Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Archaeology in India
Archaeology in India
Archaeology provides us with the opportunity to learn about past cultures through
the study of artifacts, animal bones and litrary works. One of the first sites to undergo
John Aubery was a pioneer archaeologist who recorded numerous megalithic and other
Then comes the period of William Cunnington [1754-1810], and Sir William
Flinders Petrie [1814-1893] they both made archaeology more modern, Sir William
Flinders Petrie was considered as the father of archaeology. Petrie was the first to
scientifically investigate the great pyramid in Egypt. Petrie developed the system of
dating layers based on pottery and ceramic findings; he laid down many of ideas behind
modern archaeological recording. After the later half of the 20 th century archaeology
became more modern and the study of archaeology became very popular across the
world. In India archaeology was now an important subject but its seed is sown by British.
Archaeology in India:
Studies of archaeology begin in British India. Sir William Johns came to India as
a judge of the Supreme Court, under the Governor-general Warren Hastings, Jones was a
linguistic genius. He founded ‘‘Asiatic society of Bengal’’ with Charles Wilkins and
Alexander Hamilton as early members of it. At their beginning years Bengal society
focused on linguistic and litrary research, however on later 19 th century the Bengal
society begin to turn some of its attention to the material remains of India’s past.
1
Company’s surveyors brought back many reports of temples, caves, and shrines to
Calcutta they also bought early coins and copies of inscription in long dead scripts.
In 1831 James Prinsep, an official of the Calcutta mint and secretary of the
Asiatic society of Bengal, interpreted for the first time the earliest Brahmin script and
was able to read the edicts of Ashoka the great. Among Prinsep’s colleagues in the work
studies and made several excavations and research on Indian culture and ancient past; he
ASI administers more than 3650 monuments, archaeological sites and remains of
national important. ASI divided into 36 circles. Besides the ASI there were state
Indian Administrative Service [IAS] officer with the designation commissioner for
So far TNSDA has excavated more than 32 sites, Kodumanal which we have
taken for the project was one among that. Kodumanal is a village located on Erode
district. Erode district itself has rich culture and Prospers land.
History of Erode :
Karnataka state in the North, and by Kaveri River in the east. Across the Kaveri lie
2
Salem, Namakkal and Karur districts. Tirupur District lies on the south, and Coimbatore
and Nilgirs to the west. Erode district was once a part of Coimbatore district. Together
with the area comprised in the Coimbatore district, it formed the part of ancient Kongu
region. The history of Kongu Nadu goes back to the Sangam Era. In the early days, the
regions were occupied by tribes like “Kosars”, whom the Rashtrakuta rulers defeated to
set foot in the region. The capital of the Kosars was ‘Kosamputhur’ or the modern day
‘Coimbatore’.
Chola rulers defeated the Rashtrakutas to set foot in Kongu and during the time of
Raja Raja Chola, it reached the height of supremacy. Later this area was controlled by
Chalukya, Pandyas and Hoysalas. Kula sekara Pandian was the last independent Pandian
ruler and then Erode came under the rule of the Muslim rulers of Delhi. But, only after a
few days, the Vijayanagar Kingdom gained the control of Erode in 1378 CE. The
Madurai Nayaks ruled Erode from 1559 to 1736. The Mysore Rulers like Hyder Ali and
During the time of Hyder Ali, Erode had an estimated population of 1500 and
there were 300 houses in the town. The town also had a mud fort which stationed a
garrison of 4000 soldiers. The fort was surrounded by coconut grooves and River Kaveri.
Due to the attacks by the Marathas, Mysore Army and finally the British East India
After the fall of Tipu Sultan in 1799, the kongu Region came under the direct
control of the East India Company, and it restored the power of the Maharaja of Mysore
3
to rule the region, but kept direct control. Within a year of the British control, peace was
restored and people came back to Erode. The town grew in size and population. The
garrison ultimately withdrew in the year 1807 and the ruined fort was also leveled by the
British in the year 1877, during the relief works for the famine in the same year.
Until the independence of India in 1947, Erode was under the direct rule of the
British rulers. Erode city was widely known for its handloom products, but after the
British rule, the traders were introduced to power loom and only after India’
independence, the dominance of power looms increased in the city. Both the East India
Company and the British rulers considered Erode as an important trading center of South
India.
The district comprises a long undulating plain, sloping gently towards the Kaveri
Noyyal River:
The Noyyal River is a small river in Western Tamil Nadu, and a tributary of
Kaveri River. It raises from the Vellingiri hills in the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu, very
closely to Kerala border, and flows through many villages and cities of Coimbatore,
Tirupur and Erode finally draining into the Kaveri river at Noyyal, a village in Karur
district named after the river itself. The river is 183 km long and covers a total area of
1,800 Sq.Km, Noyyal contains two major dam Orathuppalayam and Aathupalayam Dam
4
commissioned in the aim of irrigating about 20,000 acres of land in Tirupur and Karur
districts.
Archaeology in erode
Kodumanal was a once flourishing city of cheras which lies in a trade route connecting
Chera capital Karur with Chera port of muciri. Kodumanal came to limelight in 1961, the
site was first noticed by ‘‘V. N. Srinivasa Desikan, ASI,’’ first excavation took place on
site.
5
CHAPTER - 1
Kodumanal [11 6’ 42’’N, 7 30’ 51’’E] in Perundurai taluk, erode Dt., is located
on the north bank of the river Noyyal, a tributary of the river Kaveri. It is about 15 km
ancient site comprises a habitation area of 50 acres and burial complex containing 10
burials scattered over an area of 100 acres on the eastern side of the habitation. It was
of Sangam literature.
