Search for India's ancient city

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Search for India's ancient city

 

Roman amphora pieces abound in Pattanam

Archaeologists working on India's south-west coast believe they may

have solved the mystery of the location of a major port which was key

to trade between India and the Roman Empire - Muziris, in the modern-

day state of Kerala.

For many years, people have been in search of the almost mythical

port, known as Vanchi to locals.

 

Much-recorded in Roman times, Muziris was a major centre for trade

between Rome and southern India - but appeared to have simply

disappeared.

 

Now, however, an investigation by two archaeologists - KP Shajan and

V Selvakumar - has placed the ancient port as having existed where

the small town of Pattanam now stands, on India's south-west Malabar

coast.

 

" It is the first time these remains have been found on this coast, "

Dr Sharjan told BBC World Service's Discovery programme.

 

" We believe it could be Muziris. "

 

Key evidence

 

Pattanam is the only site in the region to produce architectural

features and material contemporary to the period.

 

" No other site in India has yielded this much archaeological

evidence, " said Dr Roberta Tomber, of the British Museum.

 

" We knew it was very important, and we knew if we could find it,

there should be Roman and other Western artefacts there - but we

hadn't been able to locate it on the ground. "

 

 

Muziris is located on a river, distant from Tindis - by river and

sea, 500 stadia; and by river from the shore, 20 stadia

 

Roman description of the location of Muziris

Until recently, the best guesses for the location of Muziris centred

on the mouth of the Periyar river, at a place called Kodungallor -

but now the evidence suggests a smaller town nearby, Pattanam, is the

real location.

 

Drs Shajan and Selvakumar now meet locals on a regular basis as they

continue their work, with some older people in particular remembering

picking up glass beads and pottery after heavy rains.

 

Undoubtedly, they told Discovery, the many pieces of amphora are from

the Mediterranean - a key to establishing Pattanam as the place where

Muziris once stood.

 

" These amphora are so common, " Dr Shajan said.

 

" We have hundreds of shards of Mediterranean pottery. "

 

Mystery disappearance

 

Muziris became important because of the Romans' interest in trading,

and their desire to have contact with regions beyond the reach of

conquest and set up trading routes with these places.

 

" India had a long fascination for the Romans, going back to Alexander

the Great, " Dr Tomber said.

 

 

Glass and precious stones are key finds in the site area

" Alexander was a huge model for succeeding Roman emperors, and the

fact that he had been in India and brought back tales of the

fantastic things, the people and products there, heightened the Roman

desire to continue that association. "

 

What is known, from a 1st Century document, is that the harbour

was " exceptionally important for trade. "

 

Clues to its location are provided in ancient Indian texts. Professor

Rajan Gerta, from Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala, said that

there are many references to " ships coming with gold, and going back

with 'black gold' " - pepper.

 

" These ships went back with a whole lot of pepper and various

aromatic spices, collected from the forests, " he added.

 

Merchants from a number of different cultures are believed to have

operated in the port, and there are numerous Indian finds from the

time as well as Roman ones.

 

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.

 

Dr Tomber said that it has always been presumed that the flow of the

trade between Rome and India lasted between the 1st Century BC

through to the end of the 1st Century AD, but that there is growing

evidence that this trade continued much longer, into the 6th and

early 7th Century - although not necessarily continually.

 

" We're not quite clear how long it went on in Muziris, and the more

evidence we can gather from the artefacts, the clearer the picture

that will build up, " she added.

 

" What is interesting is that in the 6th Century, a Greek writer,

writing about the Indian Ocean, wrote that the Malabar coast was

still a thriving centre for the export of pepper - but he doesn't

mention Muziris. "

 

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4970452.stm