Scientific Achievements:

6. Onshore Explorations

Onshore explorations of Early Historical port sites such as Sopara, Chaul, Kalyan and Rajbandar (Elephanta Island), Ratnagiri, Dabhol, Janjira on west coast and Kalingapatnam, Palur, Manikapatna, Khalkatapatna, region surrounding the Chilika Lake, Bimlipatnam, Bavikonda, Thotlakonda on east coast, yielded various types of pottery, beads, copper coins, terracotta ringwells, Chinese ceramics and brick structures of the Historical Period. Similarly, explorations at Mithi Virdi in Talaja taluka of Gujarat have yielded the biggest Indo-Arabian type of stone anchors ever reported from the whole of the world. These stone anchors are unique in many ways and opened up a new dimension in the field of the study of stone anchors. They lack upper holes, which is more intriguing to understand their proper function. The onshore findings from Kavaratti, Androth and Kadmat suggest that these islands were inhabited much before the Early Historical Period. Coastal explorations of Mangalore, Beypore and Calicut have been carried out to trace maritime archaeological evidences.