The untrained eye might dismiss it as nothing more than a curiously-shaped chunk of rock.
Weighing a mere 106 gm and measuring 8.7 cm in length, the quartzite stone axe discovered in a gravelly riverbed in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu belongs to the neolithic period and could shed light on the prehistoric cultures that may have once thrived in the region.
The stone tool was recovered from the Paraliyar riverbed at Attoor near Tiruvattar by Vysakh A.S., an Assistant Professor with the Postgraduate Department of History, Sree Narayana College, Chempazhanthy, two months ago.
Studies have testified to its age, and this is also the first instance of a neolithic tool being found in this particular region, Mr. Vysakh said.
In India, the neolithic culture dates back to around 7000 BCE.
The dates of the southern neolithic sites mostly fall within a broad time bracket of circa 2900-1000 BCE, he said. But they can be further divided on the basis of chronology and geographical region. This latter part of the stone age is generally associated with food production, pottery and sedentary living, according to him.
The present-day Kanyakumari district, known as Nanjinadu, formed an integral part of Travancore. Attoor and Tiruvattar, where the tool was found, were once part of the Padmanabhapuram division of Travancore.
“The discovery indicates that a neolithic culture may have thrived in the region in prehistoric times,” he said, adding that studies in the region could yield further evidence.
More or less intact, the axe head is slightly weathered with a straight working edge and a slightly-pointed proximal edge.
The axe 8.7 cm long, measures 4.7 cm in breadth and 1.5 cm in thickness.
Hilly tracts
Attoor is surrounded by hilly tracts, and the region was once covered by dense forests, says Mr. Vysakh. The Paraliyar, from whose bed the tool was recovered, originates in the Mahendragiri Hills of the Western Ghats and is a tributary of Tambraparani river.
“'The forests and hills of the region were inhabited by the tribal such as the Kanikkar and Vedars. Almost the same types of tools are still made by tribes in interior forests,” he said.
