ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES

IN TAMILNADU
By R. Kargil B.E.,

2025 ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES

 Keezhadi - Sivaganga
 Pattanamarudur - Thoothukudi
 Karivalamvanthanallur - Tenkasi
 Manikkollai - Cuddalore
 Adichanur - Kallakurichi
 Vellalur - Coimbatore
 Thelunganur - Salem
 Nagapattinam

OTHER STATES
 Palur - Odisha
 Vengi - Andhra Pradesh
 Maski - Karnataka

DEEP-SEA EXCAVATION
 Kaveripoompattinam to Nagapattinam.

BUDGET - 7Cr

2024 ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES

 Keeladi - Sivaganga
 Vembakottai - Virudhunagar
 Porpanai Kottai - Pudukkottai
 Keezhnamandi - Tiruvannamalai district.
 Thirumalapuram - Tenkasi
 Kongalnagaram – Tiruppur
 Marungur - Cuddalore
 Chennanur - Krishnagiri
OTHER STATES
Muziris – Kerala

DEEP-SEA EXCAVATION
Korkai and Alagankulam

The Iron Age began on Tamil soil

 First quarter of the 4th millennium BCE

 Iron usage was prominent in south India over 5,300
years ago
 Iron was used on Tamil land in 3345 BCE
Professor Emeritus in South Asian Archaeology in
Cambridge University Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti
 For the first time in the world, proved that the
usage of smelted iron could go back to the middle
of the third millennium BCE.
 It is not merely of Indian significance, but also in
the context of the archaeology of the world
LAB
 Beta Analytic Testing Laboratory in the U.S.A.,
 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences in
Lucknow
 Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad
METHOD
 Accelarator Mass Spectrometry (AMS)
 Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL)
SAMPLES
 Samples are taken from Sivagalai in Thoothukudi
district
 The earlier excavations at Sivagalai, Adichanallur,
Mayiladumparai, Kilnamandi and Mangadu
  This indicated the date falls between 2500 BCE
and 3000 BCE
 But it ranging between 2,427 BCE and 3345 BCE
 The Copper Age of north India and the Iron Age of
south India are probably contemporary
 In this event CM Stalin lunched a book named
“IRUMBIN THONMAI”

1. KEELADI
 Vaigai River
 Paripadal - 29
 Sangam Literature
 Madurai
 1976 - Balasubramaniam reported 1st time
 10th phase
 Tirupuvanam Taluk, Sivagangai
 First 3 phases conducted by ASI (2014 - 2017)
 TN State Department of Archaeology (2017)

Discoveries:
 6th century they have literated in Tamil Brahmi
script
 Flower shaped gold coin(6 petals)
 Thelur - Gold plate - Brahmi letters
 Shell manufacturing
 Black, Red pots are similar to IVC pots
 Distillation process are done
 3 types of drainage system: Open type, Close type
& Tank type
 Ordinary peoples have the knowledge of read and
write
 Terracota seal & spindle
 Domesticated horse bones
  Agriculture - Paddy surplus
 Green coloured copper objects
 Museum - 05.03.2023

1. A. Konthagai
 5th Phase
 6 urn burials
 Nagarpuram
 29 Coral beads are found in a single urn for the first
time

2. ADICHANALLUR
 Bank of Thamirabarani
 Thoothukudi
 India's First excavated site
 Thirunelveli - tiruchendur railway line

1876 - Dr. Jagor, German

- Asian Arts Museaum
- Berlin, Germany

1903 - Alexander Rea, Robert Caldwell, Stewert

- urns, gold diasems
- Parallel to Mycene (major center of Greek)
- Bronze objects - Lid in Animal Form
- Iron Objects

2004 - Thiyaga Sathyamoorthy

- 160 + Urns
- Burial ground, Habitation Site
- Tamil Bhrami Pots
Discoveries
 Three ethnic groups
 Caucasoid, Mongoloid and Negroid
 Urns
 Cooked food & Fresh food
 Water, Grinded grains
 Strange Disease
 All types of ages body
 Gold
Jwells, Diadems
 Female figurines are similar to IVC
 Iron weapons
 Copper ring, Iron ring, Gold ring Glass ring, Ivory
ring
 Microlithic tools
 Black & Red urns
 Disc shaped Ivory bead
 Onsite Museum - 2023

3. ARIKANMEDU
 River bank of Ariyankuppam
 Pondicherry
 Bridge between Roman and Indian architecture.
 Urban settlement between 1000 BC to 100 AD

 1734 - Lejauntee
 1937 - Gabriel Jouveau
- French
 1947 - Sir Mortimer Wheeler and Jean-Marie Casal
 1989 - Vimala Begley

