TIRUPATHUR: Researchers on Saturday discovered Neolithic age tools--dating back to 5,000 years ago--at the foothills of Yelagiri at Chinna Vepambattu near Vaniyambadi.
Headed by Professor A Prabhu and PhD students Dharanidharan and Santhosh, a team from Sacred Heart College found an axe and 50 other such ancient articles.
According to A Prabhu, "The stones were sharp in the front and polished for the handgrip in the back, indicating the period to be around BCE 2,500 and CE 1000. It was only during this time man evolved to polish and sharpen tools."
Also, the nomadic society began to settle near springs in that period, and a sunai (a spring) was found 500m near the tools, the researchers said.
These tools were inadvertently preserved by the locals as they worshipped them as folk deities. This place was uninhabited for the last 500 years and only cattle grazers roam around the place. "The possibility of these stones being there and discovered is very rare. The worship by locals preserved this archaeological evidence," researchers told TNIE.
More evidence was gathered at the spot to establish these stones were used in that region, the team said, adding detailed studies have to be carried out on the discovery.