Adichanallur - Enigmatic Archeological Site

For those not interested in history this will be a bit of a boring post. So please ignore.

This is an intriguing archeological site about an hour’s drive or about 40 km west of Thoothukudi. It lies on the banks of the Thamirabarani river. First discovered in the late 1800s, it has divulged some very interesting artifacts including skeletal remains. It is an ancient burial site with numerous burial urns. It has been carbon dated to the first millennium BCE. The period seems to be that of the Sangam era poets. It is well known that in the ancient Tamil country, interning dead people in burial urns or thaazhi (தாழி or முதுமக்கள் தாழி) was a common custom that is well described in ancient Tamil literature. Thaazhi burial sites are found all over the Tamil country. Just 15 km downstream is the location of the famous Pandian port city and ancient capital Korkai. Today, Korkai is a small nondescript village which is quite inland and lends credence to the belief that the sea has receded here.

What is very interesting about this 2500 year old site is that most of the skulls unearthed here do not belong to the current local ethnic group. There are a variety of skulls with mongoloid, negroid and australoid features. The prevalent theory is that Korkai had a large number of foreign seafarers / traders from East Asia, South East Asia, Africa, Australia and the Middle East living here and Adichanallur was the burial ground for this cosmopolitan city. There is a verse from the Sangam era work the Pattinathu Paalai which describes the contemporary Chola port town of Puhar some distance north of here along the coast that describes a multiethnic population speaking many different tongues. 

"பல் ஆயமொடு பதி பழகி, வேறு வேறு உயர்ந்த முதுவாய் ஒக்கல்...மொழி பல பெருகிய....புலம் பெயர் மாக்கள் கலந்து இனிது உறையும்" - பட்டினத்துப்பாலை 200

There are many more interesting facts about this site. Nothing much to see here except for mounds of gravel. To me, it gave me goosebumps to stand here. There are plans to build a museum to house some of the artifacts. An earlier attempt failed. The artifacts from the original excavations by European amateur archaeologists are lost forever.

Visited August 2019. Base Thoothukudi