World's 1st ancient urban settlement discovered in W. India

Indian archaeologists have discovered the world's first ancient urban settlement in the western state of Gujarat, local media reported on Tuesday.

A team from the National Institute of Oceanography has claimed to have found the archaeological site at Dholavira in the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat. And it believes that the settlement was probably destroyed by a tsunami nearly 3,500 years ago.

"This is the oldest site known to the world which we believe was hit by a tsunami," National Institute of Oceanography chief S. W.A. Naqvi told a press conference on Monday.

Locally as Kotada timba, Dholavira is the site that contains ruins of an ancient Indus Valley Civilization. It is one of the five largest Harappan sites and most prominent archaeological sites in India belonging to the Indus Valley Civilization.

It is also considered as having been the grandest of cities of its time. The 120 acres quadrangular city lay between two seasonal streams, the Mansar in the north and Manhar in the south. The site was occupied from 2650 B.C., declining slowly after about 2100 B.C.

(APD)