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Thirumalapuram excavations
October 15 , 2025
13 hrs 0 min
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- The Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology (TNSDA) conducted the first season of excavations at Thirumalapuram in the Tenkasi district.
- The site lies about 10 kilometres northwest of the present-day Thirumalapuram village.
- The burial site covers nearly 35 acres of land between two seasonal streams near the Kulasegarapereri tank.
- Excavations revealed the presence of an Iron Age culture near the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu.
- The site is tentatively dated to the early to mid-third millennium BCE.
- Comparisons are drawn with other Iron Age sites such as Adichanallur and Sivagalai.
- A total of 37 trenches were dug during the first excavation season.
- A unique rectangular stone slab chamber with urn burials was discovered.
- The chamber was made using 35 stone slabs and filled with cobblestones up to 1.5 metres.
- Various ceramic types were found, including black-and-red ware, red ware, red-slipped ware, and black-polished ware.
- Some ceramic types had white-painted designs similar to those found at sites like T. Kallupatti and Adichanallur.
- Symbols on urns included figures of human, mountain, deer, and tortoise.
- A total of 78 antiquities were found, made of bone, gold, bronze, and iron.
- Artefacts included tweezers, sword, spearhead, gold ring, axe, dagger, chisel, bonehead, and arrowhead.
- Three tiny gold rings were found inside an urn at a depth of 0.49 metres.
- Each gold ring measured 4.8 millimetres in diameter and weighed less than one milligram.
- Preliminary findings confirm Iron Age cultural traits similar to those of Adichanallur.
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