Excavation begins at Alagankulam archaeological site

MADURAI: Excavation works under the State Archaeological Department commenced in Alagankulam village in Ramanathapuram district on Tuesday.
Alagankulam is believed to be an important trade centre or port city during the Sangam era of Tamil Nadu -- between 300 BC and 300 AD. The five months excavation will last till September with state archaeological department officials planning to dig 30 to 35 trenches in the area.
Ramanathapuram district collector S Natarajan and officials inspected the site and interacted with state archaeologists on Tuesday.
Addressing reporters, the collector said Alagankulam had been an important archaeological site in the district and excavation works was up in the village in the 1980s.
Having found a lot of archaeological evidences in the past indicating that it had strong trade connections with the West, former chief minister J Jayalalithaa passed an order for large scale archaeological excavation works in the village on September 1, 2016, the collector said.
The collector expressed his optimism that excavation works would bring out the historical evidences of the Tamil society. “The antiquities unearthed at the site will be displayed in the village as special exhibition helping students and the public get a glimpses of the archaeological evidences of Tamil society”, he stated.
Excavation work director Dr J Baskar said they were going to dig trenches at Kottaimedu area in Alagankulam village. The site is the campus of a government higher secondary school in the village. They will expand excavation to nearby areas.
During research, the archaeologists look for areas with names like Medu or Thidal known locally which indicate the buried settlements. These areas will be slightly elevated places and it could be noted the renowned excavation works by the Archaeological Survey of India at Keeladi in Sivaganga district were carried out in Pallisanthaithidal – a coconut grove.
In previous excavation works, archaeologists have unearthed antiquities like ornaments, bangles made of ivory, glass beads, Roman coins and pottery and pot shreds with Tamil Brahmi scripts.
“After Arikamedu near Pondicherry, Alagankulam is major archaeological site in Tamil Nadu and we are hopeful that the excavation this time will bring out more revelations”, he said.