from Stephen Knapp Website
These are numbered in the chronological order in which they were
discovered throughout the year.
Michael Cremo recently attended a meeting of ranking Indian governmental
officials at which Murli Monohar Joshi, Minister for Science and Technology,
confirmed the archeological find by an Indian oceanographic survey team.
Could the recent discovery of a sunken city off the Northwest Coast of India
near Surat revolutionize our concept of history?
A leading
authority on anomalous archeological evidence, Michael Cremo is currently
touring Indian universities and cultural institutions to promote the release
of "The Hidden History of the Human Race", the abridged Indian edition of "Forbidden
Archeology" (Torchlight Publishing 1993).
After the Khmer Rouge
laid down their arms in Cambodia, the ancient Angkor Wat complex that was
built between the 9th and 14th century by the Khmer Kings became available
for exploration by tourists and religious seekers. This article, written by
news correspondent David Richie, delves into the wonders of some 30 temples
that have been cleared in the jungle and can be visited. Of special interest
to Hindus is a temple dedicated to Lord Siva. Built in the 10th century and
located 20 km from Bayon, the impressive structure built of red sandstone
has been well preserved and houses intricate carvings of deities. Hindus
would also marvel at "The River of a Thousand Lingas" at
Kobal Spien. After
an hour-long hike, the site reveals lots of small linga-shaped stones right
in the river surrounded by deities of Vishnu, Rama, Lakshmi, and
Hanuman. At Preah Khan, the Temple of the Sacred Sword built in 1191, 500 Hindu deities
were once worshiped during 20 major festivals. Now the site houses birds,
cicadas, and lizards. To bring the vastness of the complex into perspective,
the size was compared to the area covered by inner Washington D.C.
In a major discovery, a team of
Geological Survey of
Pakistan (GSP) has discovered 65 million years old fossils of Crocodile in
Vitakri area, some 310 km off here, GSP officials confided to
PNS here on
Wednesday. The specimen collected to date includes a well-preserved rostrum
of a new genus and species named as "Pabwehshi Pakistanensis".
The fossils
are an anterior portion of left and right mandibular rostrum preserving the
upper and lower teeth in place, said Asif Rana, Curator, Museum of
Historical Geology of GSP to this correspondent. An ancient underwater city has been discovered off the coast of southeastern India. Divers from India and England made the discovery based on the statements of local fishermen and the old Indian legend of the Seven Pagodas. The ruins, which are off the coast of Mahabalipuram, cover many square miles and seem to prove that a major city once stood there. A further expedition to the region is now being arranged which will take place at the beginning of 2003. The discovery was made on April 1 by a joint team of divers from the Indian National Institute of Oceanography and the Scientific Exploration Society based in Dorset. Expedition leader Monty Halls said: "Our divers were presented with a series of structures that clearly showed man-made attributes. The scale of the site appears to be extremely extensive, with 50 dives conducted over a three-day period covering only a small area of the overall ruin field. This is plainly a discovery of international significance that demands further exploration and detailed investigation."
More information
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Recent studies suggests a link between
Indus Valley and Mayans of Central America. The studies focused on the
calendars of the two advanced civilizations. The Indus Valley inhabitants
followed a calendar based on the movements of Jupiter, and the Mayans
followed one based on the Venus. In the Puranas, a secondary Hindu scripture,
Jupiter, Brihaspati, was acknowledged to be the leader of the gods, while
Venus, Shukra, was the leader of the asuras. The texts further state that
the devas and asuras lived on opposite sides of the Earth. Mexico and India
are at opposite sides in longitude. The correspondences were pointed out by
B. G. Siddarth, director of the B. M. Birla Science Centre in Hyderabad. He
also said the Hindu story of the churning of the ocean has been found in
carvings in Mexico, as well Mayan representations of a tortoise carrying
twelve pillars similar to Indian illustrations. Dr. Ganapati Sthapati
of
Chennai, a foremost expert on Vastu Shatra, the ancient Hindu architecture,
has visited the Mayan structures in Central America and found many
similarities between the design and construction methods of the Mayans and
that of the ancient Hindus.
Recent excavations at Taxila have pushed back the history
of the ancient settlement by another six centuries to the neolithic age.
