Evidence for Indo-Roman trade from Bet Dwarka Waters, West Coast of India A.S. Gaur, Sundaresh and Sila Tripati National Institute of Oceanography Dona Paula, Goa, India. Email: [email protected] Abstract India had a very active maritime trade contact with the Roman world between the 4th century BC and 4th century AD. In this context recent finding of a large number of stone anchors, potsherds, lead anchors and a lead ingot from a water depth of 5 to 8 m near present Bet Dwarka jetty is significant. The sherds include amphorae, jars, bowls and lids. Amphora ware is often associated with the Mediterranean trade. Archaeological findings along the Indian coast and a comparative study between amphorae from Bet Dwarka and the Mediterranean Sea suggest that the artifacts from Bet Dwarka may be datable to Ist century BC to 2nd century AD. The numbers of stone anchors suggest that this was an ancient anchoring point. Keywords: Marine Archaeology, Shipwreck, Indo-Roman Trade, Lead ingot, amphora 1 Introduction Bet Dwarka island, situated in the Gulf of Kachchh about 5 km north of mainland of Okhamandal and about 4 km to the east of Okha port. It is famous for temples dedicated to Lord Krishna. Bet Dwarka is also known as Bet Shankhodhar. The island is a narrow crooked strip of about 13 km long and consists of sand and rock. The eastern part of island is comprised of sand-hills and bushes and is called Hanuman point. Its southwest half is rocky tableland fifty to sixty feet high.The area has been mentioned frequently in foreign literatures such as in the Greek sea guide, the Periplus Maris Erythraei (1st century AD) which describes it thus: A promontory stands out from this gulf curving around from Eirion towards the east then south then west and enclosing the gulf called Baraca, which contains seven islands. Those who come to the entrance of this bay escape it by putting about a little and standing further out to sea; but those who are drawn inside into the gulf of Baraca are lost; for the waves are high and very violent and the sea is tumultuous and foul, and has eddies and rushing whirlpools. The bottom is in some places abrupt and in others rocky and sharp, so that the anchors lying there are parted some being quickly cut off and other chafing on the bottom” (Schoff, 1974). However, Ptolemy mentioned that Barake as an island in the Gulf of Kanthi, which has been identified as Gulf of Kachchh (McCrindle, 1879). Coastal sites on the western coast such as Dwarka, Prabhasa Patan, Padri, Hathab, Bharuch, Kamrej and Elephanta (Figure 1), have ample antiquities, mainly potsherds, suggesting maritime trade and commerce relations with the Mediterranean countries around the Christian Era. According to several ancient Tamil texts Romans (Yavana) had established their colonies along the east coast of India and the claim has been testified by the discovery of a large number antiquities of Roman origin, which include coins (copper and gold) and pottery. A potsherd from Alagankulam has graffiti of the Roman ship (Kashinathan, 1997). Ancient Tamil texts like Silappatikaram (Pillai, 1989) and Ahananuru (Ramchandran, 1974) vividly described the presence of Yavana in India during the early centuries of the Christian era. The offshore explorations in last 2 seasons (2000-01, 2001-02) along the Bet Dwarka coast have yielded the remains of amphorae, two lead anchors (?) and one circular lead 2 ingot. Besides a large number of stone anchors of different types and a large quantity of potsherds were discovered. Above findings have been reported for the first time from offshore regions on the Indian coast, which has generated a lots of interest among the archaeologists for better understanding of Indo-Mediterranean trade relation during early centuries of the Christian Era. The present paper therefore primarily deals with the archaeological material concerning with Indo-Mediterranean contact found during offshore explorations off Bet Dwarka. A comparative study has been made between amphorae from other coastal sites in India and shipwrecks in Mediterranean focusing the time bracket of the contact. Previous work Onshore explorations have revealed the oldest habitation datable to the late Harappan period and their main source of economy was based on the marine resources, especially for conch shell which is abundantly available in this region (Rao, 1988). There are frequent references in the literature suggesting that this area was famous for the conch shell industry during the early historic period (Chandra, 1977). An important aspect that may be noted here is a continuous occupation from Harappan to modern times (Vora, et. al. 2002). This indicates the