Featured: Friendly specialist tours to ancient, mystical and historical sites in the UK and beyond

Friendly specialist tours to ancient, mystical and historical sites in the UK and beyond

The Henge Monuments of the British Isles: Myth and Archaeology

The Henge Monuments of the British Isles: Myth and Archaeology

Who's Online

There are currently, 352 guests and 3 members online.

You are a guest. To join in, please register for free by clicking here

Sponsors

<< Text Pages >> Urn Burials in Marungur - Burial Chamber or Dolmen in India

Submitted by coldrum on Wednesday, 17 March 2010  Page Views: 6055

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Urn Burials in Marungur
Country: India
NOTE: This site is 44.547 km away from the location you searched for.

Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 Nearest Village: Marungur
Latitude: 11.661870N  Longitude: 79.532600E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
2 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
3 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
no data Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
2

Internal Links:
External Links:

Urn Burials in Tamil Nadu, India. The broken pots with the inscriptions were placed in urns that could have contained the bodies of the dead or their bones. “This is the first time that such inscribed pots, with Tamil Brahmi letters, placed as grave goods in urn burials, have been recovered from any archaeological site in Tamil Nadu. This opens a new chapter in archaeological research in the State,” say three specialists in Tamil Brahmi inscriptions.

They are K. Rajan, professor of History, Pondicherry University; Y. Subbarayalu, head, Indology, French Institute of Pondicherry; and V. Vedachalam, retired senior epigraphist, Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department.

Such inscribed potsherds carrying personal names were earlier found at habitational sites at Arikamedu in Puducherry, Kodumanal near Erode, and Azhagankulam in Ramanathapuram district, but rarely at burial sites. Only two cist burials at Kodumanal and Porunthal in Dindigul district have yielded potsherds with Tamil Brahmi inscriptions. But Marungur is an urn burial site.

It was J.R. Sivaramakrishnan, a lecturer in History, Annamalai University, who first noticed and collected the potsherds when an earthmover dug up the soil for strengthening the Vadalur-Panrutti Road at Marungur. Three red-ware urns with capstones were exposed, but the earthmover smashed the urns and the capstones. The potsherds with Tamil Brahmi inscriptions were inside three different urns. Several grave goods (pottery) were exposed along with the urns.

Of the three potsherds, one can be nearly fully assembled, and it has five Tamil Brahmi letters reading ‘a-ti-y(a)-ka-n.' This could probably be read as ‘Atiykan.' As the front portion of the potsherd is broken, the preceding word, if any, is not known. The second potsherd has four letters, of which two are Tamil Brahmi, reading ‘a-m.' The remaining two are graffiti marks, resembling the Indus script, says Dr. Rajan. The front portion of the potsherd is missing.

The third has three letters, reading ‘ma-la-a,' and the end portion has not been found. “It looks as if all the three inscriptions are personal names. Palaeographically, the inscriptions may be dated to the first century B.C.” say the three specialists.

For the first time, in the lower Cauvery delta, Tamil Brahmi letters inscribed on pots were found in an urn burial site in an insignificant village in Tamil Nadu, says Dr. Rajan. “The discovery conveys, in clear terms, that buried grave goods also carried inscribed pots. Besides, it shows literacy had reached interior villages in the first century B.C. itself. The names inscribed on the pots were, perhaps, the names of the dead persons whose bodies were kept in the urns.”

Others who examined the potsherds were N. Alagappan, head of the Department of History, Annamalai University; S. Kannan, P. Kalaiselvan and E. Manamaran.

There are a number of references to urn burials in Sangam poems. At Marungur, there is also an early historic habitational mound, called ‘Erikaraimodu' and ‘Pidarikollai' that yielded black and red ware, bricks and terracotta artefacts on the southern side of the village. A preliminary survey suggested that Marungur must have existed from the first century B.C. A planned excavation may yield important data on the urn burial culture and its relation to the early historic Tamil Nadu, as the site seems to be rich in inscribed pottery, say Dr. Rajan and Dr. Vedachalam.

More, with photos of the inscriptions at The Hindu

Note: First century BC pots inscribed with owner's names found in India
You may be viewing yesterday's version of this page. To see the most up to date information please register for a free account.


Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.


Click here to see more info for this site

Nearby sites

Click here to view sites on an interactive map of the area

Key: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed

Download sites to:
KML (Google Earth)
GPX (GPS waypoints)
CSV (Garmin/Navman)
CSV (Excel)

To unlock full downloads you need to sign up as a Contributory Member. Otherwise downloads are limited to 50 sites.


Turn off the page maps and other distractions

Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 32.0km SSW 205° Srimushnam, Bhuvaraha-Vishnu and Shiva temple* Ancient Temple
 34.1km SSE 149° Chidambaram Natarаja temple* Ancient Temple
 34.9km SE 133° Killai Ancient Temple
 42.9km SW 228° Shri Sudarkozhundeesar temple of Pennadam* Ancient Temple
 46.6km NW 318° Kollur Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 48.6km SW 230° Aratturai, Aratturai Natha (Shiva) temple* Ancient Temple
 53.6km WSW 238° Shri Vaidhyanathasvami Temple* Ancient Temple
 58.4km SW 218° Rajendrapattinam, Shiva temple* Ancient Temple
 80.0km SSW 192° kumbakonam temples* Ancient Temple
 80.9km NW 321° Sambandhanur burial site Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 99.5km NE 38° Eclipse Commemoration Pavilion near Mamallapuram* Ancient Temple
 107.1km SSW 204° Sri Brihadeeswara temple* Ancient Temple
 107.1km SSW 204° Sri brahadeeswara temple Ancient Temple
 127.9km SW 226° Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple (Tiruchirapalli)* Ancient Temple
 128.1km NE 34° Mamallapuram* Ancient Temple
 128.5km NE 34° Mamallapuram Shore Temple* Ancient Temple
 130.0km SW 225° Rock Fort temple* Ancient Temple
 132.1km N 8° Sri Katchabeswarar temple* Ancient Temple
 132.1km N 8° Sri Vaikuntha Perumal Temple* Ancient Temple
 132.2km N 8° Sri Kamakshi Amman temple* Ancient Temple
 132.3km NNE 31° Thiruporur Stone Circles and Burial Cists* Stone Circle
 132.4km N 7° Sri Kailasanathar temple* Ancient Temple
 132.4km N 7° Eclipse commemoration pavilions in and around Kanchipuram* Ancient Temple
 132.4km N 8° Sri Ekambaranathar temple* Ancient Temple
 132.8km NNE 34° Tiger Headed Rock-Cut Cave* Ancient Temple
View more nearby sites and additional images

<< Coolnaharragill

La Pava de Mochumí >>

Please add your thoughts on this site

Neolithic Britain And Ireland

Neolithic Britain And Ireland

Sponsors

Auto-Translation (Google)

Translate from English into:

"Urn Burials in Marungur" | Login/Create an Account | 0 News and Comments
  
Go back to top of page    Comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
Your Name: Anonymous [ Register Now ]
Subject:


Add your comment or contribution to this page. Spam or offensive posts are deleted immediately, don't even bother

<<< What is five plus one as a number? (Please type the answer to this question in the little box on the left)
You can also embed videos and other things. For Youtube please copy and paste the 'embed code'.
For Google Street View please include Street View in the text.
Create a web link like this: <a href="https://www.megalithic.co.uk">This is a link</a>  

Allowed HTML is:
<p> <b> <i> <a> <img> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <tt> <li> <ol> <ul> <object> <param> <embed> <iframe>

We would like to know more about this location. Please feel free to add a brief description and any relevant information in your own language.
Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma.