PRE-HISTORY

History is the record of the achievements of man. The

antiquity of human life in South India goes back to about 3,00,000
years. Indian geologists found hundreds of fossilized dinosaur eggs
of Jurassic era (perhaps 65 million years old) in a small village in
Ariyalur district. But the early human inhabitation in Tamil Nadu
is dated from around 50,000 B.C. The early history of human beings
is called the pre-historic period. The pre- historic period is a pre-
documented period. History begins with the creation of man’s
documents relating to his achievements. But the pre-historic men
left behind relics such as pottery, stone tools, artefacts and
drawings which help us reconstruct their history, life and culture.
The study of pre-history involves the study of man and his
achivements.

Stone tools discovered in some parts of Tamil Nadu

provide evidence of human habitation. The pre-historic period
covers the Old Stone Age, New Stone Age and Megalithic Age.

Old Stone Age

The Paleolithic period was very long covering more than 80%
of the entire Stone Age. Paleolithic is derived from two Greek words
meaning old stone. In this period, men used only crude stone
implements. The Paleolithic stage is generally divided into three

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 periods - the Early Paleolithic Age, Middle Paleolithic Age and
Later Paleolithic Age.

The Early Stone Age

The people of the Paleolithic period used crude and

rough stone implements for hunting animals. These implements
were made of quartizite or hard rock. Robert Bruce Foote first
discovered the Old Stone Age implements at Pallavaram near
Chennai. In Chingleput and North Arcot districts, the Old Stone
Age tools were discovered. In the valley of Kortalayar near
Chennai and in Vadamadurai, some Paleolithic sites have been
unearthed. The Early Stone Age sites are situated in
Attirampakkam and Gudiam Spears, tools for digging, choppers,
knives, hammer stones simple hand-axes and pieces of unpolished
stone were used by the people. The hand-axe is a multipurpose tool
used for digging, chopping and cutting. There are different types of
hand-axes such as pear-shaped hand-axes, ovate and cordiform
hand-axes. They are characterized by distinct typology and
technology marking the gradual advancement of Stone- Age
culture. They used quartzite tools for making tools.

Leading the life of nomadic wanderers and hunters, the

Paleolithic men lived only in plains and plateaus, and avoided
forests. They ate fruits, nuts, roots and occasionally meat of animals.
Pottery was unknown. The dead were exposed to be eaten by wild
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animals and birds. The skin of animals leaves and barks were used
as clothing.

The localites around Madras (Chennai) are typical

of the Abbevillian-Acheulean stages. Industries developed in this
region have been given the term Madras industry. The recent
discoveries in different parts of

South India have clearly revealed that Madras Industry flourished

even in the early Paleolithic times.

In the Dharmapuri district, caves and caverns have

drawings of pictures and their main subjects are hunting and
animals.

The Middle Stone Age (The Mesolithic Age)

In this period, the tool equipments and raw

materials underwent remarkable change and refinement. Now
flakes were used for making smaller tools. Jasper and agate were
used for making tools. This type of tools is present in Kortalayar
valley in Chingleput district.

The Later Stone Age (The Microlithic Age)

The flakescraper-tool tradition of the Middle

Stone Age transmitted itself into the microlithic complex. The
oldest microlithic relics are found in the red sand-dune, the Terries,
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 near Tirunelveli and Tuticorin. Recently, microlithics have been
found in Attiramapakkam, Madurai and other places in Tamil
Nadu. They represent the settlements of hunting and fishing people
in the vicinity of the coastline in the early part of the Holocene. The
tiny tools like blades and arrow-heads were made in quartz.
Archaeological evidence suggests that the microlithic period lasted
between 6000-3000B.C.

The New Stone Age (The Neolithic Age)

The term Neolithic is derived from Greek words meaning new

stone. In this age also, men had to depend solely on stone
implements which were ground, grooved and polished. Highly
furnished articles were made into different forms to serve various
purposes.

