This expedition was mounted by the Scientific Exploration Society (SES) - a leading organization in the field of scientific exploration and endeavor in remote areas around the world. As a registered charity the SES has run charitable projects in remote regions across the globe for 30 years and has been involved in some ground-breaking investigations and explorations.
Graham Hancock suggested to the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) of India that the SES, take on this project. Col John Blashford Snell OBE, chairman of the SES, immediately accepted the challenge of launching the expedition, which it was led by Monty Halls.
Working with the NIO the team, the expedition team spent three weeks diving the ruins, amassing data in the form of photographs, video and basic surveying techniques.
This was an audacious and challenging project in a remote area and challenging conditions. The reward will hopefully be the opportunity to help rewrite not only the history of India, but of civilization itself.
The expedition took place from March 17th for 3 weeks.
A MAJOR DISCOVERY OF SUBMERGED RUINS HAS BEEN MADE OFFSHORE OF MAHABALIPURAM - April 2002
A major discovery of submerged ruins has this week been made offshore of
Mahabalipuram (Mammalapuram) in Tamil Nadu, South India. The discovery,
at depths of 5 to 7 meters (15 to 21 feet) was made by a joint team from the
Dorset based Scientific Exploration Society (SES) and marine archaeologists
from India’s National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) following
up a theory first proposed by best-selling author Graham Hancock in his
recently published book “Underworld” and Channel 4 television series
“Flooded Kingdoms of the Ice Age.” Hancock, who dived with the expedition,
collected myths and traditions of Mahabalipuram which spoke of a great flood
in the area in remote times that had inundated an ancient city and interviewed
local fishermen who pointed the way to a series of large submerged structures.
Expedition-leader Monty Halls commented “Our divers were presented
with a series of structures that clearly showed man made attributes. The scale
of the site appears to be extremely extensive, with fifty dives conducted over
a three day period covering only a small area of the overall ruin field. This
is plainly a discovery of international significance that demands further exploration
and detailed investigation.”
The myths of Mahabalipuram were first set down in writing by a British
traveler J. Goldingham who visited the South Indian coastal town in 1798, at
which time it was known to sailors as the Seven Pagodas. The myths, still repeated
by local fishermen and priests today speak of six temples submerged beneath
the waves with the seventh temple still standing on the seashore. The myths
also state that a large city once stood here which was so beautiful that the
gods became jealous and sent a flood that swallowed it up entirely in a single
day.
The discoveries made by the joint SES-NIO expedition appear to confirm
that there is substance to the myths. Said Hancock: “I have argued
for many years that the world’s flood myths deserve to be taken seriously
– a view that most Western academics reject. But here in Mahabalipuram
we have proved the myths right and the academics wrong.”
The scale of the submerged ruins covering several square miles and at distances
of up to a mile from shore ranks this as a major marine-archaeological discovery
as important and as spectacular as the ruined cities submerged off Alexandria
in Egypt. Several years of work at the site will be required before the full
significance of the discovery can be assessed.
SES Information:
For further information please contact Melissa Dice the expedition organizer,
or visit the SES
site for information about this and other expeditions.
tel: 44-(0)1747 85489
Other information:
For more detailed information and photographs of the U-shaped
structure off India, as well as other submerged structures in the Gulf of Cambay
and the world, see Graham Hancock's latest book and TV series Underworld (in
bookstores since 7th February; TV series started on Channel Four [UK] after
11th February, and on The Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel shortly
afterwards).
You can see more photographs and get more information from Graham
Hanckock's site.