importance of this island which, perhaps, is the only site in the Saurashtra coast where a continuous habitation for more than 3500 years is existed. Onshore and offshore explorations have been carrying out since 1983 around Bet Dwarka Island. The important findings include a late Harappan seal made on conch shell (Rao, 1988), besides a large number of pottery dating back to the Harappan and historical periods (Gaur, et al, 1994). A large number of archaeological artifacts are scattered in a large area in inter tidal zone indicating the shoreline changes in the past (Gaur and Vora, 1999). Offshore exploration near present passenger jetty brought to light a large number of stone anchors of different types (Sundaresh et al. 2003). The data on these anchors are being included in the present paper, as reader may like to understand the importance of other findings in relation with these stone anchors. Methodology The underwater diving operation was initiated north of the present Bet Dwarka jetty in a 3 to 8 meter water depth. A float was tied to each object observed underwater specially, with stone and lead anchors. For convenience of plotting, each object was tied 3 underwater with the rope. Direction of each object was obtained with the help of marine compass similarly distance between two objects were manually measured. Photography and drawing was carried out in situ. Lastly important artifacts were recovered for further study. Positions were obtained with the help of Global Position System (GPS). Results The exploration area is located about 500 m from the present shoreline between 5 to 8 m water depth towards the northwest direction of the present Bet Dwarka jetty (Figure 2). The explorations brought to light two lead anchors one lead ingot and remains of 7 amphorae apart from a large number of pottery. A large number of stone anchors were noticed from the vicinity. The description of the findings are described below. Lead Objects Three lead artifacts were discovered during the exploration. A detailed description of each artifact is given below. Object 1. Discovered in 2000-2001 season and it was lying partially buried in sediment. It has a big axial hole in the centre (Fig. 3a and 3b). The bottom is flat with a few undulating zigzag lines. A layer of marine growth also observed. It tapers upper side and the diameter at the top merges with the hole. The diameter of the anchor is 42 cm, height 11 cm and the dia of hole is 15 cm. The weight of anchor is 70.200 kilogram. Object 2. This was discovered during field season 2001-2002, and was lying exposed on the seabed (Fig. 4a and 4b). A thick layer of marine growth was observed. The height of the object is 9.5 cm and diameter at bottom is 38 cm. The diameter of axial hole is 17 cm. This anchor does not have any mark on the bottom however on the upper surface a deep groove was observed. The weight of this object is 68.500 kilogram. Object 3. Another lead object circular in shape was recovered from 7 m water depth. A layer of marine growth also noticed. The obverse of this object is rough and thick in the middle and gradually thinning towards edges (Fig. 5). Reverse is flat and smooth with out any marks on it. The diameter is 23 cm and average height is 3 cm. The weight of ingot is 8.500 kilogram. 4 Based on their shapes and sizes first two objects are considered to be the anchors while third one is identified as ingot. Stone artifact An unidentified circular stone (Fig. 6 & 7) with a small axial hole found near above lead objects (suggested as Roman hand mill stone). Lower portion is broader and bottom is flat. The object is tapering upper side with thin wall. A horizontal slit on upper side has been noticed, which is narrow on one side and open on the other side. The upper edge of axial hole has been widened. This is made of granite stone and a layer of marine growth noticed over it. Amphorae There are the remains of 7 amphorae besides a number of other sherds of amphorae and pots (Fig. 8). The black encrustation has been noticed internally on a few amphorae sherds (Figure 9). They are thick gritty and made of compact clay and has a coarse fabric and rough surface. This ware was mainly used for exporting wine and olive oil from the Roman Empire. Since the olive oil was in lesser demand in India and since sherds have been found with dried resin mixture, it is most probable that majority of Indian examples are wine amphorae. The shape of this vessel is elongated with a pointed base, a narrow cylindrical neck and two handles attached to the neck and the shoulder. The shape could be understood at Nevasa as sherds from different parts of the pots were found there (Ghosh, 1989:315).