THOOTHUKUDI: The people of Adichanallur, in Thoothukudi district, cultivated paddy and green gram as early as in the Iron Age, in the first millennium BCE. They were good at making wheels, and used them for pottery, according to the Adichanallur excavation report, based on a survey conducted in the region over 15 years ago.
The 293-page report, which has been accessed by Express, is to be released this month. It was compiled by former director of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Dr Sathyabama Badhreenath, and is based on the excavation conducted by ASI superintending archaeologist Dr T Sathyamurthy in 2004 and 2005, when Sathyabama was the deputy superintendent of archaeologists at Adichanallur.
They found that the ancient residents of the region buried their dead with a customary offering of paddy. Many graves contained silicified rice husk, green gram, dormant vigna seeds, solanum seeds, and broken fragments of nutshell.
The report reveals the inhabitants of Adichanallur were skilled at wheel-making technology. While their big urns and red ware lids were handmade, the black-and-red ware lids, small and miniature vases were made using slow wheels. Floor-level potter kilns and a bead industry found during the excavation showed that they led a settled life.
The black-and-red ware bowls, beakers, globular vases and black polished ware cannoid lids had white dotted paintings, with the designs mostly oblique in nature, around the rim or shoulder portion of the artifacts, the report said. “Such white dotted paintings came to light during excavation at T Kallupatti in Madurai district.”
“The black coating and the white dotted paintings should be further studied with advanced technologies to learn about the ancient painting skills. It is interesting as they used micro brushes and followed different patterns,” Sathyamurthy told TNIE.
Studies reveal that inhabitants of the region cultivated paddy and millets during the Iron Age. The excavation also brought to light that they buried their dead with offerings of paddy, which were of two types — placing fresh rice grains with husk in earthen baked pots, and direct offerings of rice grains.
These findings show that the ancient settlers at Adichanallur cultivated both rice and green gram. The radiocarbon dating on the organic paddy revealed a conventional date of 601 BCE (2510±30 BP) and a calibrated date of 640-650 BCE, while another sample revealed a conventional date of 750 BCE (2700±30 BP), 750 BCE and a calibrated date of 850 BCE.
Dating of the urn burials show most of them are from 850-650 BCE, and divulge a datum line for Iron Age urn culture in south India. The relationship between the burial and habitation sites could not be clearly established, Sathtamurthy said in the report. He added that the period might go up to 1500 BCE, if the artefacts are collected meticulously and dated properly using the latest technology. He also wished more research scholars would analyse the specimens so more significant features of the ancient people would be brought to light.
The Adichanallur megalithic urn burial site has been protected by the ASI since 1921, under the Monuments & Preservation Act of 1904. It was the first site to be excavated in India, and was dug up by Andew Jagor of Germany in 1876. He was followed by Alexander Rea of the ASI (under British India) between 1899 and 1902, French national Louis Lapicque in 1904, and Dr JR Henderson in 1915.
Sathyamurthy extensively excavated the site, unearthing more than 170 urn burials and several hundreds of artifacts. However, the documentation process was delayed when Sathyamurthy retired as superintending archaeologist of Chennai Circle in 2006.Later, it was expedited following a Public Interest Litigation filed by writer Muthalankuichi Kamarasu, which also led to data sampling of the artifacts.The report accessed by TNIE divulges that study on Adichanallur focused on material evidence of pottery, antiquity and skeletal remains.
Burial site spread over 114 acres
The Adichana-llur archaeolo-gical site is on the banks of the Thamiraba-rani river, 4 km west of Srivaikuntam in Thoothukudi district. The burial site is spread over 114 acres on either side of the Tirunelveli-Srivaikuntam road
(Watch this space tomorrow for more interesting findings of the report)