In South India, the transformation from the

Palaeolithic to Neolithic age was gradual, peaceful, continuous and
conclusive. This age is a crucial phase in the history of civilization.
In this age, man settled down for

agriculture and pastoral occupations. Cultivation of lands,

domestication of animals and pottery-making were the special
features.

Sites

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 In Tamilnadu, the Neolithic tools are found north of Thanjavur
district. Among the Neolithic tools in Tamil Nadu, the most
prominent ones have been discovered in Salem district and
Paiyampalli in North Arcot district.

Tools

The Neolithians employed black-coloured trap which is better

suited to make the polished variety of implements. Techniques like
peeking, grinding and polishing were done to get fine triangular or
conical-shaped axes which were hafted on to wooden handles and
used for cutting trees and digging earth. The tools were engraving
tools, arrow-heads, flakes, knives, lancets, petting stones, scrapers,
corn-crushers, etc.

The Neolithic Culture

Occupation
There were a variety of occupations. Besides hunting and fishing,
domestication, tending of cattle and agriculture, though of a
rudimentary type, came to be adopted for the first time.
The mere hunting life of the Paleolithic period gave place to the
pastoral life of the Neolithic period. The prime necessity of keeping
cows and cattle safe from attacks from wild animals and to
protecting themselves from the ravages of marauders led to some
evolution of orderliness. The simple economy of co-operation to

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safeguard the interests of the community slowly began to take
shape.

Another occupation of the Neolithian age seems to

have been rearing of flocks and herds of cattle. Hunting led to the
domestication of animals like dogs. In course of time, goats, sheep,
cows and buffaloes were tamed. The domestication of animals
points out the settled life of the Neolithians.

The houses were mostly in circular shape with conical roofs.

Mud-plastering was the binding medium used in the construction.

Food

The food of the Neolithic men was simple. Their diet

was fruits, roots and nuts, meat and flesh of animals. The existence
of corn crushers, mealing stones, mortar and pestle shows that
some varieties of cereals and pulses were used in their diet and that
they knew some process of cooking and preparing dishes.
Dress

Leaves and barks of trees and skins of animals continued to

serve as the dress of the Neolithic people. The numerous stick
stones discovered show that, at the most, the Neolithic people
knew how to plait leaves. This art of plaiting leaves might have led
in course of ages to the idea of weaving cotton.

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Ornaments

Ornaments of a wide variety like beads, buttons, bangles

of shells and bones and rings have been discovered in the sites. The
beads served as one of the principal ornaments of women in the
Neolithic days.

Craft and Art

The important craft of the period was pottery. Different

varieties of pottery have been found in Neolithic settlements. Bruce
Foote, the first discoverer of pottery in these settlements, suggested
that origionally kilns were not used for the purpose of burning
earthenware. The potter’s wheel and its applications were known
to them. Urns, vases, bowls, figurines, cups, circular dishes,
spouted vessels and lamps are among the wide variety of
earthenware utensils found in various Neolithic settlements. They
made imperfect and crude vessels. Their shapes and colour are not
quite satisfactory or attractive.

Disposal of the Dead

The old habit of exposing the dead to the elements or birds

and beasts was continued. Towards the later stage, the practice of
burying the dead was adopted.

Religion

The care for the dead and the provision made for the

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 departed spirit

indicate the belief in the worship of the spirit. This must have
paved the way for ancestor worship.

The Megalithic Age

The Neolithic age was succeeded by the Iron Age which is

also known as the Megalithic Age. The most important
characteristic of the Iron Age in South India was the erection of the
burial monuments known as Megalith. The word megalith is
composed of two Greek words, megathos meaning huge and lithoi
meaning stone. Conventionally, it is applied to the tombs of the
post-Neolithic epoch. Their burial equipment are generally larger in
size and more elaborate than those of the Neolithic age. The chief
characteristic of the megaliths is that they are sepulchral and
commemorative. The megaliths are found generally on the slopes
of hills or elevated plots with arable lands located near them. The
standing stones are generally five to eight feet in height, but
occasionally there are some over twenty feet. They are set in a
square or diagonal plan. This shows that the megaliths belonged to
a period after the people had developed a settled life as well as
agriculture.

