Archaeological excavations in Sennanur inaugurated

Inauguration of exploratory excavation at Sennanur village in Krishnagiri district, revealing Sangam period artifacts and historic findings.

Works on the preliminary exploratory excavation was inaugurated here at Sennanur village in Uthangarai, Krishnagiri distrixt on Tuesday. Collector K.M. Sarayu inaugurated the excavation after Chief Minister M.K. Stalin remotely inaugurated exploratory excavations in eight archaeological sites across Tamil Nadu, including Keezhadi in Sivaganga and the nearby site of Kondhagai; Vembakottai in Virudunagar; Keezhnamandi in Tiruvanamalai; Porpanakottai in Pudukottai; Tirumalapuram in Tenkasi; Sennanur in Krishnagiri; Kongalnagaram in Tirrupur; and Marungur in Cuddalore district.

Sennanur came into the spotlight after bricks dating back to the Sangam period were unearthed last year. An early historic site, Sennanur site revealed terraotta artefacts, russet-coated painted ware, and red and black ware. It is also a site where preliminary evidence of brick structures were found. According to archeological sources, it is one of three sites where bricks were seen.

Collector Sarayu highlighted the findings in Mayiladumparai here in Krishnagiri. “The Accelerator Mass Spectrometry study of Mayiladumparai findings showed the iron found was over 4,200 years old.

The archeological site at Sennanur is at the foothills spread over 20 acres with archeological imprints 2.5 mtr in depth. Sennanur is also flanked by hill caves, where three caves have rock paintings signifying life that predated 5,000 years, Ms. Sarayu said.

The State government had made budgetary allocations for exploratory excavations in this year’s budget for Sennanur.