Newspaper report: Ancient sea link discovered by ASI

[Guest guest]

Some list members may find the following news item useful, particularly

because of its mention of iron and a Brahmi Tamil inscription ("Brahmin" in

the news item seems to be a typo for Brahmi; it is not clear to me how the

inscription was determined to be Tamil and incomplete if it is not yet

decoded; perhaps "decoded" is to be understood as 'not fully deciphered')

 

ashok aklujkar.

 

>From The Statesman, Monday, !3 Feb 06

 

Ancient sea link discovered by ASI

 

Press Trust of India

CHANDIGARH, Feb. 12. ‹ Unraveling some facts buried in history, experts

from Archaeological Survey of India said the possibility of a sea link

between south India and the rest of Asia about 3,800 years ago could not be

ruled out.

Mr Arun Malik, an archaeologist with ASI, Chennai, while throwing light on

Adichannallur civilisation, said here that the observation of human

morphological types based on the cranial evidences point to the existence of

more than one racial and ethnic group in that region during the period of

the civilisation¹s long geo-historic period. ³Occurrences of intermediate

and pure traits of yellow race of South­east and Far-east Asia and typical

ethnic and tribal Indians on the external morphology of the skulls and bones

give credence to the fact that a sea trade may have been there,² said Mr P

Raghavan, a bio-anthropologist currently assisting ASI, Chennai, in studying

geo-morphological aspects.

Mr Malik said the latest excavations at the Adichanallur¹s pre-historic

site along the coast of Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu have yielded more than 160

urns, many of which contained hundreds of different-sized potteries. Husk,

paddy and other cereals have also been found in the urns.

He said the people of Adichanallur were agrarian in nature who also

mastered blacksmithery and made a variety of iron implements.

³The engraved drawings on the clay urns narrate the decoded ecological,

environmental and cultural significance. For example, a fascinating art

showing a tall dancing female with a large-sized reptile, probably a

crocodile, and a member of a deer group explain the pre-historic faunal and

floral wealth. An incomplete ancient Brahmin Tamil script engraved on inner

surface of urn is yet to be decoded,² said Mr Malik. On the practice of

burying their dead, Mr Malik said most of the burials were in association

with iron and copper metallic objects like swords, knives and bangles.

Mr Raghavan said he had identified a unique pre-historic discovery of a

stillborn baby. ³The foetus is about 3-5 months old, which I found from one

of the urns. Association of fossilised bird bones and domesticated cattle

teeth further throw light on the pre-historic domestication of animals,² he

said.