Today The Guardian reported the discovery of what appears to be a temple complex up to a mile off the coast of Tamil Nadu, India. This would seem to corroborate the Tamil myth referred to in the post above. The full report, entitled "Divers 'discover' ancient temple", can be read at http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,682031,00.html and is copied below.
Indian and British scientists have brought back pictures from the seabed of what they say could be a vast temple complex off the coast of Tamil Nadu - the ruins of a long-lost city, drowned beneath the waves.The granite ruins, if they are not natural formations, could be what remains of six legendary temples built 1,500 to 1,200 years ago, submerged as a result of natural subsidence.
However, Graham Hancock, the best-selling author of controversial books about lost civilisations, said the ruins could be much older. If they were submerged by globally rising sea levels, their age would be around 5,000 years.
The pictures are the result of a three day diving expedition by India's National Institute of Oceanography and the Dorset-based Scientific Exploration Society. Mr Hancock, who dived with the team, said yesterday that SES had carried out the expedition at his suggestion.
"Our divers were presented with a series of structures that clearly showed man-made attributes," said Monty Halls of the SES, who led the expedition.
"This is plainly a discovery of international significance that demands further exploration and detailed investigation."
The site lies at depths of five to seven metres, 500 to 700 metres off Mahabalipuram, the site of a temple on dry land that dates to the first millennium AD.
Mr Hancock, who is not an archaeologist and has infuriated many experts with his theories, said that he had inferred the existence of six temples underwater by collating the stories of local fishermen with a legend that referred to Mahabalipuram as the Seven Pagodas.
Mr Hancock admitted yesterday that the submerged ruins might not be old enough to relate to the kind of post-ice age flooding that destroyed the supposed civilisations of his books.
But he said their discovery vindicated his approach of seeking the substance in local myths. "I have argued for 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."
Mr Hancock said the site ran for about two kilometres, and contained "a large conglomeration of large, clean-cut blocks in discrete areas. They seemed like several large ceremonial buildings surrounded by a lot of smaller ones."
This is your local underwater civilisation news-spotter signing off.
Earnest