Clues link Indian, Roman civilisations

Panaji, March 30: Scientists from city-based National Institute of
Oceanography (NIO) have found artefacts near Dwarka island, off
Gujarat coast, which indicate close links between Indian and Roman
civilisations.

v"During the excavation, we found artefacts dating back 3,500 which
indicate that India`s maritime history is much older and Indians
used to travel by sea even before Vasco da Gama touched Indian
shores," Dr K H Vora, Deputy Director and Project Leader, Marine
Archaeology, told a news agency.

"Archaeological excavations at bet (island) Dwarka, which is western
most part of India, also revealed an interesting cultural sequence
commencing from pre-historic period (3800 years before present) to
historical period (1600 before present)," he said.

"Interestingly, we came across amphorae shreds of Mediterranean
origin. This indicated that Indian and Roman civilisations have
similarities with each other through sea route," Vora stated.

NIO`s Marine Archaeology wing which is continuously exploring coasts
of Somnath, Vijaydurg, Sindhudurg and Goa besides Dwarka, consider
the revelation as a milestone in marine history.

NIO scientists, during their study on shoreline changes during last
2000 years on the Saurashtra coast of India, off-Gulf of Kutch, have
encountered large number of stone anchors dating back two thousand
years.

"That means, the stone anchors were used even before iron anchor
came in use by the ships which were anchored off- Gujarat coast,"
Vohra stated.

The excavation around Dwarka and island Dwarka, both located 30 km
from each other, by NIO, is going on since 1982, which was initiated
by scientist S K Rao.

The work gained momentum in 2001-2002 when six trenches were dug at
island Dwarka to unravel mysteries around this sealocked land mass,
which is mythologically considered as summer palace of Lord Krishna.

"What is interesting is that we found few artefacts just 65 to 80
cms below the sea level," a s gaur, an archeologist, associated with
the mission, stated.

Bureau Report