Archeologists have found tools that suggest occupation of sites in Goa along the upstream Mandovi that date from the early palaeolithic to mesolithic stages. (Mesozoic is the geological era that extended from about 225 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. It followed the Palaeozoic era.)
Marine archaeologist A.S.Gaur of the National Institute of Oceanography and M. Nambirajan of the Archaeological Survey of India have undertaken a study of pre-historic sites on river banks and ports of Goa in potential areas.
"Field survey in Goa has indicated a concentration of prehistoric sites along the coast and in the Mandovi-Zuari river basin. Some sites are reported on other river banks too," reported Gaur and Nambirajan.
Their work has been encouraged by a number of recent finds reported in Goa. At Rivona, on the banks of the Kushavati river, mesolithic tools were found, while a site of neoliths has been reported at Chicalim.
Most significant findings of recent times are rock carvings found at Usgalimol and Kajur on the banks of the Kushavati river. These carvings include symbols of the Zebu bull, a dancing female figure, a horned animal, harpoon and sex symbols. Their date is disputed, varying from the upper palaeolithic to megalithic period.
Chandrapura in South Goa, now the sleepy village of Chandor, is another ancient site, whose earliest known epigraphical reference is in the Siroda copper plates of the Bhoja dysnasty.
Some scholars have discounted the view that the city was founded by Chandraditya, a son of a Chalukyan king, and point to its earlier association with the Arab Sindabur.
Finds including potsherd, bricks and copper coins are assignable to the Satavahanas, who probably ruled the Konkan from the end of the second century of the current era.
Gopakapattana, modern Goa Velha on the mouth of the river Zuari, once a major port, is now covered with mangroves. Gold coins found by the historian-priest Fr. Heras in the 1930s, a tank and oral traditions about the palace, indicate it was a prosperous town. Remains of a port wall running for five km was some time back discovered. Today, buses rumble across a main royal road, where caravans of merchants once loaded ships in the flourishing coastal trading sytems.
Archeologists are not certain when the city of Old Goa was established. Some trace it to the first Muhammadan rulers of Goa around 1340 AD, who lost it to the Portuguese when the latter conquered the city and massacred its Muslim inhabitants in 1510.
Its many mosques, temples, and gardens were demolished by the new zealots, who made it the hub of Portuguese commerce in the east till the end of the 17th century, trading hinterland goods from Deccan, Konkan and Malabar with Arabia, China, Mozambique, Persia, Malacca, Java and elsewhere.
