Researchers Stumble Upon a Lost Underwater ‘City’ During Routine Pollution Survey - It’s Not the Atlantis

It is not unusual for archaeologists to find ancient items in water. In 2000, underwater discoveries elevated to a new level when an entire city was found buried under the Gulf of Khambhat in India, according to LAD Bible. The city's age further stunned experts as it could change everything they understood about the legacy of civilizations.

The underwater city was named the Gulf of Khambhat Cultural Complex (GKCC) by researchers. As per experts, the city measured around five miles long and was buried 120 feet under the sea. It was spotted through sonar technology by the experts associated with the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT). 

India's then Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Science and Technology division, Murli Manohar Joshi, announced the findings in 2001, according to Crystal Links. He claimed that the team spotted the city while conducting routine pollution studies. On the site, researchers found several dwellings, a bath, a drainage system, a citadel, and a granary. In November, the NIOT team conducted a follow-up investigation of the site and gained many meaningful insights, the most noteworthy being its possible age. 

For the second analysis, the team dredged the area and also used sonar scans to find out more about this mysterious settlement. They were able to recover many artifacts from the city, such as pottery sherds, wood fragments, and weathered stones. All of these items were sent for examination in various laboratories. Carbon dating conducted on the wood fragments revealed that it was 9,500 years old. If the analysis is correct, then the city could be older than even the Indus Valley Civilization.

Artefacts like pottery and sculptures, as well as human remains such as bones and teeth, were also eventually unearthed from the city and underwent analysis, according to LAD Bible. They were also found to be 9,500 years old, backing the results garnered by wood fragments. 

Joshi claimed that if the assertion of experts is true, then this settlement becomes the earliest known urban culture of the Indian subcontinent, according to MI Tech News. Furthermore, the Gulf of Khambhat Cultural Complex (GKCC), with this age, could also be one of the world’s three earliest civilisations, apart from Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. All these developments could completely change history as understood by experts. 

Certain experts believe that the discovery could aid experts in understanding how the Indus Valley Civilization, also known as the Harappan Civilization, originated, according to the LAD Bible. S. Badrinaryan, who was the chief geologist for NIOT’s scientific team that conducted these examinations, claims that the city could be part of an advanced mother culture which flourished at the end of the last Ice Age, and ultimately was submerged by rising sea levels. 

If the claim is true, then it challenges the generally accepted belief that well-organized civilizations could not have existed 5,500 years ago. Though ancient religious writings have talked about such cities that were eventually taken in by water, experts were generally not on board because of a lack of proof. 

Some researchers are still not in complete agreement with the city's discovery. Iravatham Mahadevan, an expert on Harappan civilization, said that the discovered site is in an area of high tidal currents, and therefore, there is a possibility that the carbon-dated objects were swept there by waves. Certain scientists also think that only wood fragments and the dating procedure are not enough to claim that GKCC is part of an old civilization. According to them, more examinations are needed to reach a proper conclusion.