'Saurashtra stone anchors' (Ring-stones) from Dwarka and Somnath, west coast of India
IR@NIO: CSIR-National Institute Of Oceanography, Goa
View Archive Info| Field | Value | |
| Creator |
Gaur, A.S.
Sundaresh Tripati, S. Gudigar, P. Bandodkar, S.N. |
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| Date |
2006-11-14T11:08:48Z
2006-11-14T11:08:48Z 2002 |
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| Identifier |
Puratattva, vol.32, 131-145p.
http://drs.nio.org/drs/handle/2264/487 |
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| Description |
Last two decades of marine archaeological research along the Indian coast has brought to light a large number of stone anchors of different types and sizes, indicating that the Indian coast has witnessed brisk maritime activities in the past. Gujarat provides evidence of the earliest such activity in the form of dockyard and stone anchors at Lothal and a jetty and stone anchors from Kuntasi. Each and every Harappan site in Gujarat evidences the use of conchshells and a variety of marine fishes highlighting the exploitation of marine resources. Offshore explorations by the Marine Archaeology Centre of the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, India, brought to light a large number of stone anchors from Okhamandal region and from Somnath in Gujarat, Vijaydurg and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra. A few grapnel-type stone anchors have been reported from Lakshadweep and from Tamil Nadu coast. The majority of stone anchors from Gujarat fall in three categories: (1) composite, (2) grapnel, and (3) ring stone types. The last mentioned is a very enigmatic type as it is spheroid in shape with an axial hole and has been reported mainly from Gujarat coast and from Oman. Subsequently, many more ring stone have been found from Dwarka and Somnath waters. The presence of these ring-stones in great number in Somnath and Dwarka provided an opportunity to discuss further their uses and origin. The present paper therefore, deals with a detailed description of the ring-stone anchors discovered so far from Dwarka and Somnath and their association with other types. The possible date and various hypotheses on their uses are also discussed
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| Format |
267513 bytes
application/pdf |
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| Language |
en
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| Subject |
Marine Archaeology
stone anchors |
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| Title |
'Saurashtra stone anchors' (Ring-stones) from Dwarka and Somnath, west coast of India
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| Type |
Article
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