Discovery of Pre-Harappan Civilization Questioned

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HYDERABAD, INDIA (Jan. 30, 2003): Claims of having discovered the

world's oldest human settlement in the Gulf of Cambay off the coast

of Gujarat were just "bunkum", renowned marine biologist S R Rao has

said.

 

Such a "flippant and premature" announcement to the media prior to

publishing the data in a peer-reviewed journal "puts credibility of

Indian science at stake", Rao said here.

 

Union Minister for Science and Technology Murli Manohar Joshi had

announced in May 2001 that the Department of Ocean Development (DOD)

scientists had discovered a 9500 year-old buried township west of

Hazira suggesting the human civilisation emerged from India.

 

The claim was made on the basis of acoustic images from sonar

accidentally collected by a survey ship and carbon dating of a wood

piece dredged out from the site.

 

"How can one make such a claim without even sending a diver or taking

pictures or involving any archaeologist?", Rao, who was here on

Wednesday to attend a meeting on Ocean and Antarctic Science

organised by the National Geophysical Research Institute, said in an

interview.

 

"You cannot date a civilization from a piece of wood that could have

come from anywhere," he added.

 

DOD Secretary Harsh Guta said taking photographs were impossible as

the water was turbid. "The wood piece was buried a metre deep. How

else will it come there?" he asked.

 

When asked why DOD was not involving international experts in the

process, Guta said "they are welcome to join us but I am not going to

beg them do so".

 

"Westerners are not willing to accept that civilisation emerged from

India," he claimed.

 

The journal of the Geological Society of India that initially

rejected the paper by DOD scientists has reportedly agreed to publish

it only after the authors whittled down their claims.

 

Rao, who launched India's first marine archaeology programme at the

National Institute of Oceanography and authored two books on the

subject, is credited with discovering sunken settlements of ancient

Dwaraka connected with the epic Mahabharata off the Gujarat coast.

 

Source:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?

artid=35957113

Courtesy of Hindu Press International (HPI)