Chennanoor excavation site is latest crown in Tamil civilisation

Chennai: Chennanoor, a sleepy village in Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri district, is emerging as the latest crown of Tamil civilisation, with archaeologists unearthing evidence about habitation from Microlithic Age to Early Historic Period.

The findings could unravel secrets about the Neolithic Age (9000 BC-3000 BC). They could also fill the gap as excavations in Tamil Nadu have yielded evidence of the Microlithic Age (9000 BC-4000 BC) and Iron Age (1200 BC-600 BC), leaving out the Neolithic Age that existed between the two.

As many as 327 artefacts have been unearthed from 10 trenches since excavation began in June this year along with seven other locations, including Keeladi near Madurai.

The artefacts include shell and glass bangles, arrows and edges of spears made of iron, terracotta seals, beads, and lamps, stone axes, handcrafted potteries, spindle whorls, hopscotch, ploughs, etc.

Artefacts from the Microlithic Age have been found at the lowest depth, while Neolithic tools have been found at the upper level, followed by evidence of Iron Age and Early Historic Period, archaeologists said.

“The biggest significance is that we have established the cultural sequence from one stage to another stratigraphically. We usually don’t find sites that have more than two cultural sequences. In Chennanoor, we have found four sequences and we have established it with evidence,” a senior archaeologist told DH.

Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu, who also holds archaeology portfolio, said evidence to show that the area was continuously under habitation Microlithic Age to Neolithic Age to Iron Age to Early Historic Period have been found and samples from the site has been sent for testing. They will be analysed at the Ancient DNA Laboratory at the Madurai Kamaraj University, set up in 2022.

Archaeologists told DH that it was between Microlithic Age and Neolithic Age that humans transitioned from hunting to settling in life.

Excavations have been held in about 170 sites across Tamil Nadu by various agencies and only a handful of them are Neolithic sites and that’s where the findings from Chennanoor assume significance, the archaeologists added.

The findings from Chennanoor assume significance as they come just two years after carbon dating of cultural deposits found during archaeological excavations in nearby Mayiladumparai in Krishnagiri date back to 2172 BCE. This established Tamils were aware of the iron technology 4,200 years ago.

Archaeological excavations in Tamil Nadu have created significant interest among people in the past few years as carbon dating of artefacts from Keeladi generated a new date of 600 BCE, pushing the Sangam Era by three centuries behind than it was thought earlier. Separately, carbon dating of paddy husks found inside a burial urn in Sivagalai has been found they are 3,200 years old.

These findings prompted Chief Minister M K Stalin to assert that efforts will be taken to rewrite India’s history from the Tamil landscape through scientific means.

DH had on June 3 reported that fresh scientific dates obtained through Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) dating of samples collected from archaeological sites excavated have pushed the origin of Tamili (Tamil-Brahmi) script by hundred years to 7th Century BCE.

Of the 73 AMS dates obtained from Beta Analytic Laboratory, Florida, US after a detailed analysis of samples collected from excavation sites such as Kodumanal, Keeladi, Korkai, Alagankulam, Porunthal and Sivagalai, the earliest date arrived at is 685 BCE from Sivagalai in Thoothukudi district.