THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Government’s bid to get a heritage tag from UNESCO for the ‘Spice Route’ project now has a scientific base. New studies have proved the importance of Vizhinjam as a place of greater importance dating back to the 1st Century AD.
The excavations, which will continue till March, are expected to uncover more details about the historical importance of Vizhinjam as an international trade centre.
Finance Minister Thomas Isaac had recently announced in the Budget the State’s decision to approach UNESCO on the Spice Route project, which is expected to attract visitors and scholars to places connected with the State’s ancient trade links with the western world.
In a study, ‘Civilizations in contact’, jointly carried out by University of Cambridge and University of Kerala in the first such collaborative effort, the State was found to be a key player in the Indian Ocean commerce for a period of over 2,000 years. Its trading partners included the Roman Empire, the Arabian Gulf and the Far East.
From the two trenches dug by the excavation team, several interesting pottery types, including a number of distinct foreign specimens, have been recovered.
The historical importance of Vizhijam as the capital of ‘Ay dynasty’, which ruled southern Kerala from the 8th to the 10th Centuries, is known. The new studies have thrown light on the history of Vizhinjam prior to this period.
The study team is led by Dr Ajithkumar of the Department of Archaeology, University of Kerala, and Dr Robert Harding of the ‘Civilizations in Contact Project’, University of Cambridge.
A distinctive amphora base and a side section of an amphora with bitumen coating have been found, along with two smaller amphora shreds. They can be tentatively dated between the 1st and the 3rd Century AD. There are also shreds of a very fine grey ware which belongs to the same period.
According to Ajit Kumar, “The amphora evidence pushes back the antiquity of Vizhinjam to the 2nd - 3rd century and supports earlier suggestions that this port may be ‘Balita’ mentioned in ‘The Periplus’ of the Erythrean Sea (1st Century AD), or ‘Blinca’, mentioned in the ‘Peutinger Tables’ (4th Century AD).”
Many examples of turquoise-glazed pottery have been dated to the first millennium AD. Pieces of large storage jars which have a bitumen coating on the inner side too were excavated.
“The bitumen coating was done to reduce the jar’s porosity, so it could be used to transport liquids such as oils or wine. Both types of pottery have their origins in Mesopotamia and the Arabian Gulf,” said Robert Harding.
The other interesting materials include porcelain from South China and kilns from Thailand, the Netherlands and Britain, two coins which are yet to be identified; one of them thought to be from the 1st millennium AD, beads, terracotta tiles, and pieces of coloured glass from various periods, and evidence of iron-working, including a crucible and pieces of iron slag. The team hopes to find the exact period using carbon dating of a piece of charcoal recovered from a pot.
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