[74:5-6] -
Kabilar,patittrupathu
It was once a flourishing Chera city lying on the ancient trade route connecting
the Chera capital of Karur with the Chera port of muziri, which is present-day pattnam
Kerala. The inhabitants of this destroyed ancient city of Chera dynasty were highly
skilled craftsman, who were specialized in making beads and high-quality iron. The place
of Tamil Nadu.
6
The department of epigraphy and archaeology of the Tamil university conducted
excavations in the years 1985-90 and opened 48 trenches in the habitation and 13 burials.
Besides, the Tamil Nadu State Archaeology Department opened six habitation trenches
and three more burials. On the basis of culture remains the deposit was divided into two
periods
Megaliths refer to large stone structures that were constructed either as burial sites
or as commemorative sited. The megalithic culture lasted from the Neolithic Stone Age
to early historic period [2500 BC to CE 200] across the world. In India, the majority of
the megalithic are of the Iron Age. Megalithics spread across peninsular India,
As part of Sangam age kodumanal was also part of megalithic culture, megalithic
period in kodumanal prevails from BC 300 – AD 100.The megalithic period had the iron
and steel industry, the iron and steel furnaces and iron artifacts produced in these places
revealed the technical advancement made by the iron smelters around 300 BC. The
excavated sword bit contained spheroidal graphite phase and forge welding of high-
carbon cutting edge. This place was once celebrated for its trade in precious stones like
garnet, carnelian, Lapis lazuli, sapphire and quartz. The people of this city were experts
7
in manufacturing the finest iron. The Tamil Brahmi inscriptions were commonly found
during this period. Thus, it conforms industrial based economy prevailed in this period.
The early historic kodumanal has seen some diminish in these industries. people
of kodumanal started to focus on agriculture and many granaries were found during this
period, very little of Brahmi inscriptions were found on this period. Terracotta and glass
objects, storage, black ware and red ware were found during this period. Some
researcher’s states that people started to evacuate ancient city after this period.
By far, the most important source of ancient Tamil history is the corpus of Tamil
poems, referred to as Sangam literature, generally dated from the last centuries of the pre-
Christian era to the early centuries of the Christian era. It consists of 2381 known poems,
with a total of over 50000 lines, written by 473 poets. Each poem belongs to one of two
types: Akam (inside) and Puram (outside). The akam poems deal with inner human
emotions such as love and the puram poems deal with outer experiences such as society,
culture and warfare. They contain descriptions of various aspects of life in the ancient
Tamil country.
litrary evidences are one of the major source for the ancient history, kodumanal
also got some of them infact the first excavation which was done by V. N. Srinivasa
Desikan, ASI, as far back as 1961 was started with the help of litrary sources. He first
8
found the information of kodumanal in the Tamil sangam literatures like patittrupattru
and puranaanuru.
This lines from the sangam literature patitturupathu tells about the legacy of this
ancient city, it shows the city was once a flourishing trade city and a manufacture hub of
wootz steel, it shows the how the fine quality beads were manufactured in this ancient
city.
-puranaanuru
This lines from the puranaanuru describes the ferrules covering the tusks of
elephants were made of steel. Which shows the usage of steels in the ancient kodumanal,
which means it also conforms the manufacture of steel in here. The steel that was
manufactured here was wootz steel which have high carbon contentment and it is the
It is generally believed that south India entered into the historic phase around c. 3rd c.
BCE. This is because of the historical presence there of emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Dynasty
[whose capital was located In Patali Putra on the Ganga river in the present state of Bihar] whose
inscription mention political entities in the Deep South. Since those epigraphs are found in the
adjacent regions of Karnataka and Andra, it has been argued that writing too was introduced into
9
south India during his rule. Ashoka's epigraphs are in the Brahmi script, one of the two earliest
Spectrometry] dates of 200 BCE, 275 BCE, 300 BCE and 330 BCE and 408 BCE [all
uncalibrated] for the samples collected from well stratified layers respectively at the
depth of 15 cm, 60 cm, 65 cm, 80 cm, 120 cm. These come from layers which yielded a
considerable number of pot potsherds bearing inscriptions in the Tami Brahmi script. The
excavation has yielded more than 600 Tamil Brahmi inscribed shreds. The name on this
pot shreds, in several instance, have affiliations with names from the north and central
India. There is excellent evidence to argue that this commercial centre had well
established trade and cultural contact with the middle Gangatic plains in the 5th BCE.
Kodumanal played a major role in indo-roman trade and relations, as the ancient
city is located on the midway of a roman trade route, linking muziris port on Malabar
• The roman’s reached musiries by ship and crossing western ghats reaching
Kosamputhur [now known as Coimbatore] from where would follow Noyyal river to
reach Kaveri River, and to Puhar and other places like kodumanal and arikamedu
Kodumanal was one of the earliest wootz steel centers of world. Wootz steel, a
form of carbon steel, was a prized, highly durable specialty of ancient India, must sought-
10
after in the west. The archaeologists say there was constant movement of foreign traders
between Chennimalai, where there are iron deposits, and Kodumanal where the ore was
processed’ and from where finished items were exported. Reference to wootz steel in
Sangam and Roman literature indicate that Roman Egypt imported its finest steel from
here.
Not only iron, ancient kodumanal also produced textiles. A number of terracotta
cotton spindles pierced through the centre with an iron rod have been unearthed here.
More proof of kodumanal’s trade links comes in the form of roman coins, dug up
in hoards as well as single pieces. The town lay on a trade route frequently by roman
merchant's, who came to buy beryl, quartz and other stones. Goods to be exported to the
west were carried by road to the Chera port of muziris [pattinam] on the west coast near
Goods from south-east Asia were carried east to Karur, capital of Chera
kingdom, then to poompuhar near the mouth of the Kaveri, and then overseas. Judging by
the trade pattern, and as is suggested by finds of beryl jewellery in Eastern Europe and
elsewhere, kodumanals exports went a long way. Although kodumanal is on the noyyal, a
tributary of the Kaveri, the river was not used for shipping. The noyyal is shallow, rocky
and has strong currents, so the trade route followed its banks.
India. The term ‘ukku’ may derive from ‘urukku’, used to describe fused or melted metal
11
in Tamil sangam literature dated broadly from about the 5th century AD, while accounts
of the Greek zosimos of the early Christian era suggests that the Indians used crucible
process to make metal for the swords, i.e. steel. Pliny’s ‘Natural History’ talks of iron
from the Seres which may refer to the ancient south Indian kingdom of the Cheras who
While Thelma Lowe, most of all, and others have made crucial studies on the
mechanisms of late medieval Deccani wootz production, there still remains much to be
investigated and clearly established concerning the antiquity of wootz steel in India and
on the identification of ancient artifacts of wootz. It is significant that there are a couple
of analyses reported in early excavation reports from some megalithic sites in southern
India of iron artifacts with 1-2% carbon (for eg. two javelins from megalithic Andhra
But the investigation by K. Rajan of tamil university has changed the entire
history of iron technology in India, he excavated kodumanal and found some crucible
furnace in there, it shows that how farer the iron and steel industry had grown in the
ancient trade city kodumanal, there is a belief that the iron for the qudup-minar had been
taken from kodumanal region. This shows that how the people of ancient city were
knowledgeable in steel making, this shows that the greatest of steel, the wootz steel had
ponniyar punaitottian, i.e. the ferrules covering the tusks of elephants were made of steel]
12
refer to artifact made of urrukku. The urrukku which we called here was the wootz steel.
So we can clearly tell the presence of iron and steel industry which manufactured wootz
steel as well as they have traded the wootz steel to roman and Greek countries.
The raising of cattle and sheep is a concomitant feature, which more than supplements
the meagre income from agriculture. But however, before the archaeological excavation
modern day kodumanal is just a piece of barren land, but now after the excavation the
kodumanal became one of the important places in India, there are multiple daily bus
services to the outside world, one might say that archaeology has brought the village
13
CHAPTER 2
western Tamil Nadu, is in the spotlight 1961, when the Archaeological Survey of India
[ASI] made the first dig after noticing antique materials scattered on the barren land. The
antiquity of kodumanal was first noticed by ‘’V. N. Srinivasa Desikan, ASI,’’ as far back
as 1961. After that early in 1980 a trial excavation was made on the site by the state
archaeology department of Tamil nadu whose results, however, have been reported only
It was only S. Raju, Tamil scholar and then Professor of epigraphy, Tamil
University, Tanjavur, who brought out the fact that the barren land was a treasure trove of
The habitation-cum-burial site was excavated in ten seasons during the years
1985, 1986, 1989, 1990,1997,2012,2013 and most recently in 2021. K.Rajan, professor of
history, Pondicherry University, sphere headed many excavations and made a significant
discovery over the years, including that kodumanal was known for its gemstone
industries
industrial area, and the other, megalithic burial sites, the barren land is given life when
the excavation sparks interest among many who want to learn about the ancient
14
civilizations and their culture. Visitors would find menhirs at the entrance, welcoming the
of kodumanal excavation, from the state department of archaeology, Chennai, once again
begun excavating the village on February 26. The work was halted due to the lock down
on June 12, and the team has so far unearthed 1,535 antique items till that date. After the
lock-down was lifted the work continued, this latest season the b10 of the excavation
More than two acres of land were excavated as part of the project and in this 10th
phase alone more than 2,000 artifacts were excavated, over 9000 artifacts were excavated
from the site. A total of 662 broken bangles [444 made of glass, 217 shells and one
terracotta], 348 full shapes, one broken and 5 unfinished beads [214 glasses, 38 shell, 36
paste, nine carnelians, four stone, 19 amethyst, 12 terracotta, 10 quartzes, each one of
smoking quartz, jasper, bone and agate and three soapstones], 53 rings 190 iron objects
[161 nail, 14 chisel, 11 knife, one each of took and small bowl and two unknowns], 118
pottery pieces, 83 terracotta items, 28 copper items, 15 coins and two stone objects have
been unearthed.
Megalithic tombs:
and inside the Carian-circle, threw light on burial rituals and concept of afterlife in
15
megalithic culture. A team led by Ranjith, archaeology officer and project director for
kodumanal excavation has identified 250 carin-circles at the village in erode district.
The rectangular chambered cists, each two meters long and six meters wide, are
made of stone slaps, and entire grave is surrounded by boulders that form a circle.
Archaeologists said that “the grave could be of a village head of the community as the
size of two boulders, each facing east and west, are bigger than other boulders,’’.
Believing that the deceased person will get a new life after death, pots and bowls filled
with grains were placed outside the chamber. And also, the archaeologist's states that this
is the first time they found 10 pots near the cists during the excavation in the state. They
DR. Rajan and his team also excavated two megalithic graves at kodumanal,
which revealed cist-burial. The first grave has a cairn circle [rocks formed in the form of
circle] on the surface, entombing a double cist below. The cists are box-like structure of
The first grave has an outer circle of stone slabes planted vertically In ground.
