'Lost river' civilisation found off India's
coast
ABC Online 16/01/2001
A "lost river" civilisation dating back to 7500 BC has been discovered off
India's western coast.
Murli Manohar Joshi, Minister for Human Resources and Ocean Development, says the
civilisation is buried 40 metres below sea level.
"The findings buried 40 metres below the sea reveal some sort of human civilisation,
a courtyard, staircase, a bathroom or a temple or something," he said.
"It looks like a Harrapan-type civilisation but dating way back to 7500 BC."
The earliest discovered human civilisations in the subcontinent are the sites of the
Harrapan and Indus Valley communities, which date back to 2500 BC.
The "marine archaeological findings" have been made by a joint exercise
conducted by the Indian Ocean Development and Archaeology Institutes in the Gulf of Cambay
region, off the coast of Gujarat state in the Arabian Sea.
Objects such as pieces of construction material, artifacts with rectangular holes, fused
objects, pottery, beads, broken pieces of sculpture, a fossilised jaw bone and human teeth
and a cut wooden log have all been retrieved out from the site.
Carbon-dating and other methods have dated the finds to around 7500 BC.
Acoustic imagery has also revealed a nine kilometre river stretch, in which all the
objects have been found.
The imagery also shows built-up structures protruding from the seabed.
Mr Joshi says a group has been formed to undertake further studies of the area.END OF REPORT
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