Kerala - Kochi   

ASI clears excavation at Pattanam

K.S. Sudhi

KOCHI: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has issued a licence for conducting archaeological excavation at Pattanam near here.

The licence was issued to the Kerala Council for Historical Research (KCHR) for conducting excavations at the site from where artefact was obtained during some trial diggings. The State Archaeology Department will also be associating with the programme.

The KCHR was given exploratory licence for the Paravur, Kodungalloor and Chettuva region and an excavation licence for Pattanam region, said P.J. Cherian, director of the KCHR, who is also the director of the Pattanam excavation programme.

The council proposed to begin the work by the second week of January. The full-fledged excavation would begin during February-March period, he said.

Earlier, the ASI had issued a licence to the Archaeology Department for conducting the explorations at the site. However, not much work could be carried out during the three-year term allotted to the department.

The council intended to bring in a number of national institutions and experts for the excavation programme. The Marine Archaeology wing of the ASI, the Deccan College of Archaeology and Thanjavur University were some of the institutions that would be associating with the programme. A panel of experts would also be drawn up for overseeing the work, he said.

The council approached the Southern Naval Command for conducting under-water exploratory studies that were to be held as part of the excavation, Dr. Cherian said.

Archaeologists K.P. Shajan and V. Selvakumar are the co-directors of the Pattanam project.

According to indications, the Archaeology Department would be the custodian of the artefact that might be excavated from the site.

Trail excavations done in the region had unearthed fragments of imported Roman amphora, Yemenese and West Asian pottery, bricks, tiles and beads. Potsherds with five letters of Tamil Brahmi inscription and another one with a single letter of `Vattezhuthu' script were also excavated earlier from the area. The trial excavations, held in April 2004, had also yielded a Chera coin, a few glass and stone beads and amphora fragments.

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