Some of these stone slabs were actually tall menhir's, which have been destroyed. The
inner circle is a wall liked structure. Below are two cists with trapezium-shaped port-
holes scooped out of their front Slabes. The two cists have common passage. The cists
contained disintegrated human bones. The funerary objects found inside are a four-legged
jar, ring stand, dish-on-stand, iron objects and etched or plain carnelian beads. Broken
The second grave has a main cist, and two subsidiary cists. Each has a capstone
roof. While the main cist was of a transepted variety, the others, erected on the either side
16
of the main cist, were simple ones. There was a cairn-circle on the top to mark the graves
below, but the stones are no longer there. Interestingly, one of the cists, facing south, has
a port-hole in the shape of a key-hole. The other two cists have circular and trapezium-
shaped portholes. Inside the cists were button and barrel-shaped carnelian beads and
shaped well was unearthed at 2.36 meters depth and is 2.65 meters wide, a flight of 13
steps, which was constructed using weathered rocks, slopes down from the ground to the
well that served the habitation. Two rubble masonry walls measuring 9.30 metres exist on
both sides of the steps. Scientific dating done there revealed that the well is nearly 2,300
years old.
Gemstone industry:
Both the habitation cutting and the megaliths yielded beads made of semi-
precious stones. Beads of sapphire, beryl, agate, carnelian, amethyst, lapis lazuli, jasper,
garnet, soapstone and quartz were collected from the habitation whereas beads of
carnelian and agate were restricted to burials. Carnelian beads, mostly of etched variety,
were found in large number in megaliths [p1, 1]. For instance, meg.2 yielded 80 beads,
meg.5, about 2220 and meg.10, about 1000. The occurrence of 2220 Carnelian beads in a
17
Broken pieces of rock Crystel occurred in the habitation trenches through the
deposit. Quite a variety of quartz objects has been noticed: finished as well as semi-
finished roughly shaped balls, cylindrical discs, rings, truncated cones, blades, etc, were
found. Strangely all these were found only in the habitation area and none from
megaliths. This may perhaps show that the people attached some ritualistic or faith to the
carnelian beads. The absence of the raw material like carnelian and lapis lazuli in this
region suggests that this have been brought from Gujarat and Afghanistan or Baluchistan
mound could not locate the actual manufacturing centre. However, one trench Placed in
the central part of the mound, yielded two interesting circular pits dug into the natural soil
and filled with sand. Quite near to this another pit yielded a heap of rock-crystal chips.
Beads at different manufacturing stages, finished and semi-finished, drilled and undrilled,
polished and unpolished, occurring along with the raw material and discarded chips,
Even to this day, the rock crystal beads are bored by using simple instruments like
needle flexed with diamond point [borer] and bow drill. The bead to be drilled is fixed on
wax, and, while boring water kept in a coconut shell is made to drip on the bead to cool
it. The kodumanal beads were bored from either side to make a single hole of hourglass
section. The same technique is still followed in the bead making centres of Tirupur,
kangayam and Tiruchirappalli. The use of simple instruments and the long survival of
this tradition in the vicinity of kodumanal recall the technology adopted in ancient days.
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Iron industry:
Numerous iron slags scattered in an area of 100sq.m was found on the southern
edge of the habitation mound. One of the three trenches laid at this place yielded a
circular base of a furnaced at the depth of 65cm right on the natural soil. This circular
portion was distinguished by white colour Caused perhaps due to high temperature. The
circular portion had a diameter of 115cm. Around this circular base numerous iron slags
were found. Some of the iron slags stuck to the wall portion of the furnace had a smooth
surface. Some of the slags also had the burnt clay embedded with the slag.
Vitrified brickbats also were recovered. Many3 pieces [terracotta pipes] with
vitrified mouth were also collected. The total length of the available tuyeres is about
15cm and the thickness is about 6cm. It had a hole of about 1.5 cm in diameter. The
length of the tuyeres suggests that the bellows were used quite near to the furnaces. The
granite slabs found near the furnaces might have been used for forging. Since the
furnaces were dismantled to remove the bloom after smelting. It is hard to get the furnace
intact. The absence of postholes, floor level and less occurrence of potsherds in this
[smelting] area suggests that the iron smelting was done on the periphery of habitation.
ponniyar punaitottian, i.e. the ferrules covering the tusks of elephants were made of steel]
refer to artifact made of urrukku i.e., fused metal or steel [burrowl: 1961, p.569 ]. The
19
Crucible furnace:
Seven trenches laid 300 m north of this iron smelting area yielded a crucible
furnace. These were exposed at the earliest level at the depth of 125 cm. The main
crucible furnaces were found surrounded by more than 12 small furnaces. The big
furnace somewhat oval in shape measured 112 cm north-south and 100 cm east-west and
had a depth of 40 cm. The burnt clay wall was 20 cm in thickness [p1,4]. Inside the
furnace pit were collected burnt clay pieces with rectangular holes. These pieces were
obviously part of the furnace wall. The holes allowed the air to pass through evenly into
the furnace. The complete absence of the tuyeres in the crucible furnace suggests that
these holes were arranged for a natural draft of air into Furnace.
The small circular furnaces surrounding this big furnace, almost at regular
Intervals, had 30cm diameter at the mouth with a small hole or depression in the centre.
These might have been used to heat longer crucibles removed from the bigger one.
An important find here is a vitrified crucible, partially broken, found in the small
furnace in situ position. This small bowl-shaped crucible had a diameter of 9cm at a
mouth with total thickness of 0.7 cm at the top and 0.9cm at the base (pl.v). Besides this,
many other fragmentary pieces of vitrified crucibles were also found. Another interesting
Dr. Buchchnan who travelled in south India in 1801 has given a graphic
description of the steel making industry in the vicinity of the Chennimalai hill, about 15
km east of this site. This also suggests the long survival of an ancient tradition in this
20
Textile industry in kodumanal:
kodumanal which situavated near the modern clothing city tirupur which was the
modern day cloth manufacturer which supplys the world, was once itself a textile
industry, they the people of kodumanal not only manufactured and exported the iron,steel
and beads they also was great at manufacturing cloths, they made fine cloth out of cotton
and traded with greek, Egypt and rome there are evidences shows that the city once
The Kodumanal has yielded evidence for the practice of weaving, in the form of
a number of intact terracotta spindle whorls pierced at the centre by means of an iron rod,
indicating the knowledge of cotton spinning and weaving. To further strengthen this
theory, a well preserved piece of woven cotton cloth was also recovered from this site.
