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{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2011}}
[[File:Khalkatapatna map.png|right|250px|thumb|Map of Khalkatapatna seaport near Konark]]
'''Khalkatapatna''' was a sea port in what is now the state of [[Odisha]] on the eastern seaboard of [[India]].
The site is on the north bank of the [[Kushabhadra River]]. It was a port town during the [[Eastern Ganga dynasty]] during 12th and 15th centuries CE.<ref name="Khalkattapatna" >{{citation |title=Khalkattapatna port: the lost archaeological heritage of Odisha, east coast of India |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24905868?read-now=1&refreqid=excelsior%3A9e1ea5d32aa9a6b60088a77ad441224c&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents |publisher=Current Science Association |page=372-377 |last=Tripathi |first=Sila |date=25 July 2015 }}</ref><ref name=Tripati2009>{{cite web |url=http://drs.nio.org/drs/bitstream/2264/3603/1/Man_Environ_34_77a.pdf |work=Man Environ., vol.34(2); 2009; 77–90
|title=Management of Ports and Maritime Trade of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh during the Historical Period |author=Sila Tripati |accessdate=25 November 2010}}</ref> Khalkatapatna was a link in the riverine and maritime navigation of Odisha and was important port in trade with Arabian countries in the west and Indonesia and China in the east.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/t_rv/t_rv_agraw_maritime.htm |title=Review: Maritime Heritage of India. K.S. Behera (Ed.) 1999. |author=D.P. Agrawal and Lalit Tiwari |work=Infinity Foundation |accessdate=25 November 2010}}</ref>

==Excavations==
Excavations have been carried out at the site between 1984–85 and 1994–95.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://asi.nic.in/asi_exca_indi_orissa.asp |title=Excavations – Since Independence – Orissa |work=Archaeological Survey of India |accessdate=25 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101101081023/http://asi.nic.in/asi_exca_indi_orissa.asp |archive-date=1 November 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The excavations found a brick jelly floor that may have been used as a loading and unloading platform.
Artifacts include two circular Chinese copper coins with square holes in the center from the 14th century AD, Chinese [[celadon]] ware and porcelain and glazed chocolate ware of Arabian origin.<ref>{{citation |title=PORTS AND PORT TOWNS OF EARLY ODISHA: TEXT, ARCHAEOLOGY AND IDENTIFICATION |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44158798?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents |publisher= Indian History Congress |page=55-56 |last=Patra |first=Benudhar |date=2013 }}</ref>

The site also held wheel-turned bowls, basins, vases and miniature pots, and jewelry made of terracotta, glass and copper.<ref name=Tripati2009/>
The archaeological excavations shed light that the Kushabhadra river was navigable at the time, and may have been used for transportation of blocks of stone for use in the construction of the [[Konark Sun Temple]] built by King [[Narasimhadeva I]] (1236–1264 AD).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/features/06-08/features1035.htm |title=Antiquity of Arkakshetra Konark |author=DR. BENUDHAR PATRA |work=Sampradaya Sun |accessdate=25 November 2010}}</ref>

==Decline==
Satellite images of the region and the river course have shown that the river Kushabhadra had migrated heavily to and fro with respect to the oceanographic processes and in response to the intensity of the natural disasters which led to coastal erosion and shoreline changes whose effects were seen on the archaeological remains. The changing trend of the course of the river and river mouth spatially also gives a clue that the rapid shift of the river mouth and the associated shoaling and erosion on the other side were also responsible for the decline of the port.<ref name="Khalkattapatna" />

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Maritime history of India]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Odisha]]

Khalkatapatna - Revision history

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