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Sites

The megalithic sites are widely prevalent in North Arcot,

South Arcot and Pudukkottai districts and Sanur,
Amratamangalam and Kunrattur in Chingleput district.

Different Burial

Cist
A cist is a box-shaped burial structure made of stone slabs set
on edge. The cists may be either sunk below the ground level or
built on the land surface, in which case they are covered by a
protective slab.

Transepted Cist with Passage

In the transepted cist with passage, the chamber is

transepted into two with a slab. There is a passage formed of two
slabs placed upright on either side of the port hole. This passage is
closed in front with another slab. In Sittannavasal, Todaiyur,
Desipalayam and Perumalmalai, these types of burial sites are
found.

The Dolemenoid Cist

The Dolmenoid Cist is in the form of a table with one huge

capstone covering the three or more upright stones. It is a pit
(cairn) with one or more urns or a legged terracotta sarcophagus or
surrounded by a stone circle.

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The Sarophagus

The Sarophagus is an oblong terracotta tub provided with legs and

a convex terracotta lid. It is buried underground inside a cairn
circle or a dolemenoid cist with skeletal remains and burial
furniture. This type of burial is concentrated in Chingleput district.
At Paiyampalli, a twenty-four legged sarcophagus was found. The
number of legs varied from four to twenty-four. The Sarcophgi
with an animal-head are less frequently found.

The Menhir

The Menhir is an undressed monolithic slab or boulder erected

as a memorial stone mostly confined to Coimbatore district.

The Stone Circle and the Cairn Circle

In this formation, huge unknown boulders are kept in

one or more circles above the ground. If the stone circle encloses a
heap of rubble, it is classified as a cairn circle. It may contain an
urn, or cist or a sarcophagus. It is found in almost all
the districts in Tamilnadu.

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 Megalithic burial site, Sittannavasal

In Kerala, a large variety of megaliths are available. The most

important of them are listed below:

1.The dolemenoid cists with or without port

port-holes.

2.Kudakkallus or hoodstones consisting of a large dressed circular

stone with a hemisphere top.

3.Toppikallus or umberella stones consisting of a circular stone

supported by four dressed slabs, planted firmly into the ground in
the shape of a square at the top and flatten
flattened
ed to receive the capstone
called toppikkallu.

In the Malabar Coast laterite small rock

rock-cut
cut chambers are
found. It is sometimes approached by an entrance from above and
covered with a capstone. Some of these chambers have vaulted
roofs.

Thus there are structural differences among the

megaliths. Neverthless, they have certain common features which
justify their classification under megalithic culture. The common
features are the use of iron implements, the black and red pottery
and certain objects used o
on the occasion of burial.

Urn Burials

An urn is a huge burial pot burried under the ground. The

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shape and size of an urn, as well as the burial furniture, vary from
region to region.

The urn burials are different from the megalithic ones. Urn
burials of different kinds are found at many ancient archaeological
sites in South India. The important sites are:
1.Amritamangalam in Chingleput district 2.Korkai
3.Adichchanallur in Tuticorin district.

Amritamangalam is a large burial area having more than 250

burial urns without any megalithic associations. The urns are of
different shapes and of coarse texture, ill-fired and handmade.
Their bottom is terminated either in a pointed base or a truncated
base varying in diameter. Skeletal remains like skulls collected after
excoriation and a few pottery and iron pieces were found in most of
them

Adichanallur

Adichanallur is on the river Tambraparani lying fifteen miles to the

south- east of Tirunelveli and nine miles to the west of Korkai. It
was an urn burial- site without megalithic accompaniment (without
the encircling large stones).

The funeral urns were deposited either singly or in pair in pits

excavated in the gravel soil.

