Dwarka In The Gulf Of Khambat, India’s Ancient Underwater Civilization
lcoceanSidescan sonar of the ancient lost city in the Gulf of Khambat.
Previously known as the Bay of Cambay, the Gulf of Khambat in India contains the remains of a sprawling ancient city, stretching five miles long and two miles wide. When the announcement of the city’s discovery was made back in 2001, experts suggested it could rewrite the modern view of the ancient world.
Perhaps the most incredible thing about this city, however, is that it was built 9,500 years ago – more than 5,000 years before the first great cities began to appear in Mesopotamia.
“Nothing else on the scale of the underwater cities of Cambay is known,” author Graham Hancock told the BBC at the time.
The discovery of such a massive city in India, built so long ago, he said, completely changes our understanding of human history. “The whole model of the origins of civilization will have to be remade from scratch.”
The city was lost for thousands of years, buried under 120 feet of water in the Gulf of Khambat. It was pulled underwater, it’s believed, when the ice caps melted at the end of the last ice age some 9,000 years ago.
Marine scientists used sonar images and sub-bottom profiling to locate the lost ruins and it is believed the area was submerged when the ice caps melted in the last Ice Age.
Indian nationals have dubbed the find “Dwarka” (The Golden City) in honor of ancient submerged city said to belong to Hindu god, Krishna — though, it should be noted that there is a modern-day pilgrimage site in another city called Dwarka that stands above the water.
Amazingly, after all those years underwater, architectural and human remains are still intact.
