Hold a slice of history in your hands
ROHINI RAMAKRISHNAN
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A three-day art camp for the children of Gunduperumbedu was organised recently to sensitise them on the importance of the fossils found in their neighbourhood.
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Photo: Mani Vannan
IN COLOUR: Fossils on paper.
A piece of shale held tightly in her hand, ten-year-old Chithra, chips at it intently till it breaks. A smile lights her face and eyes sparkle as she triumphantly holds up the halves. And there embossed as it were, is a delicate fern-like design, in fact, a 150-million-year-old fossil.
A British geologist named Robert Bruce Foote discovered the occurrence of fossils, around a radius of 30 km near Sriperumpudur in 1868.
In Gondwanaland
Prof. P. Dayanandan, former professor of Botany, Madras Christian College, Tambaram, who has been studying these fossils over a period of years, says: "About 150 million years ago evergreen vegetation was common in this region. There were no flowering plants at this time anywhere in the world. Peninsular India was an island located in the southern hemisphere and moving slowly northwards. The plants and animals on this landmass were once part of a large continent known as Gondwanaland. It comprised India, South Africa, South America, Australia and Antarctica. Thus the plants that now occur as fossils in Gunduperumpedu were related to similar plants that occurred throughout Gondwanaland.
When these plants were fossilised, the sea had intruded into several parts of the east coast of India. In and around Sriperumpudur sandstones were formed due to slow sedimentation of soil particles under water. The sandstones of this region are known as shale. People here call it Seekkaparai.
Twigs and leaves that fell into the water were preserved as impressions. One could find such impressions lying exposed or by breaking a piece of the shale. About 30 different species of plants and some marine animals have been found in the Sriperumpudur beds.
Two of the common plant fossils belong to the genera Ptilophylllum and Elatocladus. Both are extinct. They are related to the cycads and the conifers of the present day."
For the children of Gunduperumpedu, this shale was something to be played with. But when the Principal of the Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai,
G. Chanderasekeran, and his team organised a three-day art camp for the children, based on these fossils they learnt a new dimesion to shale. The event was sponsored by the Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited and was inaugurated by Pradeep Yadav, District Collector, Kancheepuram District.
Three lecturers and 11 students from the Fine Arts College stayed in the village for three days to train the children in the art of drawing and painting. First they were asked to draw something that took their fancy, then they were asked to draw the leaves and plants from their home gardens and finally to draw the fossils.
Studying in the 110-year-old Church of South India School, this was the first time these kids experience d something like this.
The three-day camp taught the children to appreciate and respect the environment and to safeguard it in every possible way.
For further information contact Prof. P. Dayanandan at 9994527955
Getting there
About 30 km from Chennai on the National Highway is Sriperumpudur.
Near the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial, Gunduperumpedu is located approximately four km east.
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