Archaeologists Discover Ancient Delhi Traffic Jam Preserved In Amber, Dating To 1400 BCE
The jam includes 47 bullock carts and one ox that appears to be attempting a U-turn.
A team from the Archaeological Survey of India announced the discovery of a perfectly preserved traffic jam encased in amber near Mehrauli, carbon-dated to approximately 1400 BCE. The specimen — described as 'extraordinary' in the ASI's press release and 'honestly not that surprising' by every resident of Delhi — contains 47 bullock carts, three palanquins, a panicked horse, and one ox in the middle of what analysts identified as 'a very ill-advised U-turn at a junction with no lanes.' A note scratched into the surface of one amber section, translated from an early form of Prakrit, reads: 'I should have taken the ring road.' Historians say this confirms Delhi's traffic culture is entirely consistent across 3,400 years.