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Posted on 04/08/2016 1:59:00 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The ruins are located close to the popular tourist destination and UNESCO World Heritage Site, Mamallapuram, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Just before the devastating 2004 Asian Tsunami hit, the ocean receded several hundred feet, and tourists reported glimpsing large stones and boulders in the distance.
A 10-member team from the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) surveyed the area from March 10 to 18, and have found the ruins of one of six ancient temples that are thought to have been swallowed up by the ocean as sea levels rose. The team, comprising of divers, geologists and archaeologists found a ten meter wall, a flight of stairs and carved blocks of stone on the ocean bed in twenty seven feet of water. The ruins were over 800 meters from the shore. Many ruins were not immediately identifiable because of aquatic plant growth...
Most of the ruins are thought to be about 1,100 to 1,500 years old. Brick structures were also identified on the seabed which may date back to between 300 BC and 200 AD, a historical period in Tamil Nadu known as the Sangam period. The area is believed to have been submerged in the aftermath of a tsunami that hit the coast in 952 AD...
Many of the temples found on the shore of Mamallapuram today were built around the ninth and tenth century AD. But the area was a thriving township and an important trading port even around the first century AD. It is mentioned in several documents in ancient Rome. Geophysical survey data from past explorations have noted that a large built-up area was submerged, possibly due to the tsunami or because of soil erosion and tectonic movement.
(Excerpt) Read more at digitaljournal.com ...
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Doesnt look underwater to me. :)
Was it underwater because of global warming?
“Honey, the ocean seems to be going away.
Oh.....it’s making a big wave.
I wonder what that means?
Look at those big rocks out there where the ocean used to be. Let’s go look at them. Maybe there’s some shells there.”
Hunting for sea shells.....not for the faint hearted.
Clearest water evah!
That photo was taken just before the ocean water surged back in. ;’)
Damn those suv’s and global warming!
Tsunami, tsunamyou, tsunamthey...
I wonder if man made global warming will be blamed for putting them underwater?
Looks like I was a little slow on the gorebull warming band wagon.
The Temple of Doom! Leave it be......
I hate when I build on land that sinks under the ocean and is lost for 1000 years.
Even back then, real estate was all about location - location - location.
No...the only thing “underwater” because of gloBULL warming is our economy.
Lion statue that appeared after the December 26, 2004 tsunami on the beach of Mahabalipuram, India.
OMG! They both are upright figures, have bulging brows, small eyes, funny noses, large mouths; and are carved from rock: they're just exactly the same!! The ancient Indians MUST have contacted and taught the Mayans!!! /sarc
Best-selling British author and television presenter Graham Hancock took these stories seriously. The hypothesis that there may be ruins underwater off the coast of Mahabalipuram has been around at least since the eighteenth century among scholarly circles.
“I have long regarded Mahabalipuram, because of its flood myths and fishermen’s sightings as a very likely place in which discoveries of underwater structures could be made, and I proposed that a diving expedition should be undertaken there,” said Hancock.
Hancock’s initiative resulted in the Dorset, England-based Scientific Exploration Society and India’s National Institute of Oceanography joining hands. In April this year, the team made a spectacular discovery
Thanks!
That’s the Shore Temple, the only one remaining. BTW, this is not news for the locals - lore has always mentioned the 6 other structures that went underwater as the ocean submerged them.
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