In 2001, during routine pollution studies in the Gulf of Khambhat (formerly Cambay), on the north-west coast of India, sonar equipment on National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) survey boats detected regular, geometric shapes. Divers investigated and found large, rectangular blocks embedded 30-40m below water. The manmade blocks, possibly foundation stones of buildings, reignited curiosity about an ancient city that had flourished centuries before Egyptian and Chinese civilisations, and which was devoured by the sea.
The area where the sonar images were taken was around 8km x 1.6km – about the size of the city of Manhattan or 150 times larger than the early known settlement of Jericho in today’s West Bank.
On the other side of the bay today stands the city of Dwarka. Its name means ‘gateway’, and its location made it the entry way for traders coming from west Asia to India via the Arabian Sea. The city was the first capital of the state of Gujarat...