Author:
Publication: The Times of India,
New Delhi
Date: May 20, 2001
In what has been as a "major" marine
archaeological find, scientists have discovered submerged settlements in
the Gulf of Cambay which have "similarity" with the structures found on-land
at Harappan and pre-Harappan sites.
Announcing this on Saturday, Union
science and technology minister Murli Manohar Joshi said the National Institute
of Ocean Technology (NIOT), while carrying out underwater surveys a couple
of weeks ago, discovered the nine-km-long stretch of archaeological sites
at a depth of 30 to 40 metres.
"It seems to be a well-formed township,"
said Joshi, adding that a hie earthquake, some 4,000 to 6,000 years ago,
might have caused the submergence of these sites.
Another attempt at rewriting history'?
No, insisted Joshi. It was a scientific discovery. This was the first time
such sites had been reported from the Cambay, said Joshi, armed with "images"
of some of the submerged structures including a great bath and an Acropolis".
But as soon as he said that one
of the "buried structures could be a temple", questions were promptly raised
about how the scientists had come to this conclusion. "Please do net compare
it to the Ayodhya issue," said Joshi in a lighter vein, ridding that the
findings showed it could he a possible archaeological feature.
"The Department of Ocean Development
(DOD), along with the archaeology department, will the archaeology department,
will undertake a serious study to find out what type of civilisation it
was.. Whether pre-Harappan. Harappan or post-Harappan," he said, DOD officials
said the sites discovered were "seen to he lined with well-laid house basement
like features, partially covered by sand waves and sand ripples". The size
of the dwellings seemed to vary from 6x8m to 12x16m approximately.
"The acoustic images obtained point
to the existence of some Harappan-like ruins below the seabed. Some of
the structures include tanks of sizes 40x40m, with steps. Also seen are
groups of constructions resembling an 'Acropolis' in the Harappan culture,"
said an official.
"All these archaeological findings
located by side-scan sonar have been corroborated by sub-bottom profiler
findings, wherein the basement reliefs of the foundations have been clearly
brought out," he added.
A detailed examination of the geology
and tectonics of the area revealed that a couple of major rivers had been
flowing approximately in the east-west direction coinciding with the course
of the present-day Tapti and Narmada rivers.
"Due to geological processes and
tectonic events, the entire Cambay region might have sunk, taking down
with that the then existing part of the river sections and the ancient
settlement," said the official. He added that studies showed that a unique
structure known as Allah Bund, with an elevation of six metres and a length
of 100 km, was created due to the great 1819 Kuchch quake.
The DoD will support "detailed archeological
investigations" of the newly-found sites, as well as "paleo-seismological
investigations" in the Kutch region, to "unravel the mystery of the sites
and the elevation changes associated with historical earthquakes".