21
CHAPTER - 3
Excavation at ancient trade city, brought many ancient treasures to our modern
world. These objects found in kodumanal help us to understand the culture and livelihood
of people lived in the kodumanal thousands of years ago. Over 100 artifacts including
potsherds with brahmi scripts, terracotta objects with brahmi letters, iron drill, carnelian
beads, copper pin, gold objects, iron spear heads, quartz beads, shell beads, burial urns
and deceased bones of ancient people of kodumanal were found during the kodumanal
Excavation.
One of the most important discoveries in the excavation was potshreads with
graffiti markings and brahmi letters present in it. Unlike ashokan-brahmi these scripts are
found in potshreads, seal and coin or ring made of gold, silver and copper there by
graffiti marks, mostly written on the shoulder portion of the pottery. Studies have been of
those marks on the basis of their shapes [rajan 1991a]. the stratigraphical analysis of the
graffiti marks has not been made so far, hence in this paper an attempt is made to analyse
the stratigraphical distribution of the marks to find out correlations, if any , that existed
between the burial and the habitation. Though the trenches laid in the habitation
22
constitute only a small proportion of the total area, there were so evenly distributed as to
give a representative picture of a whole area they may be grouped as of a northern sector,
The burials selected for excavation were random in natural and they are also
evenly distributed in the burial site. Out of the 16 burials, only 14 were taken for analysis
as the other two did not yield sufficient data. Among the fourteen, three did not provide
any data on the graffiti due perhaps to heavy wear on the potsherds. Among the rest, to
burials had to different marks each these two contained twin burials and so it can be said
that the graffiti marks represented some meaning to the person buried. There is a
suggestion that they can be considered as clan marks [rajan 1991a]. These different
To find the correlation between the burial graffiti and those of habitation, symbols
found in the habitation may be analysed. In the habitation trenches about 360 potshreds
containing graffiti have been collected. Of them only 163 marks could be identified with
their full shapes. The symbols which were similar to the ones found in the burials were
sorted and their stratigraphical position and their zones of occurence were noted. These
are given in table 1. The other symbols of frequent occurrence, either in single or
The marks in the burials are clear and well defined lines. On the basis of
geographical positions of the burials with that of the graffiti, it can be recognized that
there was no demarcation between the burials of different groups. For examble, meg.10
in the southern sector yields a similar mark as that of meg.12 which is located in northern
23
part near meg.1 and meg14 with different graffiti. So it can be said that there was no
geographical particularity among these groups having distinct graffiti as far as the burials
are concerned.
If we compare them with similar graffiti that are found in habitation it is found
that only three of the six burial symbols occured in the habitation. They occur in period 1
and only in the north sector which has the maximum depth of cultural deposit an where
the industrial community involved in the manufacture of beads and steel is found . this
founding emphasizes that the people in the period 1 involved in industrial activities were
economically affluent and that these elaborate funerary monuments could have been
raised by them. The non occurrence of the other three symbols in the habitation could not
The symbols given in the table 1 occur frequently and here too they were found
the northern sector of period 1. From the table it can be inferred that symbols 1 and 2
may be compared with that of burial symbols because of their basic nature and of their
basic nature and of their association with other symbols. The their third one which occurs
prominently in the habitation is not found in the excavated so far, one reason for this
phenomenon may be that the people using these symbols did not practice burials.
Excavation of more burials alone can help to clarify this problem,. The percentage of the
classifiable marks to the total is now close to 25 % and therefore moré data may help to
generalize in a more meaningful way. The above statement clearly shows that these
24
Table 1: comparison of graffiti with burials and habitation
[period 1-2]
25
Ornaments:
Indian tradiation we have copius references to the costumes which were put in different
ornaments weared by the ancient people of kodumanal. People wore several ornaments
made from several materials. Kodumanal was a sangam age city so the ornaments of
People had the habit of wearing hand ornaments. Bangles were prominent ones
among the hand ornaments. Womens wore bangles prominently, bangles were made of
glass, shells and even clay bangles were found [terracotta], apart from the bangles, other
jewellerys like ‘’necklace, bracelets, earrings and ornaments made of beads’’ were found
A total of 662 broken bangles (444 made of glass, 217 shells and one terracotta),
348 full shapes, one broken and five unfinished beads (214 glass, 38 shell, 36 paste, nine
carnelian, four stone, 19 amethyst, 12 terracotta, 10 quartz, each one of smoking quarts,
jasper, bone and agate and three soapstone), 53 rings, 190 iron objects (161 nail, 14
chisel, 11 knife, one each of took and small bowl and two unknown).
Kodumanal was not just a consumer, infact it was one of the biggest gem-stone
industry during sangam age. People of kodumanal manufactured jewellery, they made
beedstones and jewells made up of beeds, they traded the jewels with foreigners like
greek and romans, they also exported wellcut polished and quality gemstones, this shows
26
Beads:
Beads are one of the most common materials that found in kodumanal, these
beads found in kodumanal shows how flourishing the gemstone industry were in
kodumanal. carnelian beads, quartz beads, glass beads, shell beads, paste beads, stone
beads, amethyst beads, terracotta beads, jasper beads, bone beads, agate beads and beads
made of soapstones were found in kodumanal. People of kodumanal used iron drill to put
holes in the beeds, these iron drills consists minute diamond in its tip, which is used to
118 pottery pieces, 83 terracotta items, 28 copper items, 15 coins and two stone
objects have been unearthed so far.Currently, the team has identified five megalithic
burial sites, all located 500 metres from the river, and excavation is in progress. Of the
three burial sites with carin-circle mounds that were opened, the team found legged jars,
ring stands, utensils, shallow bowls, ceremonial offering pots and skulls.