 Port of Poduka
 Emporium
 Periplus of Erythraean Sea
 Ptolemy Geography
  Trade
 Rome, Greek
 Rome king Augestius Ceaser for 200 years

 Other Important Discovery

 Sangam Age Port
 Roman Lmps & Glass ware
 East Cost Port Center
 Evidence for dying Muslin Cloth

 October 2004 - UNESCO World Heritage Site

4.Vembakkottai
 3rd Phase
 Virudhunagar
 Vaippar River
Discoveries
 Female terracota head
 Gold Thali (Pendant)
 More than 10 copper coins
 Neolithic culture
 Shell Manufacturing unit
 Nayakar period copper coin - 16th century

5.Kilnamandi
 2nd Phase
 Tiruvanamalai
 5 stone circle excavated 7 Sarcophagus
 63 Graffti bearing potsherds
 Later phase of Iron Age
6. Porpanaikkotai
 2nd phase
 Pudukkottai
 A Sangam-age fort is believed to have existed
 Excavations have revealed round brick structures
within this area.
 Coral beads

7. Thirumalapuram
 1st phase
 Tenkasi
 38 urn burials
 Axe, three arrow heads
 Bronze bowls, copper bowls, iron slabs & Stone
slabs
 civilized region

8. Chennanoor
 1st phase
 Krishnagiri
 Continuous sequence of habitation
 Showing the area was inhabited from the
Microlithic Age to the Early Historic Period
 Glass bangles, Shell bangles, Terracota lamps
 Neolithic period

9. Kongalnagaram
 Tiruppur District
 1st phase
 Neolithic site
 Discovery of Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions
 Providing valuable insights into the early writing
systems and languages of the region
10. Marungur
 Cuddalore
 1st phase
 The 13 cm iron knife, weighing 22.97 g, was found
at a depth of 257 cm
 The 7 cm conch shell - possible Shell Industry
 Copper coin - Raja Raja Chola Period

11. Payampali
 Vellore
 S. R. Rao (1964-65 and 1967-68)
 Megalithic Age

12. Kodumanal
 Erode
 Noyyal river
 Kodumanam - pathitrupathu
 Iron smelting furnace (also in Guttur Karnataka)
 Roman coins kuviyal (heap)

13. Korkai
 Tuticorin
 Deep sea excavation in 2024
 First time in India
 A major trading center, connecting South India
with other parts of the ancient world
 Pearl Industry - Pearl fishing center
14. Mayiladumparai
 Krishnagiri
 Neolithic site
 4, 200 years before iron usage
 Birthplace & Oldest site of the Iron Age in India

15. Alagankulam
 Ramanathapuram
 Deep sea excavation (2024)
 Valentine 2
 Trade and cultural exchange with the Roman
Empire
 Including the discovery of Roman coins of
Valentine II.
 Trade between the Pandya kingdom and the Roman
 Romans purchasing pearls from the Pandya country.

16. Attirampakkam
 Thiruvallur
 Kosasthalaiyar river
 Palaeolithic
 The first and oldest absolute date for the Acheulian
in the Indian subcontinent
Introduction
 1861 - ARCHAEOLOGICAL Survey of India (ASI)
 Alexander cunningam
- Father of Indian Archaeology
- First Archaeological Surveyor of India
 1958 - The Ancient Monuments and
Archaeological Sites and Remains Act
 2010 Amendment
 1972 - The Antiquities and Art Treasures act
Paleolithic period
 Pallavaram, kudiyam, Athirampakkam
 A cosmic ray test, these tools date back to about 2
million years ago
 Kosasthalaiyar River side
-Evidence of Ancestor Modern humans or
Homo sapiens
 Pallavaram
1863 - Robert Bruce Foote discovered
paleolithic tools and Stone axe

Lower Paleolithic Period

 Pallavaram, kudiyam, Athirampakkam
 Axe - Wood, bones
 Basalt Rock

Middle Paleolithic Period

 Small in size compared to lower paleolithic period
 Pudhupatti, Sivarakottai, Theri Kaadu

Neolithic
 First Pottery
 Domesticated animals using in agriculture
 Paiyampali, Vellore & Dharmapuri

Iron Age
 Sangam Age
 Knowledge of Metallurgy
IVC & Tamil People
I. Mahadevan
 The reference to the migration of people under the
leadership of Agastya starting from Dwaraka and
going on into the Tamil country

R. Balakrishnan
 IVC names Tamil names are similar

Red Sea & Tamil People

1. Berniko Port
 Egypt
 71/2 Kg of Pepper
 Teak wood
 Tamil Brahmi letters pot

2. Quasier al Qadhim
 Egypt
 3 terracotta pot

3. Khuvan Lukpat
 Malaysia
 Perum Pathan Kal - Goldsmith