Earlier, artifacts collected by Sir John Marshall had dated Taxila back to
518 BC. The new study also indicates the existence of cities in the valley
between 1200 BC and 1100 BC. Potshreds and other terracotta, found at the
lowest occupational level, 15 feet in depth, is the main evidence of the
latest discovery which establishes that Taxila and the Indus Valley
Civilization settlements of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa existed almost
simultaneously. Sir John, who excavated several Taxila sites between 1913
and 1934, had found four occupational levels. The latest study has unearthed
six occupational levels which have been listed afresh as pre-Achaemenian,
Achaemenian, Macedonian, Mauriyan, Bactarian Greek and Scythian. Archaeology
Department and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization, have also found for the first time an integrated drainage
system comprising open as well as covered drains.
The surfacing of five ancient
Siva temples partly in sand dunes along the Pennar river in Jyothi village
in Siddhavatam mandal has led to the discovery that as many as 108 Siva
temples have been buried under sand at the place. Besides the rare presence
of 108 Siva temples dating back to 1213 AD, a silver chariot and a diamond
crown said to have been presented to the Jyothi Siddhavateswara Swamy temple
by Kakatiya Rudrama Devi were present in Jyothi village, according to
inscriptions discovered. The 108 Siva temples were said to have been
constructed by King Rakkasi Gangarayadeva and his aide, Jantimanayakudu, in
the 12th century and were buried under sand during the Muslim Kings' rule,
says Pothuraju Venkata Subbanna, a retired headmaster and chairman of
several temples in Siddhavatam mandal. The main temple is called Jyothi
Siddheswara Swamy temple. A life-size inscription in the temple has a
swastika symbol on the left and the Sun, Moon and a sturdy bull on the
right. Excavation of an ancient seaport on Egypt's Red Sea found spices, gems and other exotic cargo showing, archaeologists, that say sea trade linking the Roman Empire and India 2,000 years ago rivaled the legendary Silk Road at times. The project funded by Dutch and American agencies, at Berenike, on the Sudan-Egypt border along the shores of the Red Sea, has revealed that the location was the southern-most, military sea port of the Roman Empire in the first century A.D. and the key transfer point for a flourishing trade with India, whose magnitude was hitherto not known. A grueling nine-year-long international archaeological expedition in Egypt, has unearthed the most extensive evidence so far, of vigorous trade between India and the "Roman Empire" 2000 years ago. Co-directors of the dig, Willeke Wendrich, of the University of California, Los Angeles and Steven Sidebotham, of the University of Delaware, report their findings in the July issue of the journal Sahara. In major findings to be published in the July issue of the monthly scientific journal Sahara and announced today at the archaeological database website of the expedition , researchers report having unearthed the largest single cache of black pepper " about 8 kg " ever excavated from a Roman dig. They were able to establish that this variety was only grown in antiquity in South India.
They also
uncovered numerous beams hewn of teak, a wood indigenous to India, and
Indian sailcloth. Because of the drier weather of Egypt, the Berenike site
preserved organic substances from India that have never been found in the
more humid subcontinent, like sail cloth, matting and baskets dating to AD
30-AD 70, all traces of which were destroyed in the more humid climate of
the subcontinent. In one of the surprise findings, the archaeologists also
report stumbling on a Roman "trash dump'' containing well-preserved evidence
of Indian `batik' work and ancient printed textiles as well as ceramics.
Indian pottery found in the 30-acre site suggests Indian traders lived in
the town amid a hodgepodge of other cultures. Archaeologists found evidence
that a dozen different scripts, including Tamil-Brahmi, Greek, Latin and
Hebrew, were used in Berenike. Elizabeth Lyding Will, an emeritus professor
of classics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, said the finds
help add "a whole new dimension to Roman archaeology." "It looks to me that
India was some sort of engine driving Roman trade during the early empire.
It could have been the chief focus of their trade."