Excavation findings and their significance

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The place which is virtually an urn-field covering an area of 114
acres was first noticed and excavated by Jagor in 1876. Robert Bruce
Foote and Alexander Rae conducted further excavations. Recently,
the Department of Archaeology conducted excavations in
connection with the centenary celebration of the Department of
Archaeology.

The excavations brought to light a large volume of

archaeological materials of different kinds relating to the burial
sites. They are large pyriform burial urns, small earthern vessels of
black and red ware in different shapes decorated with simple
painted designs, iron weapons, bronze vessels, gold diadems and
mouth-pieces. In the recently discovered 169 clay urns, human
skulls, skeletons and bones, husks and grains of rice, and charred
rice are found.

An oval frontlet of gold leaf was discovered. It was probably tied

around the forehead in the case of the dead, possibly those of high
rank. The gold mouth pieces are suggestive of the equipments
connected with the religious ceremony of carrying kavadi to the
shrine of god Murugan. It is significant that gold mouth-pieces of
the type found in Adichanallur have not been discovered in any
other pre-historic site in South India. The mouth-pieces have some
geometrical designs carved on them. Similar mouth-pieces have
been found at Enkomi in Cyprus and Palestine.
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 Among the Adichanallur finds are iron articles like iron
hoes, swords, daggers, spearheads, arrowheads, iron tridents, iron
banner base and representations of fowls in bronze. They pertain to
the worship of god Murugan, the favourite deity of the Tamils. No
implement or weapon has been found in bronze. The bronze
articles are executed with higher skill than that seen in iron
products. Bronze, which was highly valued and used by the higher
class of people,was scarce.

An ear-ring containing a pear-shaped stone drop, plated

with gold leaf discovered at Adichanallur has its counterpart in a
find at Enkomi. The similiarities point out that commercial contact
might have resulted in the imitation of the peculiar customs and
the corresponding equipments. Another view is that the Dravidians
had migrated to West Asia and had carried with them their
customs and institutions. The burial customs at Adichanallur like
burying the dead in a crouching position in terracotta coffins, and
in placing food, drinks, apparel and weapons ready for their
service when they reach another world were similar to those of
Harappa and Mohenjadaro culture. The Adichanallur urn-burials
are believed to be not earlier than the first millennium B.C.
According to M.Lapicque, the authors of the megalithic culture of
South India were the speakers of proto-Dravidian or Dravidian
group of languages. The Adichchanallur remains belonged to a

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proto- Dravidian race.

A piece of writing has been discovered inside an urn

at the Iron Age burial-site at Adichanallur. The script has six letters.
The urn has a human skeleton in it along with miniature pots.
What is unusual is that the script was inscribed inside the urn after
it was baked. Normally scripts are inscribed on the outer surface of
urns.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Chennai Circle,
made this discovery when it resumed its excavation at
Adichanallur after about a hundred years. T. Satyamurthy, the
Superintending Archaeologist and Director of the excavation, first
noticed the script. He has stated that the piece of writing is in very
rudimentary Tamil-Brahmi.

The Culture of the Megalithic Age

Agriculture was the main occupation of the people. The

quantities of husk and charred paddy collected from the excavation
at Tirukampuliyur reveal the practice of the cultivation of rice. A
structure which appears to be the embankment of a reservoir with
an inlet found at Kaverippumpattinam points to the knowledge the
people had in the construction of artificial irrigational works. Two
granary-like structures at Tirukampuliyur bear evidence to the care
that was taken during that period for storing surplus grains.
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Hunting and fishing were their other occupations.

Due to the growth of population and the increasing wants

of people, many occupations came into existence. Thus subsidiary
industries such as pottery, the making of terracotta art objects,
weaving and dyeing, and metal works also flourished contributing
their share to the development of the economy.

Pot- making

Pot-making reached its perfection only in the Iron Age.

