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Saturday, May 28, 2011

8,000 Year Old Civilization on Konkan Coast, India?

Are these man-made structures -- walls?

From dnaindia.com
Photos: 8000-year-old advanced civilisation in Konkan Coast?
Published: Thursday, May 26, 2011 on 21:13 IST | Updated: Thursday, May 26, 2011 on 21:21 IST

One stretch of underwater wall off the Konkan Coast, western India.
 Did the Konkan coast from Shrivardhan in Raigad to Vengurla in Sindhudurga host a human habitat around 8000 years ago? Did that population have well-developed engineering skills? Was there a unique Konkan culture in existence in 6000BC?

A new archaeological discovery, below sea level along the Konkan coast, could give answers to these questions. And explorers say the answer could well be a big ‘Yes!’

Researchers have found a wall-like structure that is 24 kilometres long, 2.7 metres tall, and around 2.5 metres wide. The structure shows uniformity in its construction.

“The structure is not continuous throughout the 225 kilometres from Shrivardhan to Raigad, but it is uniform,” said Dr Ashok Marathe, professor, department of archaeology, Postgraduate and Research Institute, Deccan College, Pune.

“It has been found three metres below the present sea level. It has been constructed on the ancient sand beach, which was taken as the base for the construction. Considering the uniformity of the structure, it was obvious that the structure is man-made and not natural.”

The joint expedition carried by Deccan College and the central government’s department of science and technology, was in progress from 2005.

“We were actually studying the impacts of tsunamis and earthquakes on the western coast when we first found this structure in Valneshwar,” said Marathe. “Then we started talking with the locals and fisherfolks and we got news about more such structures below water.”

Marathe added that, the uniformity also shows that the people who built it belong to the same culture from Shrivardhan to Vengurla.
However, deciding the age of the structure was done on the basis of sea level mapping.

“There have been extensive studies about the sea water coming inside the land,” said Marathe. “The wall’s base, that is ancient sand, is about six metres below the present sea level. Based on the calculations, experts from the National Institute of Oceanography found the age of the wall as around 6000 BC.”

According to him, the sea was away from its present coastline in 6000 BC and this wall could have been an effort to prevent the sea water from coming inside the human habitat.

The discovery has raised a number of questions.

How were these huge stones of Laterite and Deccan Trap variety transported to the coast?

What exactly was the purpose behind building the wall?

If the date of the walls is true then is it from around the same time as the Indus Valley Civilisation?

Why has there been no mention of this civilisation till now?

Marathe, who will retire in July 2011, has asked more people to come forward to take his work ahead and to try to find answer to these questions.

5 comments:

  1. We actually don't know, what kind of and how may wonders are there in the chest of the deep sea. The Civilization beings stumbles and reaches to their extreme peak and then ruins... demolishes... and this rotation is still going... God knows after thousands of years later once a time the future mankind gets the evidences of our civilization...

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  2. Maybe one can find the answers in an ancient legend of Parshurama.Parshurama had ordered the sea to retreat upto the point where his Parshu(Axe) fell thus creating the land of Konkan.Maybe Parshurama had this wall created to reclaim land or to protect konkan from the rising sea level.There maybe a third angle ;Parshram forseeing the destruction of the ancient sea wall asked the people of konkan to retreat to point beyond where his Parshu fell (he purposely the the Parshu such that it landed on a point beyond which he knew the sea water won't progress) thus saving the konkani's .I belive that answer to this walls mystery lies in this legend and hence this legend should be studied properly and seriously.

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  3. This may be contructed by parshurama to protect konkan from tsunami.

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  4. The indian legend of PARSHURAMA should be studied in detail. the legend says that he won the land of konkan from sindhu sagar(arabian sea) to create a living habitat for his followers. but if you look it through scientifically parshurama & his followers reclaim the land from the sea as we do in present(but not with that much advanced technology). So, we have a proof that aryans or the indian civilization was originated in india and the people did not come from europe!

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  5. it cud have been that this civilization was totally or partially cut-off from mesopotamia, central asians.the most primary thought of our during seeing this wall is that this wall was constructed for protecting people from sea, but still, it logic , we are all human, even they were, y shud they construct a 24 kilometre long 2.5m broad and 2.7 m tall wall for protecting themselves from sea?
    instead they could have migrated to any other coast or woud have deceded from the coastline,,,,,,,, there r still many mysteries to be solved, coz if a civilization exists , it exists wid sumthing special

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