A Siva Lingam monument, a relic from the lost
Champa
Kingdom, stands proudly at the My Son site in Vietnam. Images depicting the
Yoni and Lingam can be found in Hindu-influenced cultures across the entire
Asian region. But the Cham religion in Vietnam has taken these images and
fashioned them into a distinctive and different form. The Lingam and Yoni in
the Cham religion differ from their Indian progenitors and their presence in
Vietnam is evidence of the profound influence of Indian culture and religion
in the country. It is also proof of the strong sense of identity of the
Cham
people, who borrowed from Hinduism and created statues and temples with a
style all of their own. Cham Linga sculptures generally have a flat top,
with only a few featuring spherical shapes. They are generally found in
three different styles: square; another in two parts, one cylindrical and
one square; and another has a cylindrical upper, the middle is octagonal and
the bottom is square. The Linga and Yoni are usually constructed as one
structure. Traditionally only one Linga is attached to the Yoni, but in some
Cham sculptures many Linga can be found on a single Yoni platform. The
differences between Cham sculptures and those found elsewhere in the Hindu
world demonstrate subtle changes from their origins.
"Diamond" comes from the Greek "adamao" meaning, "I
tame" or "I subdue," according to this story which appeared on the
CBS
program, "60 Minutes II." The adjective "adamas" was used to describe the
hardest substance known, and eventually became synonymous with diamond.
Knowledge of diamond starts in India, where it was first mined. The word
most generally used for diamond in Sanskrit is "vajra," "thunderbolt,"
and
"Indrayudha," "Indra's weapon." Because
Indra is the warrior God from Vedic
scriptures, the foundation of Hinduism, the thunderbolt symbol indicates
much about the Indian conception of diamond. Early descriptions of diamond
date to the 4th century BC. By then diamond was a valued material. The
earliest known reference to diamond is a Sanskrit manuscript by a minister
in a northern Indian dynasty. The work is dated from 320-296 BCE. Today
diamonds are mined in about 25 countries, on every continent but Europe and
Antarctica. For 1,000 years, starting in roughly the 4th century BCE, India
was the only source of diamonds. Diamond production has increased enormously
in the 20th century. India's maximum production, perhaps 50,000 to 100,000
carats annually in the 16th century, is very small compared to the current
production of around 100 million carats. Major production is now dominated
by Australia, Botswana, Russia, and Congo Republic (Zaire), but South Africa
is still a major producer, in both volume and value.
A Cangkuang villager hunting for
termites under a tree discovered a sharp hand-carved stone. Further
investigation revealed that the location was the site of an ancient Hindu
temple. The site is especially significant as the archeologists are hoping
to obtain more information about the Sundanese kingdoms in
West Java. Tony Djubiantono, head of West Java's Bandung Archeology Agency says, "Based on a
preliminary finding of various remains there are indications that this is a
Hindu temple built in the seventh or eighth century." The article says,
"Buddhism and Hinduism were Indonesia's first world religions, popular among
the first kingdoms of Java until the 14th and 15th centuries when Islam
started to gain a greater foothold in the archipelago." Djubiantono further
describes the finding of such a temple, "as spectacular and very significant
for recovering the missing history of the so-called Tatar Sunda, or Sunda
territory."
This information is a crucial aspect for an insight into the mysterious
legend called Ramayana, which was supposed to have taken place in Treta Yuga
(more than 17,00,000 years ago).
In this epic, there is a mentioning about a bridge, which was built between
Rameshwaram (India) and the Sri Lankan coast under the supervision of a
dynamic and invincible figure called Rama who is supposed to be the
incarnation of the Supreme Being.
This information may not be of much importance to the archeologists who are
interested in exploring the origins of man, but it is sure to open the
spiritual gates of the people of the world to have come to know an ancient
history linked to the Indian mythology.
A high-power delegation from South Korea visited
Ayodhya to revive
two millennia-old ties with the temple town. The South Koreans discovered
that a Princess of Ayodhya was married to Korean King Suro in the first
century CE. Suro was the King of Kimhay kingdom or the present Korea. The
Princess was married to the Korean King at the age of 16. The Koreans
believe that the Princess was the mother of the descendants who unified
various Korean kingdoms in the 7th century CE. Since the first century CE
her descendants prospered and became the largest clan in Korea, known as
the Karak, whose members had been highly distinguished people. The present
President of South Korea, Kim Dae-Jung, believes that he is also a
descendant of the Great Princess of Ayodhya. She is regarded as the most
blessed queen of Korea in the last 2,000 years, and Koreans believe that
this could be due to the religious significance of the great temple city of
Ayodhya where Lord Rama was born. The Counsel General of Korea said "I hope
historians will be able to learn more about this great ancient Hindu city."
He urged the ex-Raja of Ayodhya BPN Misra to strengthen the cultural ties
between Ayodhya and South Korea.
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