The State Archaeology Department on Saturday began excavation at Porpanaikotttai seeking to unearth an ancient fort in the village, situated about 6.5 km to the east of Pudukottai town. This is one of the new sites where the department has launched excavations this year.
Studies carried out at the site using Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), a remote sensing method, have indicated that a fort had existed at Porpanaikottai, said Thangam Thennarasu, Minister for Finance, Human Resource Management and Archaeology, after inaugurating the excavation along with Minister for Law S.Reghupathy and Minister for Environment Siva.V.Meyyanathan.
Potsherds engraved with graffiti, Tamil-Brahmi inscribed potsherds, shell bangles, bone tools and hopscotches were unearthed during an excavation conducted by E.Iniyan of Tamil Nadu Open University in 2021.
State Ministers Thangam Thennarasu, S. Reghupathy and Siva V. Meyyanathan inspect a map of the excavation site at Porpanaikottai in Pudukottai district on Saturday. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Although excavations are under way at other Sangam Age sites in Tamil Nadu, this is an important site with a big fort and habitation, Mr. Thennarasu said expressing confidence that the findings would bring out the historical and cultural significance of the region. “The excavation is being done in a scientific manner and the best possible location has been identified for the digging,” he said.
According to the Archaeology Department, studies have indicated that the fort was spread over an area of 17.75 hectares with three entrance gates. The northern side entrance has brick walls on both sides. A habitation mound spread over 1.26 hectares with continuous settlements from the Iron Age is believed to have existed within the fort. Iron Age burials, black-and-red ware and early historic bricks have been recovered from the site.
“The earliest lithic evidence in the form of a memorial stone datable to 3rd - 4th century CE, on the palaeographical ground, emerged from this site. It looks contemporary to the Pulankurchi inscription. The memorial stone was raised for a hero Kanankumaran, a soldier of the close circuit, who died in a cattle raid carried on this village by Ponkongar Vinnakon. The ruined fort was probably built in the 13-14th century CE,” said a note issued by the Archaeology Department.
“It is a huge fort all around, the present size of the fort … and according to tradition, it had 32 bastions. Inside, one could notice the remnants of the buildings probably a palace of the chief. Evidence of temples at four cardinal points have been found. An iron slag mound lies on the southern side near the fort,” it said.
S. R. Gandhi, Director, R. Sivanantham, Deputy Director, and K. Rajan, Advisor, Department of Archaeology, Kavitha Ramu, Collector, and T. Thangadurai, Excavation Director, were among those present.
