Preface
The Department of Ancient History and Archaeology, University of Madras, since its inception in the year 1959, has undertaken archaeological excavations annually as part of field archaeological training to the Post-graduate students. Systematic explorations carried out in the northern districts of Tamilnadu led to the discovery of a large number of early historical sites and their brief notices have been reported in the Indian Archaeology - A Review. As a sequel, archaeological excavations were undertaken at important sites like Tirukkampuliyur, Alagarai, Uraiyur, Kanchipuram, Appukkallu, Adiyamankottai, Kudikadu, Kallerimalai, etc.
Recently, the Department conducted explorations in the Palar river basin and located several early historical sites on the northern bank of the river. Among them, Palur lying between Kanchipuram and Chigleput, was found to be promising. Encouraged by the discovery of ancient surface finds during the course of explorations, the Department ventured to undertake excavations for five seasons from 2001 to 2005. The first four season's work was carried out under the direction of Dr. P. Shanmugam, then Professor and Head, assisted by a team of faculty members Dr. A. Ekambaranathan and Dr. P.D. Balaji, and technical staff members such as Dr. R. Ponnuswamy, Excavation-in-Charge, Mr. M. Seran, Technical Officer, Mr. N. Ranganathan, Assistant Technical Officer, Mr. A. Karunakaran, Assistant Technical Officer, and Mr. C. Sivashankar, Photographer. The last season's excavation in 2005 was carried out under the direction of Dr. A. Ekambaranathan assisted by the faculty members of the Department Dr. P.D. Balaji, Dr. P. Jayakumar and Dr. J. Soundararajan, and technical staff mentioned above. The second year M. A. students of the Department successively had the opportunity of being trained in various techniques of field archaeology. The spadework brought to light cultural assemblages belonging to c. 3rd century B.C. down to c. 9th century A.D, the details of which find place in the present book.
I am extremely thankful to the authorities of University of Madras for having undertaken the publication of this work. Our special thanks are also due to the Vice-Chancellor, for his constant encouragement to the Department and for evincing keen interest in the publication of this Excavation Report.
Introduction
Palur is a small village lying between 12° 47' North and 79° 55' East in the Chingleput taluk of Kanchipuram district, Tamilnadu (Figure 1). It is situated 11 km. west of Chingleput and 25 km. east of Kanchipuram on the state highway connecting Kanchipuram and Mahabalipuram, the capital and port town respectively of the Pallava dynasty. River Palar, a perennial water source in ancient times, flows south of the village (Figure 2). On the western side of Palur is a huge lake watered by a feeder-canal from river Palar. The site is accessible by bus as well as train from Kanchipuram and Chingleput. Small hamlets such as Devanur, Melacheri, Karumbakkam and Manappakkam are found around Palur.
The Mound
The present village covers an area of 2 km. in circumference with the northern part gradually rising to a height of nearly 2 m. from the southern part. Infact, the northern part of the village is the ancient mound (Figure 3), now, inhabited by the people of economically weaker section. The mound is surrounded by paddy fields on the western, northern and eastern sides. Beyond the pathway leading to the state highway also, the southern part of the mound has been reclaimed for cultivation.
Exploration
The Department of Ancient History and Archaeology, University of Madras, conducted extensive exploration along the northern bank of river Palar where several sites like Palayasivaram, Tirumukkudal, Anur, Ponvilaintakalattur and Palur are located. Among these sites, Palur was found to be more important than the others as interesting surface finds were identified here.
The entire stretch of the mound was thoroughly explored and early historical vestiges like fine varieties of black ware, black and red ware, russet coated ware, red slipped ware and pieces of thick conical jars were collected. Besides, fragments of some terracotta figures, glass beads, bangle pieces and iron slags were also obtained from the surface of the mound. Encouraged by the finds during the course of exploration, Palur was selected for excavation with a view to determine the antiquity of the site and to assess the material culture of the inhabitants of the village from an early period down to modern times.
Added to this, as part of their curriculum the Post-Graduate students of the Department of Ancient History and Archaeology have to undergo training in archaeological excavation. Hence, certain selected areas of the village had been chosen to impart field training in archaeological techniques so as to enable them acquire a strong foundation in the principles and methods involved in the excavation of a site.
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