A terracotta seal with Sanskrit word ‘’lavasa’’ inscribed on it was also found at
the site. The seal could have been left by a trader from north india.
Previous excavations revealed that a multi-ethnic group lived in the village and
they believed the deceased person will get a new life after death. Hence, pots and bowls
filled with grains and utensils used by them were kept in the cists and chambers. While
27
the industrial site is located on the northern banks of the Noyyal, the burial sites are
During the second season, a trench called ZJ26 was laid in the northern part of the
habitation mound. This represents period II of the site. The second quadrant of the trench
yielded two complete adult human skeletons with their skulls intact, the first one from a
depth of 45-60 cm. and the second from a depth of 78-90 cm. There was a thirdspecimen
of a skull and mandible separated and a few bone fragments found in the III and
The first skeleton was in a crouched position with the head placed to the east, the
left hand between the legs and the right hand below the right leg. It was devoid of any
to tilt to the north. The right hand restedon the pelvis while the left hand was bent
28
CHAPTER - 4
composite pit burial of post-excarnation type, yielded the skeletal remains of three
humans. During the second season, a trench called ZJ26 was laid in the northern part of
The second quadrant of the trench yielded two complete adult human skeletons
with their skulls intact, the first one from a depth of 45-60 cm. and the second from a
depth of 78-90 cm. There was a third specimen of a skull and mandible separated and a
few bone fragments found in the III and IV quadrants at a depth of 65 cm. The first
skeleton was in a crouched position with the head placed to the east, the left hand
between the legs and the right hand below the right leg. It was devoid of any associated
northwest orientation with an easterly placed head and up-looking face tending to tilt to
the north. The right hand rested on the pelvis while the left hand was bent upwards with
the palm placed just below the mandible. The Skeletal Remains The skeletal remains
One skeleton (named Specimen I) was represented by the skull along with
mandible, a clavicle and a few bone fragments. Most of the long bones were represented
by fragile broken specimens with their missing proximal or distal ends. The second
skeleton found in a crouched position has the skull with missing facial and basal portions.
29
Majority of the post-cranial bones were in a fairly good condition with their shafts and
proximal and distal ends intact. The third skeleton included the skull and mandible and
some postcranial bone fragments which are unsuitable for metric study. The skull was
devoid of the entire occipital region. The mandible with the anterior teeth intact was
The skull specimens along with the postcranial bones of the three individuals have been
examined carefully with a view to identify the sex and age as also to throw some light on
their ethnic affinities. Specimen I is represented almost fully. The cranioscopic type of
the skull is ovoides. The lower portion of the frontal bone is straight and shows a high,
vertical forehead. The glabellar region and supraorbital ridges are smooth. The orbits are
nearly circular with sharp margins. Almost all the sutures are closed. The parietal
tuberosities are weakly marked. The occiput is slightly bulged but the muscular ridges on
it are not well marked. The maxillary portion is well preserved with almost all the teeth
intact, excepting the lateral incisor and premolar which are missing. The mandible is
complete with all the teeth in their sockets except the unerupted third molars. The cranial
features suggest that the specimen may be a female. Based on the overall appearance of
the skull, and the eruption status as also the crown morphology of the teeth the age of the
In the case of specimen II the entire facial portion of the skull is missing. The
skull when viewed from above is sphenoid in shape. The frontal bone shows a gently
sloping forehead. The roof of the right orbit has a somewhat marked supra orbital ridge.
30
The neurocranium is almost complete with the entire basal portion missing. However, a
well developed right mastoid process is present. The skull vault is relatively high. The
lower jaw represented only by the right posterior portion is massive and shows the three
fully erupted molars which are large in size. This specimen appears to be an Fig.1:
large and heavy, with paired frontal bosses and well marked muscular lines/ crests on the
nuchal region. Considering detailed observations of the cranial features and the large,
bone and the basal portion. The rest of the cranium consists of the frontal and the two
parietal bones as well as the facial region. The nasal bones are straight and the pyriform
aperture is somewhat less broader. Alveolar prognathism is well marked. The upper jaw
shows an elliptical dental arch with deeply placed canine fossa. Its four incisors and right
and left first molars are well embedded in their sockets. The mandible, which is
moderate, is complete with all the teeth preserved except for the canines on either side.
The chin is round and the corpora and rami are low. This specimen appears to be female
in view of the relatively small skull size, its rounded and smooth surface, weak muscular
impressions, straight backwardly sloping lower forehead, a single frontal boss, weakly
developed mastoid processes, sharp orbital rims, an obtuse gonial angle and an almost
rounded chin. The age of the specimen has been assessed to be 25 + years, an estimate
based on the partial eruption of third molars and the occurrence of negligible dental wear.
