6,000 years: World’s oldest tsunami defences discovered in Gujurat
Posted On: Jun 1st, 2016 at 12:33
India
The world’s first tsunami defences, thought to be 6,000 years old (4000 BC), have been discovered in the Dholavira archaeology site in Kutch, Gujurat state.
The defensive wall was first thought to be exactly that – a defensive wall against invaders, but recent exploration of the site determined that the defences were far too expansive and deep to be merely defensive.
Archaeologist now believe the builders were aware of previous tsunamis in the area, one specifically around 8,000 years ago (6000 BC), and they built a tsunami defence to combat the regular occurrence. India is prone to tsunamis, as we all know from the 2004 Sumatra tsunami which hit the south eastern and south western Indian coasts around two hours after the original earthquake. India suffered the third highest casualty count from the tsunami, with 12,000 people confirmed dead and another 6,000 still missing.
This discovery shows the ingenuity of the ancient Indians, and I am still convinced that India holds some of the oldest civilised structures in the world, and maybe the oldest. This site at Kutch was in the territory of the Indus Valley civilisation and, if the data is correct, could well go back to at least 6000 BC if one looks solely at the tsunami data. The Indus Valley civilisation itself was thought to have started around 3300 BC, but I have said on here many times that I believe it is much older. The site at Kutch, and the new tsunami defence evidence, could well prove the Indus Valley civilisation is much older than previously thought.
