The visit to this ASI excavation site at Amirthamangalam in
Tiruvallur District was part of the Gajaprishta Vimana Temple, Shiva Temple,
Vishnu Temple, and ASI Excavation site in Tiruvallur District of Tamil Nadu and
Tirupati District of Andhra Pradesh.
பெருங்கற்கால
ஈமச்சின்னங்கள் (Megalithic
Monuments):
இப்பகுதியில்
சுமார் 2,000 முதல் 3,000 ஆண்டுகளுக்கு
முந்தைய (இரும்புக்காலம் / சங்க காலம் சார்ந்த) கல்வட்டங்கள் (Cairn Circles) மற்றும்
கல்திட்டைகள் (Dolmenoid Cists) பரவலாகக்
காணப்படுகின்றன. பழங்கால மனிதர்கள் இறந்தவர்களைப் புதைத்து, அவர்களின்
நினைவாக பெரிய பாறாங்கற்களை வட்டவடிவில் அடுக்கி வைத்துப் அமைத்த ஈமச்சின்ன
அமைப்புகள் இவை.
The chain of exploration began when Sir Robert Bruce Foote, a British Geologist, accidentally found a stone tool at Pallavaram in May 1863, followed by the discovery of numerous artefacts in
and around Poondi near Chennai. This tremendous discovery in the field of prehistoric
archaeology pushed back the antiquity of man in Tamil Nadu to more than
half a million years ago and placed this region indisputably on the world map
of prehistoric culture. Most of the stone implements have so far been
collected from the surface of the earth, but some are from river terraces. These early stone implements have been discovered at Kortallayar Valley
in and around Thiruvallur.
As per the Excavation in Tamil Nadu report, published
in 2011 by the Archaeological Survey of India, the excavation at Amirthamangalam in Tiruvallur District
was carried out in 1944 – 49, under the Megalithic / Iron age site category. This
was the 16th site of 72 sites excavated by ASI. The megalithic types in
northern parts of Tamil Nadu (comprising the districts of Tiruvallur,
Kanchipuram, Vellore, Villupuram, Tiruvannamalai, etc.) show mainly slab
cist burials. At Amirthamangalam, Urns with tapering bottoms occurred within
cairn circles. These cairn circles are created using laterite stones, which are
available in this region.
Systematic excavations were
conducted by different agencies in various places in Tamil Nadu, including Amirthamangalam. The excavation yielded about 250 Urns, which contain skull bones along with Black and red pottery.
.jpg)
The
excavation at Amirthamangalam in the lateritic zone of Chingleput District (presently
in Tiruvallur District), where urn-burials occur without any obvious megalithic
appendage, was carried out by the Southern Circle under Shri N R Banerjee as a
complement to the excavation of megalithic monuments at Sanur in the granitic
zone of the same District. The objective was to find out the mode of burial and
how far it resembled or differed in nature from the urn-burials surrounded by
stone circles that are met with in the region.
The
location of the urn-burials on a lateritic plateau, surrounded at the fringe by
many rain-fed ancient irrigation-tanks, conforms to the general
principle of the situation of megaliths elsewhere in the District The exposed
and damaged urns (pl XL) at this extensive site, numbering about two hundred
and fifty, displayed a large variety of sizes and shapes ranging from oval to
nearly globular All were hand-made, thick, of coarse granular fabric and pale
red colour and had rolled rims with or without additional decorations below and
either pedunculated bottoms, which pinned then into the earth, or heeled solid
bottoms, flat at the lower end, varying in diameter from 4 inch to 11 inch.
Excavation
of a few urns (pls XLI and XLII B) showed that they were each placed in an
adequate pit cut into the lateritic gravel and, wherever necessary, even into
the underlying lateritic bedrock. The skeletal material, consisting of a
selection of uncalcined, disarticulated and excarnated bones, including the
skull, long bones, loosened teeth and fragments of ribs, was deposited at the
bottom (pl XLII A) Over the skeletal deposit were placed a few (three or four)
pots in Black-and-red Ware A few iron objects were also placed inside The urns
were then filled up with earth and covered with dome-shaped bds (a variant in
the form of an oblong lid was also rarely noticed) Being large and commodious,
the rims of the lids reached the belly-level of the urns and sealed the burials
completely The lids had the same type of rolled rims and had the same fabric
and colour as the urns A few pots were also placed over them The pit was
thereafter covered up, and a few blocks of laterite, deliberately cut, appear
to have been invariably placed along its edge The tumulus, if any, over the
interments was not extant, but the pit was sealed by an overlying layer of
loose gravelly earth (fig 5)
.jpg)
Urns with human skull and bones
On
the whole, these burials appear to be simpler than the elaborate megalithic
burials. The absence of the stone circle, the comparative paucity of pottery and
iron objects, and the smaller quantity of skeletal material all suggest a less
sophisticated mode of disposal of the dead. Whether they indicate a form earlier
than the full-fledged megaliths or are a degenerate form thereof requires
further investigation.
இந்திய அரசுத் தொல்லியல் துறையால் இந்த இடம் 1954-55ல் அகழாய்வு செய்யப்பட்டது. இங்கு சுமார் 250 தாழிகள் காணப்பட்டன. இவற்றில் சில அகழாய்வு
செய்யப்பட்டன. இவை செம்புராங்கற் பாறையில் குழி தோண்டப்பட்டு
புதைக்கப்பட்டிருந்தன. சில தாழிகளில் இறப்பிற்குப் பின் சேகரித்து வைக்கப்பட்ட
மனிதர்களின் மண்டை ஓடுகள், பிற உடல் எலும்புகள், விலா எலும்புகள் மற்றும் பற்கள் காணப்பட்டன. தாழிகளில் கருப்பு-சிவப்புப்
பானைகள் வைக்கப்பட்டிருந்தன. இந்த ஈமதாழிகள் (Urn Burials) சுடுமண் மூடிகளால் மூடப்பட்டிருந்தன.
Poondi Museum: To focus on the prehistory of
Tamil Nadu as a whole and the Palaeolithic age of this region in particular,
the State Department of Archaeology has established a site museum at Poondi in
the year 1985 for the benefit of the public, students and scholars. This museum
is a unique one as it features the prehistoric heritage of Tamil
Nadu. It is the only site museum in India that portrays the palaeolithic
culture of the region. The collections in and around Tiruvallur are on display, including
Amirthamangalam.
References
1. ANCIENT INDIA, Bulletin of the Archaeological Survey of India
2. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF CULTURE
RAJYA SABHA
STARRED QUESTION NO-163
ANSWERED ON 9.3.2021
ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS IN TAMIL NADU.
4. Parliament assurance 1202 - Verification of the list of Centrally protected Monuments of Chennai Circle.
5. An Excavation in Tamil Nadu, An Archaeological Report, by Dr T S Sridhar, Published by Government Museums, 2011.
6. Indian Archaeology 1954 - 55, A Review, Dept of Archaeology.
7. Poondi Museums, Display.
LOCATION OF
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE: CLICK HERE
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OM SHIVAYA NAMA ---
