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extended abstracts - Geomorphic Processes and Geoarchaeology

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<strong>Geomorphic</strong> processes <strong>and</strong> geoarchaeology<br />

GEOMORPHIC PROCESSES AND GEOARCHAEOLOGY:<br />

THE INDIAN EXPERIENCE<br />

Murty K.S.<br />

101/28 Hindustan Colony, Amaravati Road, Nagpur 440033, India<br />

Lord Curzon visualized that it was in the exploration <strong>and</strong> study of purely Indian<br />

remains, in the probing of the «archaic mounds», in the excavation of old Indian cities<br />

<strong>and</strong> in he copying <strong>and</strong> reading of ancient inscriptions that a good deal of the work of the<br />

archaeologists will in future live. Truly enough, it was the excavation of the mounds near<br />

Mohen-jo-Daro <strong>and</strong> Harappa that put the Indian Civilization as much older than the<br />

others by at least three thous<strong>and</strong> years. The geomorphic processes by rivers resulted in<br />

these mounds just as the marine processes resulted in mounds in Lothal <strong>and</strong> other places<br />

in India. The Buddhist Stupas are always in the shape of mounds <strong>and</strong> their excavations<br />

subsequently led to the formation of the Archaeological Survey of India. The Ajanta-<br />

Ellora caves in the Deccan traps <strong>and</strong> caves on the west coast of India <strong>and</strong> at several other<br />

places were the result of geomorphic processes that operated then. There are also natural<br />

arches like the one at Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh, clearly the result of geomorphic<br />

processes. Most of these places have become places of interest for tourists.<br />

GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL IMPLICATION OF THE LATE HOLOCENE<br />

COASTAL EVOLUTION: WESTERN PART OF THE KERCH STRAIT<br />

Myslivets V. 1 , Porotov A. 2 , Zinko V. 3<br />

1<br />

Geographical faculty, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow,<br />

Russia, myslivets@y<strong>and</strong>ex.ru<br />

2<br />

Geographical faculty, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow,<br />

Russia, alexey-porotov@ya.ru<br />

3<br />

Centre of archaeological research “Demetra”, Kerch, Ukraina, zinko@demetra.ua<br />

Reconstruction of the coastal evolution of the Kerch Strait in the Late Holocene is<br />

of great importance for underst<strong>and</strong>ing of the structure of the ancient settlement, the<br />

bounds of terrain suitable for the defense <strong>and</strong> farming, localization of harbors, etc.<br />

Despite the fact that the study of the sea level change of Black sea in Holocene have a<br />

long history the questions about the regional peculiarity of the Black sea transgression<br />

rest open. The main regional peculiarity of the Holocene transgression of the Black sea is<br />

closely related to the proposed several fluctuations of sea-level although there are<br />

disagree on their amplitude, age, <strong>and</strong> even on their existence. The phanagorian regression<br />

of I millennium BC attracted the most attention which is regarded as consequence of<br />

global climate cooling («neoglacial»). The drop of the relative sea level up to 3-5 m have<br />

explained the submergence of the low part of the ancient Greek cities on the Black sea<br />

littoral (Dioskouria, Phanagoria, Olbia <strong>and</strong> others).<br />

The relative sea level change of the Black sea was accompanied not only by<br />

passive flooding (or drying) of a coastal area, but also by change of coastal configuration,<br />

advancing <strong>and</strong> retreating of shoreline, submergence <strong>and</strong> burial / erosion of cultural layers<br />

that, as a whole, render the direct research under such circumstance very difficult <strong>and</strong><br />

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