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Abstract
Poompuhar, a flourishing port in the beginning of the Christian era played a major role in maritime activities and
cultural expansion in the history of India. The marine archaeological explorations around Poompuhar brought to
light the remains of terracotta ring wells, brick structures, storage jars in the inter tidal zone and brick structures,
stone structures, pottery from offshore explorations strongly support the habitation sites. There are several
references suggesting the shift of shoreline at Poompuhar and Tranquebar, which may be one of the reasons of its
submergence. The main process directly responsible for shoreline change is influenced by the waves. The studies
on waves vilere used to estimate the long shore sediment transport, which indicates the predominant direction of
transport is northerly from March to October and southerly from November to February. Cyclones during north-
east monsoon would considerably increase the volume of sediment transport towards south with a short spell. It is
noticed that for the occurrence of every cyclone there was a permanent loss of beach due to erosion. The global
sea level is estimated to be 1 mm per year and may have resulted in 2 m net sea level rise in the last 2000 years.
Since the near shore bathymetry gradient is gentle 1 m sea level rise may cover up to several hundred meters of
coastline. The recent inundation during tsunami was up to 500m from the shore. The paper deals with the
archaeological findings around Poompuhar and the impact of coastal processes on the shoreline change in the
area, which was responsible for the submergence of ancient port town and other monuments in the region.
The narrowness of the eastern continental shelf is also It is interesting to note here that a 12'hcentury AD city
another responsible factor for the coastal erosion. This known as Dunwick in Baltic Sea, Europe, is lying be-
shelf is less than 50 krn wide. Wave propagation over tween 5 -16 m water depths as a result of coastal ero-
a narrow shelf results in low frictional loss of energy sion. Besides these, the recent evidences from west
and thus expends much energy on the coastline, caus- coast of India (Nair et a1 1997) and Florida (Locker et
ing great coastal erosion. The removal of sand from a1 1996), in the Atlantic indicate episodic and on rapid
the beaches results in destabilization and destruction sea level rise and fall of the sea level. The rates re-
of coastal structures. ported of 500 to 1000 years. These findings have now
dispelled the notion that sea level is a stable and un-
The present inclination of coastline at Poompuhar changing datum. The inference drawn from the above
(359" w.r.t north) is found to be sensitively balanced is that during a period of rising sea level the zone of
since, any slight increase in approaching wave angles erosion shifts landward and during a fall in sea level
significantly increase the volume and also may alter the zone of erosion shifts seaward, resulting in sea-
the direction of sediment transport in this region. The ward progradation of land. An example of this is the
volume of southerly drift during monsoon months, i.e. location of ancient ports at Korkai and Algankulam in
in November and December is large to nearly balance south Tamil Nadu coast far inland but which were pa-
the northerly-drift taking place in another 8 months, tently designed and located to be on the shoreline.
i.e. from March to October. It is found that for the
coastal orientation of 360" to north, i.e. loshift in the From the above discussions, it can be attributed that
present orientation, the annual net transport would be coastal erosion followed by invasion of sea has played
opposite, in the southerly direction. Occurrence of a major role in submergence of these structures and
cyclones would considerably increase the volume of sea level changes might have played a contributory
sediment transport towards south within a short spell. role.
It is noticed that for the occurrence of every cyclone,
there was a permanent loss of beach due to erosion. Conclusions
Comparison with the Indian Naval hydrographic Charts The archaeologicalevidences from inter tidal zone and
(Nos. 3006 and 3007) surveyed during 1963 and 1993 offshore have indicated a possible time bracket for the
indicates that 150 - 200 m wide coastal belt has been settlement between the 31dcentury BC and the 31dcen-
GLIMPSES OF MARINE ARCHAEOLOGY IN INDIA
tury AD. Archaeological evidences have also provided References
data on the shoreline movements, which is about 300m
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from the present coast. The relative sea level rise has Inter science Publication, Chichester, UK, pp. 219.
undoubtedly been taking place on coasts where the
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The study on waves and sediment movement shows Damodaran, K., 1992. Sites in and around Poompuhar. Seminar
that the Poompuhar coastline is subjected to relatively on Marine Archaeology (Ed. N. Kashinathan), State
low volume of transport. It is seen that the occurrence Department of Archaeology, Madras, pp. 71-74.
of prolonged high wave activity due to cyclone, dur- IAR 1962 - 63, "IndianArchaeology, A review". Archaeological
ing northeast monsoon may tend to change the annual Sunfeyof India, New Delhi.
net transport towards south. Under such circum-
stances, the large volume of southerly transport is likely Jena, B. K., P. Chandramohan, and V. Sanil Kumar, 2001.
to enter into the adjacent Palk Bay causing spitslshoals. Longshore transport based on directional waves along
north Tamilnadu Coast. India. Journal of Coastal Re-
Large accumulation of sand and emergence of such search, 17:322-327.
sand spitdislands in Palk Bay have been widely re-
ported. As the Palk Bay is well protected for southerly Locker, S.D., L.P. Hine, and E.A. Shinon, 1996. Magnitude and
waves, no mechanism is set to transport these depos- timing of episodic sea-level rise during the last
deglaciation. Geolog)?,24.92327-30.
ited material towards north. This phenomenon appears
to be the primary reason for the timely depletion of Nair, R.R., N.H. Hashimi, R. Nigam, M.C. Pathak., and K.L.
sediment supply to the littoral system and for the in- Kotnala, 1997. Rapid submergence 'during Historic
termittent erosion along the Nagapattinam - Times evidence from Submerged wall of Vijay durg Fort.
Abstract, First fn?ernationalCottference or1 Marine Ar-
Poompuhar coastal segment. Such processes would chaeology of lndian Ocean Countries held at Chennai,
have prevailed right from the historical period, accel- 2 1-22 February, 1997.
erating erosion in Poompuhar coast, which may con-
tinue till the coastline takes the shape/orientation to N10 Tech. Report, 1995. Marine Archaeological Explorations in
balance the littoral drift over an annual cycle. Poornpulzarn~aters,National Institute of Oceanography,
Goa No. NIOISPl13195