Jun 10
13
How old is urbane Indian civilization?
Our world is full of ancient mysteries. From Mayan or Aztec or Mesopotamia or Egypt or India, thing & events have remained unexplained, and will remain so for generations to come. Of all these ancient civilizations, India’s Indus-Saraswati civilization is most urban of all, at the same time being categorized as one of the oldest.
Archeologist dates back Indus-Saraswati civilization to around 3500 BC. Discovered on sites at Harappa & Mohenjo-daro are baked bricks buildings providing an impressive vista of urban architecture, drains and wells, seals. The use of inscribed seals, along with various forms of writing on a wide range of artifacts (which is still no deciphered), & use of weights & measures appears to be directly associated with the need to communicate social or ritual status and for economic control. Truly, an urban civilization. 5000 year ago it was at its prime.
But then I read about the the discovery of lost city of Dwarka . In early 80s, the Marine Archaeology Unit of the National Institute of Oceanography started offshore exploration and excavation of the legendary city of Dwarka in the coastal waters of Dwarka in Gujarat under Dr S. R. Rao. Since then, they were able to discover may artifacts, stone anchors, etc. at the site.
Unlike Atlantis, Dwarka is for real. Legend has it that Dwarka was built by Vishwakarma by reclaiming land from the sea, on request of Sri Krishna. After his death, 36 years after the end of Mahabharata War (5561BC), the city was taken back by the sea in a single day and night.
According to Graham Hancock
The remains of what has been described as a huge lost city may force historians and archaeologists to radically reconsider their view of ancient human history. Marine scientists say archaeological remains discovered 36 meters (120 feet) underwater in the Gulf of Cambay off the western coast of India could be over 9,000 years old. The vast city – which is five miles long and two miles wide – is believed to predate the oldest known remains in the subcontinent by more than 5,000 years.
Last ice age was roughly 20,000 years ago. The last ice age did not mean the entire planet was frozen. During that period the ice caps were much larger with a very large percentage of Earths water frozen on land over most of the northern hemisphere. The world’s sea level was about 130 m (426.51 ft.) lower than today, which meant the coast lines were extended much further out then they are now. Check below the Google map’s satellite image. The light blue color near the coastal lines represents the shallow sea shores. 20,000 years ago whole of this would have been land. Map of India would not have been much different then what it is today, only a little fatter. The red line on the map below represents the shore boundary 20000 before present.
So this takes back the known date of Urban Indian civilization by few more thousand years, probably to 10000 years. I have always been fascinated by stories of Ramayana & Mahabharata. Believe they are true… 
Who knows that ancient Indian civilization my be even much older. I remember somewhere reading that Vedas were first written in 23000 BC!!
PS: Another legend it that Dwarka was claimed by the sea six times. The present Dwarka is the seventh. (Wikipedia)
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