A dock (from Dutch dok) is the area of water between or next to one or a group of human-made structures that are involved in the handling of boats or ships (usually on or near a shore) or such structures themselves. The exact meaning varies among different variants of the English language.

Dock may also refer to a dockyard (also known as a shipyard) where the loading, unloading, building, or repairing of ships occurs.The earliest known docks were those discovered in Wadi al-Jarf, an ancient Egyptian harbor, of Pharaoh Khufu, dating from c.2500 BC located on the Red Sea coast.[1][2] Archaeologists also discovered anchors and storage jars near the site.[3]

A dock from Lothal in India dates from 2400 BC[4][5] and was located away from the main current to avoid deposition of silt.[6] Modern oceanographers have observed that the ancient Harappans must have possessed great knowledge relating to tides in order to build such a dock on the ever-shifting course of the Sabarmati, as well as exemplary hydrography and maritime engineering.[6] This is the earliest known dock found in the world equipped to berth and service ships.[6]

It is speculated that Lothal engineers studied tidal movements and their effects on brick-built structures, since the walls are of kiln-burnt bricks.[7] This knowledge also enabled them to select Lothal's location in the first place, as the Gulf of Khambhat has the highest tidal amplitude and ships can be sluiced through flow tides in the river estuary.[7] The engineers built a trapezoidal structure, with north–south arms of average 21.8 metres (71.5 ft), and east–west arms of 37 metres (121 ft)