Surveys Launched To Trace Malabar's Maritime History

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, 12 May 2007 — The Kerala Council for Historical Research (KCHR) has begun surveys to trace the Malabar coast’s maritime history. The council will be assisted by the Indian Navy in the waters of the Kodungallur region since excavations there have produced evidence of Roman and West Asian maritime contacts.

Historians believe Muziris, the lost port city of south India, which was a major center of trade with the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago, existed in the town of Pattanam.

The navy undertook sea bottom profiling and the KCHR hopes to identify submerged archaeological remains such as shipwrecks, ancient structures in the waters of the area, said KCHR director Dr. P.J. Cherian. According to him, some positive indications have been obtained but closer examination, including underwater diving and photography, are necessary to confirm the initial assumptions.

Proof of the area’s rich maritime heritage, including a wharf with dugout canoes, Roman pottery, West Asian ceramics, beads of semi-precious stones and brick structures, was found by the KCHR’s initial excavations at Pattanam.

There were indications that the site was first occupied by megalithic peoples followed by Roman contact in the early historic phase; the area was continuously inhabited from the first century BC to the 10th century AD.

Evidence of megalithic peoples is being reported for the first time in Kerala, although there are innumerable megalithic burial sites in the state. Early inhabitants appear to have been native iron-using megalithic people who led simple lives, the director said.

The evidence indicates that the mythical Muziris seaport, a bustling Indo-Roman trading center, could have been located at Pattanam, 260 kilometers north of the state capital. In the past its residents regularly found broken pottery shards and ancient fired bricks while tilling the soil. Fragments of imported Roman amphorae, mainly used for transporting wine and olive oil, Yemeni and West Asian pottery, in addition to Indian roulette ware common on the East Coast of India and also found in Berenike in Egypt, have been discovered.

Researchers say the site seems to have remained unoccupied or deserted between the 10th and 18th centuries and if the theories are confirmed, it may provide a greater insight into the geological and regional history of the area. They say, based on remote sensing data, a river close to Pattanam changed its course and the ancient port may have been buried due to earthquakes or floods. Muziris was a port city mentioned in several ancient documents and scholarly texts as a major center of trade between India and Rome, especially in pepper and other spices as late as the sixth century AD.

Historians believe that Christianity may have been introduced to the subcontinent through Muziris though it mysteriously dropped off the map.

Archaeologists stumble upon Muziris

By M. Harish Govind

http://www.hinduonnet.com/2004/03/23/stories/2004032303340500.htm

THIRUV-ANANTHA-PURAM, MARCH 22. Striking archaeological evidence suggests that the legendary seaport of Muziris, which was a bustling Indo-Roman centre of trade during the early historic period between the first century BC and the fifth century AD, could have been located at Pattanam, near Paravur on the south of the Periyar rivermouth.

K.P. Shajan, geoarchaeologist, who has put forward the hypothesis, says that despite its legendary status, researchers had not so far been able to identify the actual physical location of Muziris. The search for the legendary town on the Malabar coast had been focussed on the northern banks of the Periyar, on the basis of literary evidence from Sangam literature and “Periplus of the Erythrean Sea”, among others.

However, the remains unearthed from the area belonged to the 12th century AD, whereas Muziris had been a bustling urban settlement more than 1,000 years earlier. Nothing had been found from the area with a clear Roman connection, a fact which baffled both Indian and foreign researchers. All that they knew was that it was located near the mouth of the Periyar.

Among other things, what led Dr. Shajan and his team to Pattanam was clear geological evidence which suggested that the river Periyar had shifted its course from the south to the north over the millennia. A branch of the Periyar, called the Periyar Thodu, runs close to Pattanam and satellite imagery indicates that the Periyar delta lies on the southern side and the river could have flowed close to Pattanam about 2,000 years ago. This would place the ancient site alongside the Periyar in keeping with the descriptions in literary sources.

The residents of the Pattanam site, which is known by the names of `Neeleswaram’ and `Ithilparambu’ at present, regularly used to come across a large amount of broken pottery shards and ancient fired bricks while digging the ground. In fact, the ancient bricks were commonly being used along with laterite blocks for construction purposes, Dr. Shajan said.

The site covers an area of about 1.5 sq km and the deposit is about two metres thick. It has produced fragments of imported Roman amphora, mainly used for transporting wine and olive oil, Yemenese and West Asian pottery, besides Indian rouletted ware common on the East Coast of India and also found in Berenike in Egypt. Bricks, tiles, pottery shards, beads and other artefacts found at Pattanam are very similar to those found at Arikamedu and other early historic sites in India.

The most striking finds from Pattanam are the rim and handle of a classic Italian wine amphora from Naples which was common between the late first century BC and 79 AD, when pottery production in the region was disrupted by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Islamic glazed ware from West Asia indicate that the site remained active beyond the early historic period. The finds from Pattanam were displayed at the Vyloppilli Samskrithi Bhavan today.

The director of the Kerala Council for Historical Research (KCHR), P.J. Cherian, said etymological evidence supplemented the other evidence gathered from Pattanam. “The word `pattanam’ is derived from Prakrit and Pali and means coastal town in almost all Indian languages. Oral traditions in the area too suggest that Pattanam was inhabited by foreigners in the distant past and was a well-known marketplace with wealthy people.”

12th Dynasty

Perhaps as early as the 12th Dynasty, Pharaoh Senusret III (1878 BC - 1839 BC) may have had a west-east canal dug through the Wadi Tumilat, joining the Nile with the Red Sea, for direct trade with Punt, and thus allowing trade indirectly between the Red Sea and Mediterranean. Evidence indicates its existence by the 13th century BC during the time of Ramesses II.

Repair by Necho, Darius I and Ptolemy

It later fell into disrepair, and according to the Histories of the Greek historian Herodotus, about 600 BC, Necho II undertook re-excavation but did not complete it.

The canal was finally completed by Darius I of Persia, who conquered Egypt. According to Herodotus, the completed canal was wide enough that two triremes could pass each other with oars extended, and required 4 days to traverse. Darius commemorated his achievement with a number of granite stelae that he set up on the Nile bank, including one near Kabret, 130 miles from Pie. The Darius Inscriptions read:

“ Saith King Darius: I am a Persian. Setting out from Persia, I conquered Egypt. I ordered this canal dug from the river called the Nile that flows in Egypt, to the sea that begins in Persia. When the canal had been dug as I ordered, ships went from Egypt through this canal to Persia, even as I intended.”

It was again restored by Ptolemy II about 250 BC. Over the next 1000 years it was successively modified, destroyed and rebuilt, until finally being put out of commission in the 8th century by the Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur.

I think I’m one of the lone supporters of Sanjaya here on FR. That kid has more class, maturity and refinement on the inside than most adults out there. Such a wonderful personality and humble nature at 16.5 years of age. And that was after he took in greater hatred than even Osama bin Laden for a whole month, for reasons I could never figure out.

People didnt have any shame in mocking a little kid half their age in a manner that was unprecedented in the history of Television. Probably Bill Clinton or OJ simpson were reviled as bad as this kid inspite of never committing sin or murder, like them.

And after experiencing all this undeserved hatred, he tells that he has no bitterness towards anyone and still says that he respects Simon Cowell, who insulted him ruthlessly week after week in a disgusting manner. Simon lately had even found a conscience after the way Sanjaya has been talking about him and confessed that he “misses him” on the show.

And BTW, not surprised our desi community abandoned him instead of supporting him. We always tend to root for those who are accepted by the MSM. So typical of us Indians.

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