Posted on 03/25/2007 4:44:54 PM PDT by blam
Archaeologists unearth Roman era artefacts in Kerala
From our ANI Correspondent
Pattanam (Kerala), Mar 23: What began as exploratory studies in Kerala, has thrown up enough artefacts and structures of two millennia old Indo-Roman trade era to delight archaeologists, who are looking for the lost port of Muziris.
Archaeological teams in Pattanam village, near the port city of Kochi have been working on a site, which has yielded pottery, amphora, beads and other artefacts that are reminiscent of the ancient Romans.
"The initial studies carried out in this region have amply indicated that there was a Roman presence. The Roman ceramics, pottery and coins found here indicates deeper Roman ties and therefore, based on the artefacts abounding this area, we presented a proposal to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) which got approved," said the Director of the Kerala Council for Historical Research, P J Cherian,
Cherian has been heading a study that has been a parallel exercise to the excavation and conservation being carried out under his guidance.
"The most exciting thing we have excavated today is a human remains. In our climatic conditions and soil acidity, it is hard to expect these kinds of remains to stay intact. So, now we will send these identified human remains to the laboratory for further analysis," added Cherian.
Historians believe the lost port of Muziris was key to trade between India and the Roman Empire. For many years, people have been in search of the almost mythical port, known as Vanchi to the locals.
Pattanam is the only site in the region to produce architectural features and material contemporary to the period.
Speculations and guesses for the location of Muziris had initially hinted on the mouth of the State's Periyar River, at a place called Kodungallor - but now evidence suggests a smaller town nearby, Pattanam, is the real location.
Many pieces of amphora were found, at the now excavated site, which is a Mediterranean pottery.
The ancient town was an exchange point according to scriptures. The Romans brought in gold and took back the region's aromatic spices, including 'black gold'- pepper.
In 1983, a large hoard of Roman coins was found at a site around six miles from Pattanam.
However, even if Muziris has been found, one mystery remains - how it disappeared so completely in the first place.
While archaeologists and scholars celebrate, the owners of the piece of land are worried about their rights to the place.
"A few archaeologists came to us and asked permission to carry out excavations on our land. They said that they wanted to do some research on the place. They began digging deep and found artefacts and now that it is an archaeological site, we wonder what will happen to our land," said Valsala Kumari, who hoped to get back her land.
With the site now being marked as an Archaeological treasure, Kumari and her family say, they never knew the place would throw up so much of the unknown.
That is what one might think. Take the shortest route. However Peru and Sacramento can be reached the long way around and at that time it was a better known and easier, if longer, route. Getting around to the west coast by the Strait of Magellan or the Northwest Passage would have been quite a trial compared with the placid and scenic eastern route.
Nevertheless the record such as it is from Persia identified everything to the west as Roman. They also identified Alexander as Christian, which might shed some light on how close they were paying attention.
By then Rome had actually moved to Byzantium. The Empire was already much reduced and wasn't trading much at all.
Nay, the East was quite prosperous and resilient. It remained a vibrant Empire. The West fell apart politically but trade with the West continued until the Moslems disrupted the Mediterranean trade routes.
Sure it was vibrant, but it was much smaller. That the Roman Empire had withdrawn into itself at Byzantium made it all the easier for the Saracens and Moors to overrun everything in Africa including Spain.
Probably not.
Brian Sykes (famous for "Seven Daughters Of Eve") has done extensive DNA studies of the British Isles (Occupied by the Romans) and in his latest book, " Saxons, Vikings And Celts", says that he has found one small DNA group that may be related to the Romans.
Further, There are no DNA traces of the Picts in Scotland...they're essentially all the same people. I say that because on occassion, I've speculated that the Picts may have even been a different racial group, not so.
Also, Sykes says he should have said 'Eight' Daughters of Eve, not seven.
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Hershel Shanks, the editor of the Biblical Archaeology Review, has recently published findings indicating that Jews living in the Roman Empire in 79 AD when the southwestern Italian city of Pompeii was destroyed by a massive eruption of the Mount Vesuvius volcano, believed that it was Divine retribution for the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Roman general Titus nine years earlier. Citing archeological evidence in a paper entitled "The Destruction of Pompeii -- God's revenge?" in the July/August edition of the magazine, Shanks told the Jerusalem Post that Book 4 of the Sibylline Oracles, an ancient mystical text, includes a passage which says in part; "When a firebrand, turned away from a cleft in the earth [Vesuvius] In the land of Italy, reaches to broad heaven It will burn many cities and destroy men. Much smoking ashes will fill the great sky And showers will fall from heaven like red earth. Know then the wrath of the heavenly God." He also points to ancient graffiti scrawled on the walls near Pompeii which includes references to "Sodom and Gomorra." The eruption of Vesuvius "attacked the core of Roman society," Shanks concluded. "There's very good reason to conclude there was a perceived connection and in the eyes of some, God was clearly at work."
Jews saw Pompeii as retribution for destruction of the Temple
YouTube: Evidence of Christianity in First Century Pompeii
In 1939, Italian archeologist Prof Maiuri, discovered an artifact in the ruins of ancient Pompeii, that had a very Indian origin. This ivory statuette which survived the disaster and lasted all these 2000 years was identified by Prof Maiuri as that of the Goddess Lakshmi and dated to around 1AD. It has since then been quoted as the Goddess Lakshmi statue in Pompeii' in many books & articles... in terms of iconography and technique, the closest comparisons can be made with ivory figurines recovered from the central and northwestern parts of the sub-continent and datable to the 1st century A.D. Two of these examples were found at the sites of Bhokardan and Ter in central India and a third was excavated in Begram, Afghanistan along with a large cache of ivory, bone, glass, and metal objects. Although these four figurines are not perfect matches, their shared iconographic and compositional features suggest that they may have been produced in the same region (probably central India) before being distributed to other regions. This small, rare sculpture, found in a modest dwelling in Pompeii, represents nonetheless an important indication of a trade relations that existed already by the 1st century A.D. between the Roman Empire and India.
Goddess Lakshmi statue in Pompeii | The Mysterious India | 2015-03-19
Goddess Lakshmi statue in Pompeii | The Mysterious India | 2015-03-19
Roman gold coins excavated in Pudukottai India
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