31
Craniometric Evaluation:
metric variability and their biological affinities.Specimens I and III have yielded to many
1). Its maximum cranial length and breadth measurements are 157 and 115 mm
respectively. The cranial index of 73.25 places the skull within dolichocranial type. The
distance values between inion-glabella and inion-basion are 154 and 152 mm.
respectively. The specimen’s basionbregmatic height is 122 mm. and its vertical index of
77.71 places it within hypsicranial type. The difference between the minimal and
maximum frontal breadths is very low which consequently resulted in a higher transverse
vertical index (95.65). The skull belongs to eurymetopic type as suggested by its index
(76.52). The sagittal frontal index value of 84.45 characterizes the skull as orthometopic
or round type. The individual had a broad nose as revealed by the very high nasal index
the skull is missing due to which the measurements on the facial region could not be
taken. The cranial length measures 172 mm. Whereas the breadth measures 138 mm. The
individual belonged to brachycranial type as indicated by the index of 80.23. The least
and greatest frontal breadths measured on the facial region yielded a frontal index of
90.65 which puts it also, as specimen I, under eurymetopic type. The foramen magnum
index value of 78.37 indicates the skull as narrow type. From the parietal and occipital
32
chord and arc measurements, the sagittal parietal index (85.27) and the sagittal occipital
index (88.00) could be calculated. Specimen III is represented by the entire frontal
portion while the occipital region is missing. The maximum cranial length roughly
measures 158 mm. and the breadth measures 127 mm. The cranial index of 80.38 places
the skull in brachycranial type as the preceding specimen. The negligible difference of 2
mm. between the least and the greatest frontal breadths leads to larger frontal index
characterising the skull as eurymetopic type. The auricular and bizygomatic breadths are
102 and 110 mm. respectively. The nasal index value of 53.33 places the skull, like
category as it shows a low palatal index value (68.18). From the frontal chord and arc
measurements, the sagittal frontal index calculated characterizes the skull as round
category.
Mandibles:
The two mandibles recovered intact along with specimens I and III are somewhat
lightly built with less marked inner and outer muscular relief. They have shorter ramus
and corpus height (Table 2). The mandible of specimen I is smaller in size than that of
The postcranial bones available are limited in number. Most of them are fragile
and occurred in a fragmentary form. For the purposes of the present study only complete
33
specimens of long bones which were found in a fairly good condition were considered.
These include right and left clavicles of specimen I found buried in crouching position
and almost all the long bones of specimen II, which occurred in a squatting position.
Specimen I identified as female shows lower values for the clavicle compared to those of
specimen II of the present series, owing to the age and sex differences of the individuals.
The caliber index value of the specimen II left clavicle (32.35) is slightly higher
than its right counterpart (31.06). Similar trends are observed for both cross-section and
claviculohumeral indices. The other postcranial elements which are almost intact also
suggest a moderate build of the concerned individual. The maximum length of the
humerus (right: 316 mm, left : 314 mm) indicates a moderate build. This build is further
reflected in the higher robusticity or caliber index value (right : 18.35, left : 20.70) as
compared to the one earlier estimated for an Iron age adult male specimen from S.
Pappinayakkanpatti in Tamil Nadu (Walimbe and Selvakumar, 1998). The septal aperture
(fossa olecrani) appears between medial and lateral epicondyles of both the right and left
humeri. The measurements and radius and ulna further support the observatioact
measures 460 mm in its maximum length whereas its physiological length (458 mm.) is
slightly lower than the former. Its robusticity index value (12.45) is slightly more than
that reported for the Burzahom male series (Basu and Pal, 1980). The pilastric index
values (right: 103.57, left : 103.70) show the presence of a pilaster on the bone.
(72.73), a condition, which is considered “primitive”. The femoral head has an oval-
shaped fovea capitis. The tibia also seems to be somewhat robust with well marked
tuberosities and sharp anterior borders. The right tibial measurements (409 mm. and 403
34
mm.) differ considerably in their maximum and total lengths. The platycnemic index
value (76.92) places the bone in the eurycnemic category and indicates a very high ratio
The squatting facets occurring at the distal ends of the tibiae are observed to be
well marked on tibiae of the Kodumanal people. The stature was estimated from the
maximum length of femur using Trotter’s (1970) formula for White males. It is 170.9 cm.
suggesting that the male individual was tall. This finding and also the higher diameter
and circumference values of several of the long bones speak of the stout build of the
Kodumanal man although his stature is somewhat less than that estimated for the Iron age
Comparative evaluation:
The age of the specimen I was estimated to be less than 18 years and hence is not
considered for comparison with other Iron age specimens of peninsular India. The other
two specimens, the specimen II male and specimen III female, yielded quite a good
discern the phenotypic affinities of the Iron age inhabitants of Kodumanal. In their cranial
lenth and breadth, both specimens fall within the range reported for male and female
series from Adittanalur Iron age site which is about 450 km. to the southeast of the
Kodumanal. But in the matter of head shape the people of these sites differed; the two
35
A male skull from S. Pappinayakkanpatti site, situated at a some what closer
proximity to Kodumanal, with a cranial index of 77.7 nearly approximates that of our
series indicating affinity between the two. This particular observation is of significance as
it lends support to Sarkar’s (1960) thesis that the broad-headed Brahmagiri Megalithic
people were apparently a unique race of cultural bearers responsible for a sudden
other sites of peninsular India such as Nagarjunakonda (Gupta et. al. 1970) and
Yelleswaram (Gupta and Dutta, 1962) also tend to fall within the brachycranic fold. The
Bronze age sites in the northwestern part of the Indian sub-continent and beyond, such as
Mohenjo-daro (Sewall and Guha, 1931), Harappa (Chatterjee and Kumar, 1963a) and
Lothal (Chatterjee and Kumar, 1963b), where the great Indus Valley civilization
flourished, the brachycranic element was reported in the skeletal record. Of course the
cranial length-breadth index alone cannot be taken as a diagnostic character for race
The specimen II female of our series with full complement of bones of the facial
forehead, chamaerrhine nose, depressed nasal root, lower minimum frontal breadth, etc
which have been ascribed to be of primitive nature are interestingly preserved still by the
contemporary tribal populations of Southern India. These two specimens markedly differ
in respect of many other craniometric traits even from the other two specimens earlier
reported from the same the large quantity of slag and other indications of steel
manufacture, the close contacts of Kodumanal with the Chola port city of
36
Kaveripoompattinam and above all, the reference given to the place in the Sangam
literature strongly view that Kodumanal was a flourishing industrial centre for a
considerable time period in the past. This view may be strengthened further by the
although it is unequivocally agreed that this hypothesis may not be closer to reality due to
the constraint of limited skeletal material on hand. But the 100 or more burial structures
located on the sprawling site of Kodumanal, if exposed carefully, may yield a rich
treasure of human skeletons to understand the biological history and affinities of the
TABLE: 1
S.
