HISTORY, LEGENDS & MYTHOLOGY

Archaeologists unearth 1000-year-old
coins in Dwarka
by Snehal Vaydea

     Dwarka ( Gujarat ): In a rare finding, archaeologists in Dwarka have dug up ancient coins, which they believe to be at least 1000-year-old. "The coins that we found at levels are of a later era as compared to the ones found further down. So, they are all of various centuries," said Alok Tripathi, Superintending Archaeologist of Underwater Archaeology Wing, ASI. Tripathi said that the coins still needed to be cleaned up, after which they would be sent to a numismatist for identification. The work at the excavation site would be carried on further up to a depth of seven metres, he added. A team of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which has been carrying out excavation work at the site, since early this year, has till date managed to explore to a depth of three metres, excavating other artefacts such as toys and utensils. According to an Archaeologist, different levels revealed different cache of coins from different eras and identification of their respective eras would require extensive research. Amit, a visitor from Rajasthan praised the team for their work. "I think that more work should be done on it, more aid be pumped in. There is a lot of hard work going on here. If there is more assistance, a new chapter will unfold. We will come to know what civilization we have descended from and which era it lived in and how things were. These revelations might be of international interest," he said. The ancient city of Dwarka is said to have been destroyed and submerged by the sea six times over and the current city is the seventh one to be built in the area.
-April 1, 2007    

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