MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday directed the state archeology department to consider a plea seeking establishment of a museum at the excavation site at Alagankulam village in Ramanathapuram.
A bench of Justices J Nisha Banu and S Srimathy passed the order on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed by NP Asokan, an advocate from the above village. Asokan stated in his petition that Alagankulam is surrounded by sea on two sides and on the third side, it is bound by Vaigai River, which joins the Bay of Bengal in the said village.
Following the discovery of ancient coins from the village in 1984, excavations were conducted from 1986 to 1987 in the village and nearly 2,360-year-old artefacts were found. After this, several excavations were conducted in 1990-1991, 1993-1994, 1995-1996, 1997 and finally in 2016-2017.
During these excavations, 4th century silver coins, Pandyan Empire's square coin, and others were unearthed, he added. Nearly 13,000 artefacts were found during the last excavation in the village, Asokan said. These excavations revealed that the village was a busy harbor 2,400 years ago and had Roman constructions, giving an impression that trade flourished between the western and eastern nations from the 4th century BC to 5th century AD, he stated.
However, the villagers do not know where these artefacts have been placed. Though the state archaeology department allotted 2.25 acres of land in the village in 2020 for establishing a museum, no steps were taken, Asokan claimed. Also fearing that the government is proposing to construct the museum at Mandapam instead, he objected saying that the museum should be situated only at the excavation site (Alagankulam) and not somewhere far away. He also wanted the government and ASI to publish the reports of the 2016-17 excavation.