The stalled chemical treatment of thousands of cannonballs unearthed from the Portuguese-built Fort St. Angelo here will resume soon as the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which protects the monument, has been granted funds for the work.
The chemical treatment work has remained suspended for over the past three months because of shortage of funds. A total of 35,950 cannonballs were excavated in December last year by the ASI inside the protected monument.
The excavation followed the chance unearthing of a couple of hundreds of balls. The ASI authorities had then said that their priority was to do chemical treatment of the cannonballs to protect them from corrosion.
Corrosion concerns
The huge cache of the cannonballs are now kept inside the fort, raising concerns about possible corrosion.
The excavation of thousands of cannonballs had drawn the curiosity of historians and archaeologists about the finds in the fort, which exchanged hands from the Portuguese to the Dutch to the English. The ASI officials had then said that the finds would be subjected to detailed study and analysis after chemical treatment. The preservation initiative was stopped in March due to paucity of funds.
“The chemical treatment work will begin next week as funds have been released for the work,” said T. Sreelakshmi, Superintending Archaeologist of the ASI (Thrissur Circle).
When contacted, she told The Hindu that arrangements will be made at the fort to exhibit for the public many of the finds that have already been chemically treated already.
The cannonballs unearthed from the fort are made of cast-iron and are likely to be corroded if they are not chemically treated for preservation.
The balls are of 22 different types and sizes. They were found in four pits inside the fort.
