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.
