Evidence of an ancient 鈥渓ost river civilisation鈥� has been uncovered off the west coast of India, the country鈥檚 minister for science and technology has announced. Local archaeologists claim the find could push back currently accepted dates of the emergence of the world鈥檚 first cities.
Underwater archaeologists at the National Institute of Ocean Technology first detected signs of an ancient submerged settlement in the Gulf of Cambay, off Gujarat, in May 2001. They have now conducted further acoustic imaging surveys and have carbon dated one of the finds.
The acoustic imaging has identified a nine-kilometre-long stretch of what was once a river but is now 40 metres beneath the sea. The site is surrounded by evidence of extensive human settlement. Carved wood, pottery, beads, broken pieces of sculpture and human teeth have been retrieved from along the river banks, according to a report in the Indian Express newspaper. Carbon dating of one of the wooden samples has dated the site to around 7500 BC.
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鈥淭he carbon dating of 7500 BC obtained for the wooden piece recovered from the site changes the earlier held view that the first cities appeared in the Sumer Valley [in Mesopotamia] around 3000 BC,鈥� said B Sasisekaran of India鈥檚 National Science Academy.
Tom Higham of Oxford University鈥檚 Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit says submerged wood is often well-preserved and should be relatively straightforward to carbon date. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 see how you could get it grossly wrong,鈥� he says. 鈥淚n the past, it has been said that you shouldn鈥檛 pin all your interpretations on a date from one sample. But that鈥檚 not so true these days. And dating a sample that鈥檚 between 5000 and 10,000 years old is pretty easy.鈥�
Critical examination
If confirmed, the find would also push back the date of India鈥檚 earliest known civilisation by 5000 years. The Harappan civilisation has been dated to about 2500 BC. The newly identified site 鈥渓ooks like a Harappan-type civilisation but dating way back to 7500 BC,鈥� said minister Murli Manohar Joshi.
However, he cautioned that a 鈥渕ore critical examination鈥� of the finds must now be carried out.
Sharad Rajaguru, a former head of archaeology at the Deccan College in Pune, said: 鈥淭hese collections represent an exciting breakthrough in offshore archaeology. Further investigation of the area is important as this might throw light on the development of human civilisation, besides having a bearing on Indian history.鈥�
Joshi said the government is now forming a group of archaeological experts from institutes around the country to investigate further.