from his fort on Hakra river and built himself a new fort near river Rain. He named it after his loving wife Marul, said Mr Shar.

He said that with no measures for preservation of the site people used to bury their dead here. The fort appears small and it might be used only for residence. The wall is about two meter thick constructed with baked bricks laid in mud mortar. The brick's size is 17x11x3 inches and wall's length is 947.7 meters. He said that the fort might be built on the bank of river Rain, a small offshoot of the River Indus. A large quantity of shells spread about the site indicate that the fort might have been be ruined by flood.

The fort's covered area is approximately 16 acres, the surface of the site is salty and a huge area is occupied by graves. Potsherds, shell objects, coins, semiprecious stone beads and bones etc can be found easily on the surface.

The mounds are mostly three to four meters high from the ground level. There are some rooms constructed with baked bricks laid in mud mortar and mud bricks. Similar bricks were used in historical fort of Umerkot.

The site faces serious threat from nature as well as people. Since the site's surface is salty, the soil is very loose, making it easier for wind and rain to wash the earth away and reveal culture material hidden deep under the mounds.

Shah Hassan Bagban's tomb is built in the southern part of the site where the villagers bury their dead. The graves have done a great harm to the cultural evidence buried underground.

The material collected by the team from the site consists of pottery, copper coins, semiprecious stone beads, stone ball and shell objects. The pottery is black and red in colour and plain, incised stamped and painted.

Similar black pottery was found at Khairpur Jouso, Jhukar jo Daro, Dhamrah Jo Daro, Mansura and the late period of Moenjodaro. The stamped pottery was found at Dhamrah Jo Daro and Tulamba etc.

The pottery is well baked. Some fragments of green and while glass are found from the site. Similar glass was found at Mansurah, Bhambhore and Naukot from Islamic period.

Some small and medium sized coins are also found, which are similar to the coins found at Bhambhore, Mansurah and other sites of Islamic period. Some beads found at the site are similar to those excavated from Moenjodaro, Dhamrah Jo Daro, Jhukar Jo Daro and Harappa.

One terracotta bull figurine was found at the site whose head, tail and legs are broken. The red figurine is well baked. A similar figurine was found from Tulamba, Dhamrah Jo Daro and Jhukar Jo Daro.

Two copper rods and a beautiful pot, utensils made from ivory, gold and silver were also found from the archaeological site context, said Mr Shar.