Funnel shaped polished blackware found
at the Sambandhanur excavation site near Tiruvannamalai, bearing arrow-like
graffiti marks.
They were recovered from a
megalithic site excavated in Sambandhanur village
Tiruvannamalai: Graffiti
marks resembling the pair of arrows in the Indus script have been found on
plenty of potteries in a megalithic burial site excavated recently at
Sambandhanur village near here, according to R. Sekar, History department,
Muthurangam Government Arts College, Vellore.
The potteries including
black-and-red ware, black ware and red ware bore graffiti marks which could be
called ‘arrow-shaped (or ‘Y’ shaped with arms) and rudimentary forms of Tamili
letters, Prof. Sekar, who led the excavation said.
Prof. Sekar claimed “though
number of arms in the arrow marks vary from piece to piece they always occur in
odd numbers of 5, 7, 9, 11. Some potteries bear other symbols including ladder,
fish and what could be called fish hook. Paddy ash and ash of other grains were
found in the pots.
Funnel-like black ware, a
pot stand, broken pieces of tripod were some of the exquisite materials found
among the potteries.
Prof Sekar said
“S.Ramakrishnan, HOD, History department, Muthurangam Government Arts College,
Vellore, helped the team in the excavations.. We have also identified two more
sites in the village which could also be megalithic sites. We would try to
decipher the letters and work on graffiti further,” he added.
A megalithic tomb that was
unearthed in Tiruvannamalai district; and some pottery and iron items that were
found inside the tomb
A recent excavation in
Sambandhanur village in Tiruvannamalai district that was intially claimed to be
an urn, possibly belonging to megalithic period, is actually a Kallarai - (Kal
meaning stone and Arai meaning room) or tomb, according to some of the
historians here.
The burial site was
unearthed a couple of weeks back when locals dug the site using a boclain to
excavate foundation for a temple.
The tomb, first to be
excavated in the region, was possibly built on the ground level years back
might have gone below over the years, they said.The huge tomb had a capstone
(covering portion) as thick as three feet and measured 15 feet wide. The inner
portion of the tomb was six feet high, eight feet wide and 10 feet long.
Curator of the Vellore
Government Museum Saravanan estimated that Megalithic culture (when people used
huge stones) in the North Arcot region dating back to 350 BC to 260 BC. Urns
were used at a much later stage.
Going by the look, tomb of
this size must have been built to bury the leader of a village or group.
Interestingly there was a small provision on the top of the tomb with an
opening big enough for a person to get into and perform the rituals for the
deceased.The fact that two swords, three daggers and two axes, made of iron
were found inside the tomb also reveals the practice of the people of that age
to burry the things used by the persons along with their bodies believing that
their spirits might use them.
Some pieces of polished
pottery blackware, black and redware and redware were also found inside the
tomb. The Curator said that such pottery belonged to the third and fourth
century BC and were much thicker than the pottery of the later years. According
to him polished black ware was at least a century behind compared to red ones.
Graffiti markings similar
to signs and symbols were found on the sides of the pottery. Locals have
reportedly broken open all the 4 pots expecting some hidden treasure inside and
left the remains since they were either filled with ashes or mud. They spared
only two of them. The excavators also found out some pieces of human bones at
the site, indicting the presence of a tomb. Historians have urged the
Government to fence the area and announce the site as a State Archeological
protected monument site.
No comments:
Post a Comment