Peru
link to Indian archaeological find?
By Harsh Kabra
Vadodara, Gujarat
Geologists
have discovered a striking archaeological feature on a hillock
in the Kutch district of the western Indian state of Gujarat.
This
feature is shaped like the Roman numeral VI. Each arm of this
feature is a trench that is about two metres wide, two metres
deep and more than 100 metres long.
The
feature has evoked the curiosity of archaeologists because such
signs have mostly been observed so far in Peru.
The
team, led by Dr RV Karanth, a former professor of geology at the
Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara, Gujarat, has been involved
in a palaeoseismological study of the Kutch region for the past
11 years.
Palaeoseismology
involves the study of sediments, landforms and other geological
evidence of past earthquakes to unravel their history and determine
the nature and occurrence of present-day earthquakes.
This
feature was discovered at a hillock 3km from the sleepy oasis
township of Khavda, which is also known as the gateway to the
Rann of Kutch, an extensive salt marsh of western India and southeast
Pakistan between the Gulf of Kutch and the Indus river delta.
Man-made
feature?
The
Kutch region is host to several archaeological findings belonging
to the Harappan civilisation (3000-1500 BC).
This has led to the speculation that this feature could be related
to the Harappan civilisation.
Dr
Karanth clarifies that it is too early to arrive at any conclusion.
"It
could be a manmade feature or may have been formed naturally due
to erosion of the hill slope along a fracture formed by the movement
of earth's crust," he says.
"However
structures formed naturally due to erosion generally tend to be
parallel to each other. But here, all three arms are in different
directions. Besides, all the ditches are almost uniformly wide
and deep."
Dr Karanth says such trenches have not been noticed elsewhere
in the region. Archaeologists, he says, can now pursue further
research.
Geometric lines and animal shapes etched into the desert plain
by people of the Nazca civilisation (AD 1-700) of Peru are well
known.
"But
such signs on hill-slopes have not been reported from Peru,"
says Dr Karanth.
Astronomy
He
says that one of the prominent explanations given for the Peruvian
features is that they may have been constructed to make astronomical
observations and calculations.
"The
Tropic of Cancer passes through Kutch. So if this structure is
man-made, it is likely that the slope of the hillock was utilised
for making certain astronomical calculations in the past,"
explains the geologist.
Interestingly,
there are numerous indications to suggest that Harappans were
well-versed in astronomy.
The
straight streets of that time were oriented in the cardinal directions
- east, west, north and south.
Linkages
between ancient Harappan scripts and latter Vedic texts also suggest
that Harappan priest-astronomers tracked the progress of various
planets and mapped the sky.
Dr
Karanth has also discovered ruins of a fort-wall, houses, storage
tank and a temple on the hilltop.
They
may, he says, belong to the period of the Kathi Darbar, a warrior
class from the Kathiawad region.
Story
from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/5237714.stm