Lost city 'could rewrite history'

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Saturday, 19 January, 2002, 06:33 GMT

from:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid

_1768000/1768109.stm

Lost city 'could rewrite history'

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The city is believed to predate the Harappan civilisation

By BBC News Online's Tom Housden The remains of what has been described as a

huge lost city may force historians and archaeologists to radically reconsider

their view of ancient human history. Marine scientists say archaeological

remains discovered 36 metres (120 feet) underwater in the Gulf of Cambay off

the western coast of India could be over 9,000 years old. The vast city - which

is five miles long and two miles wide - is believed to predate the oldest known

remains in the subcontinent by more than 5,000 years.

The site was discovered by chance last year by oceanographers from India's

National Institute of Ocean Technology conducting a survey of pollution. Using

sidescan sonar - which sends a beam of sound waves down to the bottom of the

ocean they identified huge geometrical structures at a depth of 120ft. Debris

recovered from the site - including construction material, pottery, sections of

walls, beads, sculpture and human bones and teeth has been carbon dated and

found to be nearly 9,500 years old. Lost civilisation The city is believed to

be even older than the ancient Harappan civilisation, which dates back around

4,000 years. Marine archaeologists have used a technique known as sub-bottom

profiling to show that the buildings remains stand on enormous foundations. The

whole model of the origins of civilisation will have to be remade from scratch

Graham Hancock

Author and film-maker Graham Hancock - who has written extensively on the

uncovering of ancient civilisations - told BBC News Online that the evidence

was compelling: "The [oceanographers] found that they were dealing with two

large blocks of apparently man made structures. "Cities on this scale are not

known in the archaeological record until roughly 4,500 years ago when the first

big cities begin to appear in Mesopotamia. "Nothing else on the scale of the

underwater cities of Cambay is known. The first cities of the historical period

are as far away from these cities as we are today from the pyramids of Egypt,"

he said. Chronological problem This, Mr Hancock told BBC News Online, could

have massive repercussions for our view of the ancient world. Harappan remains

have been found in India and Pakistan

"There's a huge chronological problem in this discovery. It means that the whole

model of the origins of civilisation with which archaeologists have been working

will have to be remade from scratch," he said. However, archaeologist Justin

Morris from the British Museum said more work would need to be undertaken

before the site could be categorically said to belong to a 9,000 year old

civilisation. "Culturally speaking, in that part of the world there were no

civilisations prior to about 2,500 BC. What's happening before then mainly

consisted of small, village settlements," he told BBC News Online. Dr Morris

added that artefacts from the site would need to be very carefully analysed,

and pointed out that the C14 carbon dating process is not without its error

margins. It is believed that the area was submerged as ice caps melted at the

end of the last ice age 9-10,000 years ago Although the first signs of a

significant find came eight months ago, exploring the area has been extremely

difficult because the remains lie in highly treacherous waters, with strong

currents and rip tides. The Indian Minister for Human Resources and ocean

development said a group had been formed to oversee further studies in the

area. "We have to find out what happened then ... where and how this

civilisation vanished," he said.

See also:

22 May 01 | South Asia

Indian seabed hides ancient remains

12 Feb 01 | South Asia

Quake reveals hidden water

19 Jun 00 | South Asia

Ancient gold treasure found

04 May 99 | Sci/Tech

'Earliest writing' found

Internet links:

Archaeological Survey of India

Indus (Harappa) Civilisation

Harappan Civilisation

National Institute of Ocean Technology