Adichanallur Skulls -Tamil Nadu-India

ஆதிச்சநல்லூர் மண்டை ஓடுகள் - ஆய்வு முடிவு

THE REAL SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS COME WHEN YOU APPLY THE FUNDAMENTALS OF YOUR ACADEMIC- RESEARCH SKILLS TO SOLVE A PROBLEM: CONFIDENCE AND HARD WORK ARE THE KEYS

I distinctly remember the day (in December, 2004). An assignment gave me the boost and the challenge to proof my abilities in Bioanthropology & Bioarcheaology ..it was Dr.T.Satyamurthy then Supdt .Archaeologist of Archaeological Survey of India , Chennai called me on my cell phone and requested me to reach the Head Quarters at the earliest. At that time, I was deeply involved in studying and recording identified Tamil human skulls from Tamil Nadu- project entitled “Contributions of South Asia to the peopling of Australasia – during the Last Ice Age ( LGM) “ a Major Discovery Project funded by the Australian Research Council. When I met him, he told me that they have unearthed nearly 169 giant clay urns which were containing human skeletons of various age and gender groups …some of them were twin burials with missing parts …small pots were filled with funeral ashes…the main problem was that the labor force played a havoc with the discovered osteological material by dis-articulating the long , short bones and lower jaws ..that became an impossible task to re-frame or reconstruct the human skeletons with original skeletal and dental parts …it took sister Gayatri and me a herculean task to put them back in the order …almost 30 months to succeed in our mission ..we used various statistical analyses mentioned on the metric systems by William W.Howell , Mike Pietruseski and the non-metric analyses formulated by Lanarch- Freeman , Macintosh. Radiological investigations including CT scan applications , SEM studies on the teeth , enamel studies , Radiorating helped us tremendously to study the gender, growth – age determination, nutritional status, pathological abnormalities and mixed racial and ethnic traits. It was one of most tedious job in our academic – research career but at the end it gave us maximum satisfaction and happiness The early Iron Age Adichanallur site was found almost 200 years ago …but nobody has done any systematic work and they failed to discover the ethnic and racial origins of these skeletons …our discoveries included many amazing facts .... the recovered skeletons more than 90% of them were Caucasoids (white Euro & Middle East Setllers) , Mongoloids ( Yellow race of South East and Far East Asia) , Negroids ( Africans) and a less % of Australoids ( Australian Aborigines) and a negligible percentage of Tamil and other mixed racial & ethnic affinities. Their pathological expressions are truly fascinating… They all were maritime traders and sailors who visited India within a time span of 2500 yrs B.P to 1100 yrs A.D They ventured into the coastal line of Tamil Nadu for Silk and Spice trade activities We helped ASI- Chennai voluntary without any financial benefits.