Not only is it one of the southernmost outposts of the sub-continent's oldest civilisation but it saw all the phases of the Harrapan culture including the most mature period when the civilisation had all but disappeared from present day Pakistan. Originally Lothal was the site of the Red Ware culture, named for its micaceous pottery, until 2400 BC when the Harrapans arrived here from the Indus Valley in search of more fertile lands and potential ports. Gradually they colonised many areas along the Gulf of Cambay, forming citadels that include the southernmost outpost of the Indus Valley civlisation, which spanned an area larger than those of the Nile Valley civilisation in Egypt and Euphrates-Tigris river civilisation in Sumeria.