Tamil Nadu News

Porunai Excavation

September 13 , 2021 1076 days 9308 0

The Chief Minister M.K. Stalin announced the setting up of a museum, the Porunai Museum in Tirunelveli at a cost of ₹15 crore.
The rice with soil was found in a burial urn in Sivakalai in Tirunelveli district.
The carbon dating analysis has yielded the date of 1155 BCE.
The Beta Analytic Testing Laboratory in Miami, in the United States released the test report in this regard.
The finding has established that the Porunai River (Ancient name of Thamirabarani) civilization dates back to 3,200 years.
This is the oldest time period established from findings in the excavations carried out in Tamil Nadu.
It is much older than the Vaigai River civilization, which is believed to be 2,600 years old.
The excavation in Keeladi had also established that an urban civilization existed on the banks of River Vaigai that was contemporary to the Gangetic plain civilization.
The latest finding has once again narrowed the gap between civilizations in the south of Vindhyas and the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC).
Earlier it was believed that there was no city civilization in south India.
The first urbanization in the sub-continent happened in the IVC.
The second urbanisation happened on the banks of the Ganga at the end of the Mauryan period.
Now it is found that even before the Mauryan period, there were silver coins found in Adichanallur.
Adichanallur, Korkai and Sivakalai are all sites on the banks of the ancient Porunai (Thamirabarani river) presently in the Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu.
Earlier, Adichanallur excavations established that a civilisation thrived even in the 980 BC.
Adichanallur and Sivakalai have served as habitations, while Korkai was the port.
Stalin said archaeological excavations would be carried out in other States and countries in search of Tamil roots there.
In the first phase, studies would be undertaken at the ancient port of Musiri, now known as Pattanam in Kerala.
Similar studies will be held at Vengi in Andhra Pradesh, Thalaikadu in Karnataka and Palur in Orissa.
The State Archaeology Department would conduct research in Quseir al-Qadim and Pernica Anekke in Egypt.
It was once part of the Roman empire as well as in Khor Rori in Oman.
It is to establish Tamils’ trade relations with these countries.
Studies would also be conducted in South-East Asian countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, where the Chola King Rajendra had established supremacy.