Submerged city of Poompukaar older than Mesopotamia: Hindustan Times

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Submerged city may be older than Mesopotamia

Utpal Parashar

 

Dehra Dun, December 3

 

A submerged coastal city near Poompuhar in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu,

is the focus of a major expedition being conducted jointly by the

Indian Naval Hydrographic Department (INHD) and the Archaeological

Survey of India (ASI).

 

Both the organisations are trying to piece together the city's past,

which some noted marine archaeologists consider to be the birthplace

of modern civilisation. The once flourishing port city is located

about one mile off the Nagapattinam coast.

 

"We have been able to locate a section of the city at a depth of 7 m

and will soon start operations to recover objects that will help

ascertain its past," said Rear Admiral K.R. Srinivasan, chief

hydrographer to the Indian government.

 

English marine archaeologist Graham Hancock, who conducted an

underwater exploration in the area in 2001, believes that the

Poompuhar site could be older than Sumeria in Mesopotamia, where

modern civilisation is believed to have originated nearly 5,000 years

ago.

 

The 2001 expedition was funded by Channel Four of Britain and

Learning Channel of the US in association with the National Institute

of Oceanography (NIO), Goa.

 

It led Hancock to surmise that the city could have been submerged by

a tidal wave as high as 400 ft somewhere between 17,000 and 7,000

years ago.

 

Other experts like Glenne Milne, a geologist at the University of

Durham, UK, agree with Hancock. Video footage of the site shows that

the submerged city near Poompuhar was far superior to constructions

found in Harappan sites.

 

Although NIO had conducted similar offshore expeditions in the area

in the late 1980s and early 1990s — and discovered objects like

ring wells, brick structures and megalithic wares — it did not evince

much interest till Hancock revealed his findings.

 

The new venture by the INHD and ASI may put an end to the debate on

the submerged city. It could also rekindle a new interest in locating

other such submerged towns and shipwrecks along India's coastline.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_482436,0008.htm

 

 

 

 

 

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