Kodumanal reveals more hidden gems
RICH FIND: K. Rajan (right) , professor, Department of History,
Pondicherry University, cleaning the grooved stone in in one of the
trenches at Kodumanal in Erode Erode district of Tamil Nadu. Photo:
K.Ananthan
The latest excavations confirm that Kodumanal was a prosperous industrial and trade centre that made iron and steel, textiles, bangles out of shells and exquisite beads
They were trenches from which you could not take your
eyes off. In one trench, a big quartz block jutted out of the wall while
smaller ones lay here and there. A few feet away was a stone anvil
where these quartz blocks were cut into smaller sizes. Around the anvil
lay scattered quartz chips glittering in the sun.
In
the second trench, superbly cut barrel and disc-shaped quartz pieces
lay in heaps. There was pottery jutting out of the trench wall. Two big
circular kilns lay exposed on the third trench’s floor, where beads and
pendants were made out of semi-precious stones such as quartz,
carnelian, beryl, agate and black-cat eye. Near the kilns was a grooved
stone where these rough-outs were rubbed and polished.
A
superbly crafted pot — a russet-coated ware — with wavy patterns cried
for attention nearby. Stone blocks, and quartz rough-outs and chips lay
around in the fourth trench.
Kodumanal in Erode
district, Tamil Nadu, never stops surprising archaeologists. In the
seventh season of excavation in April and May this year, these four
trenches have unravelled a complete gemstone industry, showcasing the
stages involved in the manufacture of beads out of quartz, carnelian,
agate, jasper, garnet, soapstone etc.
About 100
metres away, five more trenches have been dug, which have laid bare
copper-smelting furnaces. The five trenches themselves yielded a bonanza
of pottery with Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions.
Significant discovery
K.
Rajan, Professor of History, Pondicherry University, and Director of
Excavation at Kodumanal, called the unravelling of the gemstone
industry, through the various stages of manufacture, “a significant
discovery of this year’s excavation.” The discovery confirmed the
findings of the previous excavations that Kodumanal prospered as an
industrial and trade centre that made iron and steel, textiles, bangles
out of shells and exquisite beads.
Dr. Rajan said:
“The occurrence of gemstone, iron, steel, copper-smelting, conch-shell
and textile industries suggest that this site survived as one of the
important trade-cum-industrial centres from fifth century BCE (Before
the Common Era) to first century BCE. The bustling industrial activity
brought traders, artisans and skilled labourers from different parts of
India to Kodumanal.” Charcoal samples collected from depths of 60 cm, 80
cm and 120 cm from different trenches at Kodumanal and sent for
accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating were dated to 275 BCE, 330
BCE and 408 BCE respectively, he said. “Cultural deposits available this
year from a depth of 180 cm may push back the date by a century.”
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