The modern town is built beside the remains of an ancient fortifed city, which was part of the Cemetery H and the Indus Valley Civilization. The city existed from about 3300 BCE until 1600 BCE . The town was believed to have as many as 40,000 residents, large for a city of its time.
In 2005 a controversial amusement park scheme at the site was abandoned when builders encountered large quantities of artifacts during the beginning of construction work. A plea from the prominent Pakistani archaeologist Ahmed Hasan Dani to the Ministry of Culture resulted in a re-survey of the site and cancellation of the project amid accusations of corruption and incompetence.