On Thursday, the Archeological Survey of India revealed to have found 12000-year-old artefacts from an excavation site that is believed to have been a place for making stone tools. The place is at a distance of about 5 km from the Renault Nissan vehicle manufacturing unit at Oragadam on the outskirts of the city.
The ASI team also discovered identical pit layers of artefacts from not less than 4 civilizations separated by around a hundred years.
According to a report in the Times of India, hand axes, scrappers, cleavers, and choppers from the Mesolithic period are the most noteworthy artefacts discovered at the Vadakkupattu village site. They were recovered 75cm from beneath the surface, together with a slew of stone shards by the 20 membered ASI team including surveyors, researchers, and labourers.
Archaeologists were also astounded to discover Sangam era (almost 2,000 years ago) artefacts including rouletted pottery, Roman amphora sherds, and glass beads suggesting active commerce with Rome. They also unearthed gold decorations, terracotta toys, beads, bangles, pot sherds, and coins. Meanwhile, one of the ASI staffers discovered sculptures ranging from the early Pallava period (275 CE) to the late Pallavas on the floor inside the surrounding space (897 CE).
The ASI officials also confirmed that the Vadakkupattu village site now had become a culturally and archaeologically important site. Reports mention that following the discovery of an ancient burial site in Guruvanmedu which is at a distance of a few kilometres from the present site, history college students, scholars, and archaeology enthusiasts have been conducting field studies at Vadakkupattu. The ASI teams also found gold at the site a few months ago.
Reportedly, Vadakkupattu has now become an archaeological spotlight for what has been discovered there. The archaeological crew had just gone a few centimetres down when gold jewellery, beads, broken bangles, pot sherds, money, and terracotta toys surfaced. The older objects were discovered in the deeper layers. They also uncovered carved stone tools at a depth of 75cm, indicating a Mesolithic culture. Sculptures and stone carvings from the early and late Pallava dynasties were also found hidden in plain sight on the floor.
ASI superintending archaeologist M Kalimuthu mentioned that Vadakkupattu has gained significance. “Besides the Teri sites at Tirunelveli and Toothukudi districts, Vadakkapattu is the only place in Tamil Nadu where evidence of tools of the Mesolithic period have been found”, Kalimuthu was quoted.
Researchers meanwhile say that the discovered modest size and sharpness of the tools manufactured by ancient people by removing flakes from stones suggest that the village is from the Mesolithic period.
