HYDERABAD, INDIA, February 2, 2003: When the Department of Ocean Development scientists recently announced that they had discovered the world’s oldest human settlement in the Gulf of Cambay off the coast of Gujarat, they attracted the attention of renowned marine biologist, S.R. Rao. Rao explains, “Such a flippant and premature announcement to the media prior to publishing the data in a peer-reviewed journal put credibility of Indian science at stake.” The DOD have backed up their discovery with acoustic images and dating of the carbon in a piece of wood taken from the site. Rao argues that the wood could have come from anywhere and that the DOD did not send a diver down to the site, nor did they take pictures or consult an archaeologist. However DOD secretary Harsh Guta feels that Westerners are not willing to accept that modern civilization emerged from India. The journal of the Geological Society of India has agreed to publish a paper by DOD scientists provided that they temper their claims. S.R. Rao has written two books about sunken settlements and was instrumental in discovering the ancient Dwaraka settlement, talked about in the epic Mahabharata, off the coast of Gujarat.
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