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

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.