Posted on 04/02/2005 5:39:19 PM PST by nickcarraway
CHENNAI, March 31. After the excitement of discovering man made rock structures under sea off Mahabalipuram coast, the excavation team of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) has now unearthed traces of two more temples on shore.
Adjoining the Shore Temple, these findings could perhaps lend credence to legends about Seven Pagodas (temples) having stood on this historic spot, once a flourishing port town under the Pallavas.
We are presently excavating the remains of two structural temples on shore, both to the south of the Shore Temple. They appear to be similar in size to the Shore Temple. And, linking these discoveries to our earlier excavations under sea where we found man made rock structures, there is enough evidence to suggest that there are more submerged temples built during the Pallava period, Dr Alok Tripathi, deputy superintending archeologist, ASI, in charge of the underwater excavations off the Mahabalipuram coast, told mediapersons here.
He explained that excavations of one of the temples came up with a 8 x 8 square metre garbhagriha (sanctum sanctorum), and an entrance porch in front facing the east towards the sea. After an open courtyard of 15 feet width, a two-metre thick prakara wall had been dug up.
We also found a large number of architectural fragments and mouldings including parts of a shikara (the top of a temple), carved segments form the prakara and other parts, Mr Tripathi said, adding that the temple was 20 metres wide and 25 metres long. Excavations are also on near three rocks bearing marks of human activity.
One of these rocks has a superstructure, which indicates another structural temple, said Mr Tripathi. The team also found chisels, perhaps used by the workers, and a well made of terracotta rings. The walls, not surprisingly, extended into the sea. Some rock portions get exposed during low tide, said the ASI official, adding that the excavation generated useful information about the construction of structural temples and would also throw light on the causes of destruction of coastal monuments.
ping
Oh Boy!! More world treasures for the Muslims to destroy...
Atlantis? The little people that live under the North Pole?
Nah, it is a new call centre...
The tsunami also tossed 40 million tons of titanium nodules on the beaches of India. ($$$$)
Ancient temples rising from the ocean? I sense that the Great Old Ones have a hand (or tentacle) in this. Cthulhu ftagn!
Thanks a freaking lot for disturbing my sleep.
Hey, better to get on the winning side now. I shall now go replace my tinfoil hat with something more...squiddy.
Finally! You'll see...you'll all see!
Titanium nodules bother me. I cannot help but think of them as leftovers from an ancient war.
Calimari is for chewing, not for wearing!
More nothanks to you. I already have enough real problems to worry about, now you bring in the ancient old ones?
I hate the bringer of bad news.
Nah. They're all over the ocean floor. Remember that Howard Hughes built a big ship to go and mine these nodules. Turns out, the ship was for the CIA to raise a downed Russian submarine somewhere around Hawaii.
Pleasure.
Cthulhu will eat you last! I made a deal with it. :)
And odd places upon the exposed earth...like Mt. Ararat.
It must be "global warming" that caused them to get covered in the first place. We know the earth does not change all by itself.
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