Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Photos: Ancient India through a geologist’s eyes



The secrets to how we got here lurk all around us. Finding and deciphering them takes time and a bit of luck. Thanks to the unrelenting work of geologists and archaeologists, both Indian and foreign, we know more each year, about how our nation took shape. 

The ancients left behind their own clues that are both fascinating and revelatory. See how India has evolved over billions of year  

UPDATED ON SEP 19, 2021 04:37 PM IST7 Photos
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3.2 billion years Before Present: The Aravallis, India’s oldest mountain range, begin to take shape, as tectonic plates push against one another. Erosion over the next 2 billion years will mould them into the shape you see today. The mountains stretch 692 km, from Gujarat to Delhi, passing through Rajasthan and Haryana. The name comes from the Sanskrit words ‘ara’ and ‘vali’, which means line of peaks. (Wikimedia Commons)

3.2 billion years Before Present: The Aravallis, India’s oldest mountain range, begin to take shape, as tectonic plates push against one another. Erosion over the next 2 billion years will mould them into the shape you see today. The mountains stretch 692 km, from Gujarat to Delhi, passing through Rajasthan and Haryana. The name comes from the Sanskrit words ‘ara’ and ‘vali’, which means line of peaks. (Wikimedia Commons)

UPDATED ON SEP 19, 2021 04:37 PM IST
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65 million years Before Present: The Rajasaurus, a fierce dinosaur native to the Narmada valley, goes extinct. This carnivore with a horned crest probably even ate other dinosaurs. The Rajasaurus was probably one of the last dinosaur species to survive on the subcontinent, as around the world too, the age of the dinosaurs drew to a close. In the photo is a replica of the skull of a Rajasaurus, at the Regional Museum of Natural History in Bhopal.(Swapnil Karambelkar via Wikimedia Commons)

65 million years Before Present: The Rajasaurus, a fierce dinosaur native to the Narmada valley, goes extinct. This carnivore with a horned crest probably even ate other dinosaurs. The Rajasaurus was probably one of the last dinosaur species to survive on the subcontinent, as around the world too, the age of the dinosaurs drew to a close. In the photo is a replica of the skull of a Rajasaurus, at the Regional Museum of Natural History in Bhopal.(Swapnil Karambelkar via Wikimedia Commons)

UPDATED ON SEP 19, 2021 04:37 PM IST
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47 million years Before Present: The birth of the Himalayas. As the Indian Plate collides with the Eurasian Plate at the astonishing speed of 15 cm per year, the world’s highest peaks are formed. The plates continue to collide to this day, causing the Himalayas, including Mount Everest, to grow ever higher.(Landsat 7 Satellite / NASA)

47 million years Before Present: The birth of the Himalayas. As the Indian Plate collides with the Eurasian Plate at the astonishing speed of 15 cm per year, the world’s highest peaks are formed. The plates continue to collide to this day, causing the Himalayas, including Mount Everest, to grow ever higher.(Landsat 7 Satellite / NASA)

UPDATED ON SEP 19, 2021 04:37 PM IST
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1.5 million - 385,000 years Before Present: At Attirampakkam near present-day Chennai in Tamil Nadu, early man leaves behind hand-axes and cleavers. Over the next million years, things progress to the middle stone age, when tools become smaller, sleeker, sharper.(Courtesy Sharma Centre for Heritage Education)

1.5 million - 385,000 years Before Present: At Attirampakkam near present-day Chennai in Tamil Nadu, early man leaves behind hand-axes and cleavers. Over the next million years, things progress to the middle stone age, when tools become smaller, sleeker, sharper.(Courtesy Sharma Centre for Heritage Education)

UPDATED ON SEP 19, 2021 04:37 PM IST
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500,000 - 600,000 years Before Present: The Narmada human dies. Geologist Arun Sonakia finds just a skull cap on the banks of the Narmada at Hathnora, a village in Madhya Pradesh, in 1982. It is the only early human (Homo erectus) fossil found in India. From it we know that India was a home, even before the Homo sapiens.  (Photo by Arun Sonakia)

500,000 - 600,000 years Before Present: The Narmada human dies. Geologist Arun Sonakia finds just a skull cap on the banks of the Narmada at Hathnora, a village in Madhya Pradesh, in 1982. It is the only early human (Homo erectus) fossil found in India. From it we know that India was a home, even before the Homo sapiens.  (Photo by Arun Sonakia)

UPDATED ON SEP 19, 2021 04:37 PM IST
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8,000 years Before Present: The Indus Valley Civilisation stretches from present-day Afghanistan, through Pakistan and into northwestern India, making it the most extensive of the world’s three earliest civilisations (the other two being in Egypt and Mesopotamia). In the photo is a view of the great bath and granary from Mohenjo Daro, one of the Indus Valley Civilisation’s busy cities, currently in Pakistan’s Sindh province.(Harappa.com / Jonathan Mark Kenoye)

8,000 years Before Present: The Indus Valley Civilisation stretches from present-day Afghanistan, through Pakistan and into northwestern India, making it the most extensive of the world’s three earliest civilisations (the other two being in Egypt and Mesopotamia). In the photo is a view of the great bath and granary from Mohenjo Daro, one of the Indus Valley Civilisation’s busy cities, currently in Pakistan’s Sindh province.(Harappa.com / Jonathan Mark Kenoye)

UPDATED ON SEP 19, 2021 04:37 PM IST
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3,200 years Before Present: The Thamirabarani River civilisation takes root in the Tirunelveli region of present-day Tamil Nadu. There is evidence of trade between this and the Indus Valley civilisation.(Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department)

3,200 years Before Present: The Thamirabarani River civilisation takes root in the Tirunelveli region of present-day Tamil Nadu. There is evidence of trade between this and the Indus Valley civilisation.(Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department)

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