Haven't had one of these for a while (previous posts here and here). The third season of excavations at Pattanam by the Kerala Council for Historical Research is underway. Full story at Indian Express:
The third season of
archaeological excavations at Pattanam by the Kerala Council for
Historical Research (KCHR), which began on March 3, has discovered
structural remains and huge quantities of bricks and broken roof tiles.
The excavations, which brought forth a variety of tangible evidence on the multi-cultural, urban, architectural and maritime features of the site concluded on Saturday.
"The third season (2009) archaeological excavations at Pattanam reiterates the assumption that Pattanam might be the oldest port site with extensive evidence for Roman contacts on the Indian Ocean rim or beyond. The peak of Roman contacts seems to have been between the 1st century BC and 2nd century AD," said KCHR director P.J.Cherian.
In the season, three trenches were dug at the Padamadathil plot and the Government LP school compound. "The initial inference from the field is that the majority of the samples are of the Campanian type of South Italian origin with volcanic elements. Greek sources such as Kos and Rhodes, and Egyptian and Mesopotamian amphora sherds were also found," Cherian said. Apart from the bricks, local pottery sherds numbering over 4 lakh were found at the site this time, implying the density of habitation on the site. Though the digging ended on Saturday, the trench work and other detailed studies would continue for another two weeks.
"This time, small finds abound and include a variety of non-local (foreign) ceramics, a large number of semi-precious stones and glass beads (over 3,000), copper coins, most of them in a corroded condition, iron, copper, gold and tin artifacts, cameo blanks, spindle whorls, terracotta lamps and so on," Cherian said.
Pattanam, located 9 km south of Kodungalloor, is said to have been first occupied around 1,000 BC and continued to be active till the 10th century AD.
"The evidence point to the possibility that the site had the benefit of the services of a large number of artisans and technicians, but not necessarily residents on the site. The plethora of artifacts and structures indicate that this site could not have been provisioned without a skilled workforce," the project director said.
The workforce comprised blacksmiths (large quantity of iron objects such as nails, tools etc.), coppersmiths (copper objects), goldsmiths (ornaments), potters (huge quantity of domestic vessels, lamps, oven and other terracotta objects), brick makers, bricklayers, roofers (large quantity of bricks and triple grooved roof-tiles), stone bead makers, lapidaries (as indicated by a variety of semi-precious stone beads, cameo blanks and stone debitage), and weavers (signified spindle whorls and jerry). "Chemical analyses of the soil samples are necessary to confirm the nature of industrial activity. Specialist study, including thin section analysis of the Roman amphorae by Dr Roberta Tomber (British Museum) will confirm their provenance," Cherian said.
The excavations, which brought forth a variety of tangible evidence on the multi-cultural, urban, architectural and maritime features of the site concluded on Saturday.
"The third season (2009) archaeological excavations at Pattanam reiterates the assumption that Pattanam might be the oldest port site with extensive evidence for Roman contacts on the Indian Ocean rim or beyond. The peak of Roman contacts seems to have been between the 1st century BC and 2nd century AD," said KCHR director P.J.Cherian.
In the season, three trenches were dug at the Padamadathil plot and the Government LP school compound. "The initial inference from the field is that the majority of the samples are of the Campanian type of South Italian origin with volcanic elements. Greek sources such as Kos and Rhodes, and Egyptian and Mesopotamian amphora sherds were also found," Cherian said. Apart from the bricks, local pottery sherds numbering over 4 lakh were found at the site this time, implying the density of habitation on the site. Though the digging ended on Saturday, the trench work and other detailed studies would continue for another two weeks.
"This time, small finds abound and include a variety of non-local (foreign) ceramics, a large number of semi-precious stones and glass beads (over 3,000), copper coins, most of them in a corroded condition, iron, copper, gold and tin artifacts, cameo blanks, spindle whorls, terracotta lamps and so on," Cherian said.
Pattanam, located 9 km south of Kodungalloor, is said to have been first occupied around 1,000 BC and continued to be active till the 10th century AD.
"The evidence point to the possibility that the site had the benefit of the services of a large number of artisans and technicians, but not necessarily residents on the site. The plethora of artifacts and structures indicate that this site could not have been provisioned without a skilled workforce," the project director said.
The workforce comprised blacksmiths (large quantity of iron objects such as nails, tools etc.), coppersmiths (copper objects), goldsmiths (ornaments), potters (huge quantity of domestic vessels, lamps, oven and other terracotta objects), brick makers, bricklayers, roofers (large quantity of bricks and triple grooved roof-tiles), stone bead makers, lapidaries (as indicated by a variety of semi-precious stone beads, cameo blanks and stone debitage), and weavers (signified spindle whorls and jerry). "Chemical analyses of the soil samples are necessary to confirm the nature of industrial activity. Specialist study, including thin section analysis of the Roman amphorae by Dr Roberta Tomber (British Museum) will confirm their provenance," Cherian said.
you have more on muziris on
http://jamesagnel.blogspot.com/2009/05/ancient-port-of-muziris.html
If u cPlease bear my english.
Posted by: James | January 04, 2010 at 05:28 PM
I went to the musiris ation site last day. and this is what I found.
http://jamesagnel.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-personal-visit-to-musiris-site.html
A bit funny. Again excuse for my english
Posted by: James | January 04, 2010 at 05:44 PM