An urn and grave goods believed to be of the Megalithic period were excavated at Dharmanallur village near Sethiathope in Cuddalore district by the History Department of the Annamalai University. A terracotta well ring believed to be dating back to 800 years was also found at the same village.

Assistant professors of Annamalai University Dr Sivaramakrishnan, Dr Kalaiselvan and Dr Ramar along with five research scholars have been conducting research in the village for the last five years as they had a hint that the site belongs to Megalithic period.

On Saturday, the researchers team stumbled upon an urn, parts of grave goods, 15 cm long iron sword that are believed to be of the Megalithic period and also a 235 cm circumference terracotta well ring.

Explaining about this in detail, Sivaramakrishnan said, “Urn and parts of grave goods could probably belong to 2,200 years ago. The well ring could be 800 years old. In the past five years, we have found many urns from this site. But this is the first time in Cuddalore district that we have found black and red grave goods with graffiti marks on it. We believe that the scripts found on these goods might be similar to that of the Indus Valley script. The things and marks on it are similar to the ones that we had excavated in Tiruchi Uraiyur, Erode Kodumanal and in Palani Porunthal.”

The details of all the things that were excavated could only be ascertained after a detailed examination, he added.

“We also found a leg bone from the site. We would send it to Bangalore for DNA test. After getting the result, we are planning to advance our research,” he added.

Speaking about the Dharmanallur village, Sivaramakrishnan said, “ From the same site, we had found many urns. Now we have found one more. In addition to that, we found a terracotta well dated some 800 years ago. This well had the facility to filter water. From the same site, we had already found a stone inscription that belonged to Nayaks of Gingee. We also found several other goods like century-old bricks from here. All these findings show that the site was an active habitat for many centuries.”

Sivaramakrishnan further said, “Marks and scripts on these goods are similar to Indus valley scripts. This shows that this place had some links to Indus valley civilization.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by K. Ezhilarasan – Cuddalore / September 02nd, 2013