NO MEASUREMENTS/INDICES SPECIMEN
1 2 3
37
10 Biauricular breadth 101 111 102
12 Prosthion-basin line 77
13 Nasin-prosthion line 54 57
15 Nasal height 39 45
16 Nasal breadth 23 24
17 Bimaxillary breadth 74 76 65
25 Maxillo-alveolar length 17 18
26 Palatal length 44
27 Palatal breadth 30
38
33 Occipital chord 85 88
Indices
39
S. Measurements [in mm]/angle/index Specimen
No.
1 2 3
1 Bicondylar breadth 91 101
2 Bicoronoid breadth 75 79
3 Bigonial breadth 68 82
4 Symphysial height 22 24
5 Height of coronoid 45 49
6 Minimum width of ramus 29 32
7 Maximum width of ramus 25 37
8 Height f condyle 39 45
9 Mandibular length 59 66
10 Mandibular angle 130 127
11 Mandibular index 64.48 65.35
CONCLUSION
40
Excavation at kodumanal proves that it was once a flourishing trade city, people
across the globe used to trade in kodumanal, skeletal remains of multi cultural people and
roman coins found in kodumanal proves the statement. Traders from Rome, Egypt, Persia
and Greek came to kodumanal for its extrodinary Beads and Unbreakable wootz.
Kodumanal used to be famous for its bead and its steel industry. they carved fine
beads out of elements. Bead’s and Jwellery made out of beads were high in quality, these
bead’s were famous among Foreighner’s. People of kodumanal used simple instruements
to make beads. Moreover this city was situvated in one of the main trade route that
connected the Chera capital of Karur with its port city muciri, so it’s no dought that this
place served as a main trade city and industriel site during sangam age.
Wootz steel that manufactured in kodumanal was very famous among the traders
and travellers, people from many nations, inside and outside of India were eager to get
archaeologists found many crucibe furnace and iron pits this shows that it served as a
largest supplier of the wootz, many scholers states that even the iron used in the iron
Kodumanal’s steel is not only great in its quality but also kodumanal is a place
that directly evolved from megalithic culture to Iron Age culture. The civilizations across
the globe evolved in a chronological phase of stone age , bronze age and iron age, . but in
india its very different either its North India or South India many places evolved into Iron
age from stone age itself skipping the phase of other metallic ages like bronza age . In
41
southern part of india the period of this evoluation took place in sangam age, many of the
cities in the Sangam age period evolved in such manner and kodumanal is also part of it.
Besides the wootz steel and its worldclass beads kodumanal was also a ancient
cotton hub which clothed Rome, Kodumanal which situated near the modern day Cotton
hub of Tamil Nadu Tirupur, exported high quality cotton and cotton products to Rome,
Egypt and other foreighn nations. These examples shows us that kodumanal was one of a
possible for us to see a such an ancient culture, the Noyyal civilization of kodumanal still
Glossary
42
Term Definition
Meg Megalithic
BC Before Christ
AD Anno Domini
BEADS A small, usually round object of glass, wood, stone, or the like with a
hole through it, often strung with others of its kind in necklaces,
rosaries, etc.
example of slag is the iron and silica that is removed during copper
TUYERES A tuyere is a tube, nozzle or pipe through which air is blown into a
43
hot to release slag, breaking it up and sealing it with wood chips in a
clay container, and heating it until the pieces of iron absorbed carbon
BIBLIOGRAPHY
44
1. Dr. K. Rajan, Tamil Nadu: Archaeological Perspectives, Royapettah Stationery
24.
3. Dr. K. Rajan, ‘’Iron and Gem Stone industries as revealed from Kodumanal
6. Dr. K. Rajan, Iron Age Early Historic Transition in South India, 2014, pp. 5
8. Tamil Development Campus, Alzhu road, Egmore, Chennai, 2011, pp. 1-6,23- 27
9. A. L. Basham, The Wonder that was India, 2019 edition, pp. 5-8
10. V. Rami Reddy and B.K. Chandrasekhar Reddy, Morphometric Status of Human
Skeletal Remains From Kodumanal, Periyar District, Tamil Nadu, 2004, pp. 106-
111.
11. Upinder Singh, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone
12. Peter Francis, Asia's Maritime Bead Trade: 300 B.C. to the Present, University of
Websites:
45
1. Www.tnarch.gov.in. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
http://www.tnarch.gov.in/excavation/kod.html
review/history-and- culture/kodumanal
excavation-yields-a-bonanza-again/article3463120.ece
TheHindhu,[03July2021].
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamilnadu/kodumanal-how-a-barren-
land-turned-into-a-treasure-trove/article35126812.ece
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/84079734.cms?
utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
PICTURES
46
KODMANAL MAP
MUZIRI TO KARUR
47
CAIRN-CIRCLES
48
POTSHREDS WITH GRAFFITI MARKS, KODUMANAL.
In the habitation more than 360 potsherds with graffiti markings were found.130
BEADS
49
BEADS MADE OF DIFFERENT MATERIALS
50
MATERIALS THAT RELATED WITH TEXTILE INDUSTRY
OF KODUMANAL
51