Number of words: 293

The last full-blown ice age started around 24,000 years ago, reached its peak around 18,000–20,000 years ago and then warmed up. Around14,000 years ago, the ice sheets began melting rapidly, the sea levels were rising around the world and weather patterns were changing. The Persian Gulf began to fill up 12,500 years ago. Around 7500–8000 years ago, the Gulf Oasis was completely flooded. Is this the event that is referred to as the Great Flood in Sumerian and Biblical accounts? It’s quite possible!

Recent archaeology suggests that the people of the Persian Gulf moved to higher ground around 7500 years ago. They also seem to have learned how to travel by water. A small clay replica of a reed boat and a depiction of a seagoing boat with masts from this period have been found in Kuwait. By this time, people knew how to farm, domesticate animals and build boats. Some groups made their way into Central Asia, taking advantage of the warmer temperatures. Others might have made their way into Europe where earlier migrations had previously pushed out the Neanderthals. Groups from South East Asia had already established themselves in China and the warmer climate would have allowed them to expand.

The Indian coastline moved several kilometres inland to roughly resemble what we would now recognize on the map. The sea moved inland all along the coast and there were two places where very large land masses were flooded. One was where we now have the Gulf of Khambat (Cambay), just south of the Saurashtra peninsula of Gujarat. The other land masses extended south from the Tamil coast and would have included Sri Lanka.

Excerpted from Pages 15-16 of ‘The Incredible History of the Geography of India by Saneev Sanyal