Submerged City May Be Older Than Mesopotamia

Hindustan Times ^ | 12-3-2003 | Utpal Parashar

[blam]

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.

[SunkenCiv]

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[Cronos]

The indus valley civilization starts around the same period as this city ended. There are no connections found YET, but there very well may be.

To me, the Indus valley people were Dravidian speakers - I base this on the presence of Brahui speakers amongst Pashto speakers in what is now Pakistan.

Keeping that hypothesis, it looks like speakers of an aggulatinative language family were spread from what is now south india along the coast of India to the indus river system, to Elam, Dilmun and Sumer and probably related to the Hurrians/Georgians.

[jonathonandjennifer]

Yes, please add me to the list.

[epluribus_2]

In Anthropology my oldest professor would always tell his classes, “I am a Anthropologist not because of a degree on paper but because sky colleagues consider me an Anthropologist.”

He was in school in the 1940’s before the word was as common. I suspect his explanation fits many experience d professionals as formal training is not always a guarantee of competence. Computer software disciplines often are like this with theoretical and standardized training is soon obsolete but many SW engineers hold psychology, math, business, science degrees, etc.

[epluribus_2]

probably related to the Hurrians/Georgians

I would like to read sources for this - linguistic, historical, etc. It could be helpful to some work I do.

[epluribus_2]

probably related to the Hurrians/Georgians<\i>

Do you have any links, resources about these relationships? I would be very interested.

[Cronos]

Here are some links

Jacob's paper linking Elamites to Dravidians

White paper on Elam being a bridge between the ancient near east and the Dravidians

A white paper postulating that the language of the Indus valley was Dravidian

Another one, more details on the Elamite and Tamil connections

[Cronos]

To me the language vague similarities (indicating a separation of thousands of years) ties in to the fact that all three are along the western Indian ocean and trading between the areas from Tamil Nadu to Sumeria has happened since the dawn of recorded history.

[Cronos]

[Daffynition]

Why don't they get someone who knows what they are doing....

[21twelve]

I was going to mention Atlantis but you did. Finally!

I wonder if the story of Atlantis is not about one particular city, but is based on the memories/stories of various ancient submerged cities.

Indian lore from the Pacific Northwest and Alaska in the last 20 years is being looked at more with regard to geologic changes. Ancient stories of earthquakes from the subduction zone fault show up in the PNW.

In Alaska the advance and retreat of glaciers are chronicled in their fables. “The Ice King pursued his princess and destroyed the village that had stolen her....”

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from 12/04/2003. Thanks Cronos for those new links, and thanks again blam for the topic.