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Early Historic Shipwreck Archaeology of the Indian Subcontinent Region

DRS at CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography

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Title Early Historic Shipwreck Archaeology of the Indian Subcontinent Region
 
Creator Gaur, A.S.
 
Subject MARINE ARCHAEOLOGY
 
Description Shipwreck archaeology in South Asian region is rather recent when one compares with the rest of the world and shipwrecks of the Bronze Age are unknown so far. There is also limited information on the shipwrecks of the early historical period. There are however two examples from this region namely Bet Dwarka (in India) and Godawaya (in Sri Lanka). In Bet Dwarka region a large number of antiquities including Roman amphorae, a Roman hand mill, lead ingot and possibly lead anchors have been found close to present a passenger jetty at a water depth of 8 m. The site is located in high energy tidal current thus the chance of survival of any lighter material is low. The quantity of pottery and material indicate the possibility of a shipwreck of foreign origin. Recently a shipwreck of the early historic period has been discovered at Godawaya in Sri Lankan waters and that is lying in 33 m water depth. The important antiquities from this wreck include stone quern, glass ingots, copper nodules and a large number of pottery. The comparative study and a radiocarbon date of this wreck suggest a date to the 1st century CE. The origin of this ship might have been the Indian Subcontinent region.
 
Date 2015-07-08T12:22:59Z
2015-07-08T12:22:59Z
2015
 
Type Conference Article
 
Identifier Recent Researches on Indus Civilization & Maritime Archaeology in India. ed by: Gaur, A.S.; Sundaresh,;Agam Kala Prakashan. New Delhi 2015; 125-135
http://drs.nio.org/drs/handle/2264/4726
 
Language en
 
Rights © [2015] Society of Marine Archaeology . All efforts have been made to respect the copyright to the best of our knowledge. Inadvertent omissions, if brought to our notice, stand for correction and withdrawal of document from this repository
 
Publisher Agam Kala Prakashan, New Delhi