Scientists in the country have found remnants of a historically important port on Goa’s Zuari river which is expected to be amongst the oldest signs of human trade on the central west coast and may be contemporary to Dwarka in Gujarat. The researchers say they may discover a dockyard similar in structure to Lothal dockyard (4500 years old), discovered by ASI in Gujarat in 1954.
Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) is working on 1.2 kms long wall along the Zuari River few kms away from here and it is expected to be a part of an old port, existed anywhere between 1,000 to 3,500 AD, that is currently buried. “This area was earlier known as Gopakapattinam. The exploration work on the site is done and scientists have found the steps going in the water,” said Rajiv Nigam, head of Marine Archaeology unit of CSIR-NIO.