Monday, October 14, 2013

Giosan Et Al Reply To Valdiya's Article On The Sarasvati River

You may recall this controversy which I detailed in an earlier blog post. A quick recap. A paper in PNAS by Giosan et al in May 2012 presented the results of geomorphological analysis of the Haryana and Punjab plains and concluded that there was no glacially fed rivers flowing through this region during the Holocene. This meant that the Harappan civilization in this region was being sustained by a monsoonal river system, the remnants of which is known today as the Ghaggar, identified by some as the river Sarasvati described in the Rig Ved.

Prof. K.S. Valdiya a very senior Indian geologist did not like this conclusion. Moreover, he felt that Giosan et al have not paid due respect to the work of Indian geologists working on the problem of ancient river systems of this region. He wrote a highly emotional article in Current Science in which he misattributed sentences which I had penned on my blog to Giosan et al and also misrepresented (in my opinion) the work of Giosan et al and other workers.

Both Giosan et al and I complained about the misattribution to Current Science to which Valdiya gave brief unsatisfactory replies.

Now Giosan et al have published a second reply in which they clarify the scientific queries that Valdiya had raised.

Here it is - Open Access.

I find it puzzling that the original paper came out in PNAS, but Valdiya chose to comment and complain - not as tradition expects in PNAS - but in Current Science.

He also has not replied to Giosan et al's second clarification.

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