The authors additionally recommend that the lines may very well be modern with the neighbouring memorial stones
Using Google Earth pictures, drone observations and subject visits, two unbiased researchers from France have recognized eight websites round Jaisalmer in the Thar Desert, that present linear options resembling geoglyphs. Geoglyphs are giant, un-explained geometrical patterns on land often proposed to be man-made options.
The largest focus of geoglyphs is reported from southern Peru, masking an space of about 1,000 sq. km. The new paper printed in Archaeological Research in Asia notes that the recognized geoglyphs in the Thar Desert cowl an space of about 6 sq. km.
The authors’ principal space of curiosity was Boha, a small village 40 km to the north of Jaisalmer the place they seen a collection of concentric and linear options. They named these options Boha geoglyphs and instructed that the options may very well be at the least 150 years outdated. “It is however conceivable that they were built at the beginning of the British colonial period, in the middle of the 19th century,” provides the paper.
The first creator of the paper, Carlo Oetheimer, explains in an e mail to The Hindu: “The Boha geoglyphs are clearly manmade as the main unit is a giant spiral, but they have been eroded due to the cars running over the lines lately. So, they are clearly not formed by weathering or another natural phenomenon.”
Dr. Amal Kar, previously with the Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur, who has been learning the Thar Desert for practically 5 a long time, disagrees with the above conclusion. He means that the noticed options may need been fashioned naturally, however degraded over time on account of each pure and human-related causes. “The rocky terrain between Jaisalmer and Ramgarh in the north is home to a typical weathering feature, especially over the iron-rich sandstone and shale beds. Here, extreme aridity and high temperature lead to slow geochemical translocation of minerals for centuries, such that the heavier minerals like iron and manganese move away from the lighter minerals, which lead to the gradual formation of alternate bands of harder and softer mineral concentrations. With time the areas with softer materials get slowly eroded, while the harder ones stand out, producing the typical concentric or box-like geometric features,” he explains.
He provides that such options, each small and enormous, will be discovered in the equally disposed rocky terrain of all the worldwide deserts, however hardly in the semi-arid areas on account of larger rainfall.
Considering the distinctiveness of such micro-geomorphic options in our nation, he pleads for acceptable conservation measures, particularly from wanton building actions and uncontrolled tourism. “Attributing such features to humans should be considered with caution and only when natural explanations fail absolutely,” he provides.
Memorial Stones
The French authors additionally recommend that the lines may very well be modern with the neighbouring memorial stones. During the fieldwork in 2016, the crew positioned a complete of 9 monoliths with probably the most imposing one being a truncated conical pillar measuring about 1.60 metres. They additionally positioned 4 memorial stones with sculptures of Hindu deities (Krishna and Ganesha).
“We still need to complete our study, going back to India, making an anthropological survey with the help of local researchers, and bringing all the equipment in order to date the geoglyphs. We would like to date the glyphs with the thermoluminescence method,” provides Carlo Oetheimer.
