In 2004, at least 170 people died when a tsunami hit the fishing village of Poompuhar,  in India on the Bay of Bengal.    According to legend, this was not the first time.   As described in ancient Tamil texts and by Ptolemy and Pliny, Poompuhar was once a major port city which traded with the Roman Empire and China, until it was “swallowed by the sea,”  over two thousand years ago in what in modern terms must have been a tsunami.   Now an expedition is being launched to explore the sea bottom off Poompuhar for evidence of the ancient city.

Post-tsunami, raising the lost treasures of Poompuhar challenge divers

References in Sangam literature to a once-prosperous port town submerged by the sea, buried treasures and remnants of a flourishing maritime trade continue to fascinate archaeologists and prove an incentive to plumb the depths.

On-shore and off-shore excavations have taken place near present-day Poompuhar since the 1960s. But the Tamil Nadu government’s initiative to dig deeper and showcase ancient Poompuhar as a symbol of Tamil heritage and pride will be a significant step towards establishing archaeological evidence of the existence of the town, once the glorious capital of the early Chola Kings.

Before a full-fledged excavation is undertaken, a geophysical survey of the areas to be excavated would be conducted using echo-sounders (to detect objects on the sea bed), side-scan sonars (to scan the sea bed) and sub-bottom profilers (that function like an echo-cardiogram and detects objects beneath the sea bed).

After a geophysical survey, we send down divers,” said Kamalesh Vora, scientist-in-charge, marine archaeology centre, NIO. Equipped with diving gear, underwater cameras, excavation tools, special plastic sheets and pencils, and measuring tape, NIO divers will scour the ocean bed, at 20 metres depth, to explore and document sunken towns and their treasures.