Yacht buried in Kerala for 1,010 years to be excavated By Sanu George, Indo-Asian News Service
Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 18 (IANS) The Kerala government has decided to excavate a yacht that has been buried underground for a thousand years. The 25-metre-long and five-metre-wide yacht is located at Shertalai town, 100 km from here. Wooden samples from the yacht sent to Lucknow's National Institute of Paleo Botany have dated it as 1,010 years old, Kerala's Archaeology Minister T.M. Jacob told reporters here Sunday. Excavation will start in November. The government has earmarked Rs. 1.5 million for the exercise. Central assistance was likely. The minister claimed this would be the first occasion that a yacht would be excavated in the country. A team of experts including chemists, geologists, pathologists and others would later work on the recovered parts of the yacht. The first pieces from the yacht were found in 1995 by labourers digging at a compound at Kadakkara Pall, a coastal hamlet three km from Shertalai. But permission to examine the wooden object came only in April. Archaeologists found ropes, Chinese pottery, bones, charcoal and burnt wood just a metre below ground level. Further digging exposed the yacht's top. The minister said the yacht would be shifted to the Tripunithura Hill Palace Museum near Kochi. The place where the yacht was found will be declared a protected area. Since the news spread, many people have been flocking to the location. --Indo-Asian News Service =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-W-E-B---S-I-T-E-=-=-= To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from GoaNet | http://www.goacom.com/goanet =================================================================== For (un)subscribing or for help, Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dont want so many e=mails? Join GoaNet-Digest instead ! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Help support non-commercial projects in Goa by advertizing!! * * * * Your ad here !!
