DELHI, INDIA, February 11, 2005: Archaeologists say they have discovered some stone remains from the coast close to India’s famous beach front Mahabalipuram temple in Tamil Nadu state following the December 26 tsunami. They believe that the “structures” could be the remains of an ancient and once-flourishing port city in the area housing the famous 1,200-year-old rock-hewn temple. Three pieces of remains, which include a granite lion, were found buried in the sand after the coastline receded in the area after the tsunami struck. “They could be part of the small seaport city which existed here before water engulfed them. They could be part of a temple or a building. We are investigating,” says T. Sathiamoorthy of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Archaeologists say that the stone remains date back to 7th Century ce and are nearly 6ft tall. They have elaborate engravings of the kind that are found in the Mahabalipuram temple. The temple, which is a World Heritage site, represents some of the earliest-known examples of Dravidian architecture dating back to 7th Century ce. The monument also has gigantic open air reliefs hewn out from granite. The tsunami waves have also helped the archaeologists in desilting one such relief which had been covered with sand for ages. A half-completed rock relief of an elephant got “naturally desilted” by the ferocious waves and is now drawing large crowds at this popular tourist destination. For the past three years, archaeologists working with divers from India and England have found the remnants of the ancient port. Archaeologists say they had done underwater surveys 1 km into the sea from the temple and found some undersea remains.
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