The russet- coated and painted ware is one of the most interesting
varieties of pottery. The art of making terracotta objects reached a
considerable amount of perfection and sophistication during this
period. They are helpful in getting glimpses of the religious beliefs
of the people and the nature and varieties of ornaments in vogue. A
specialized branch of the potter’s works was the making of clay
toys and images, some as playthings and some as cult-objects. At
first, they were hard-modelled and, when the demand for cult
images grew, they were prepared on a mass scale on moulds.
Figures made on both single mould and double moulds have been
obtained during the excavations.

The wharf and other structures at Kaverippumpattinam

disclose the use of bricks during the period.
Attractive muti-coloured beads made of semi-precious

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stones and glasses have been unearthed. They display a remarkable
skill in quarrying certain types of suitable materials and in the
process of cutting, polishing and drilling the materials and giving
them a proper finish. The excavations conducted at Kodumanal
and Porunthal resulted in the unearthing of a large number of such
beads.

Glass Industry

At Karaikkadu, numerous glass lamps and wastages of

glass were recovered in the excavations. Beads and glass bangles
were found.

Metallurgy

Iron was introduced in Tamil Nadu around 500 B.C.

Iron implements like lance, dagger, spear, arrowhead and chisels
have been found. These indicate the knowledge of the Megalithic
buiders of the source of iron ore and of the allied industries of
smelting and forging. The evidence of the use of copper in Tamil
Nadu in the pre-historic age is scanty. Many bronze objects were
found in the urn-burials at Adichchanallur. The technological
processes connected with metallurgy like smelting, smithy and
casting were in vogue in early Tamil Nadu.

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 At the site of Adichchanallur, a few golden diadems or
mouthpieces were found in urn burials.The prevalence of other
industries like those of chank cutting and ivory carving is borne out
by the excavations. The various objects found in the excavations in
different sites of Tamil Nadu bespeak of the high degrees of skill
attained by the early craftsmen of Tamil Nadu.

Culture

An anthropomorphic figure from Mottur near

Tiruvannamalai is a significant one. It is carved out of a huge slab
measuring 3.5 metres in height,
1.75 metre in width. It has curved arms. The neck and the head are
represented by a semi-circular projection above the shoulder. It is
perhaps a

representation of God in stone in Tamil Nadu.

The presence of grave goods, weapons, pottery,

ornaments in the burial site suggests their belief in the life after death

Paintings

Megalithic Paintings

In Tamil Nadu, rock art is found in Villupuram,

Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Madurai, the Nilgiris, Coimbatore,
Sivaganga, Vellore and Dindugal districts. Notable among the sites
are Kilvalai, Alambadi and Settavarai in Villupuram; Mallapadi,

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Maharajakadai and Mallachandram in Krishnagiri district;
Konavakarai, Iduhatti, Karikkiyur and Vellerikombai in the
Nilgiris; and Anaipatti, Muthupatti and Kidaripatti in Madurai.

Rock art falls into two categories. The first is

petrograms or pictographs, which are paintings done in white or
red ochre. The second is petroglyphs, figures chiselled out on rock
surface. In Tamil Nadu, petroglyphs are found at Perumukkal,
about 12 km from Tindivanam.At Kollur village (Villupuram
district) three petroglyphs depicting two human figures with
trident in their hands are found.

The first discovery of rock painting in Tamil Nadu

was at Mallapadi in Dharmapuri district in 1978 by K.V. Raman,
then Head of the Department of Ancient History and Archaeology
in the University of Madras. More than thirty sites along the
Western and Eastern Ghats in Tamil Nadu have been identified.
The Mallapadi rock- shelter contains paintings showing two horse
riders fighting each other with poles. The Paiyampalli paintings
depict a fighting scene. The Kilvalai paintings have horse- riders,
dancing figures and geometric designs.

Mavadaippu is the latest discovery. Recently experts

discovered a prehistoric rock-art site at Porivarai (2003 A.D.) and
ancient rock paintings at Salekkurai and Sundasingam (2005 A.D.)

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near Karikkiyur, about forty kilometers from Kothagiri in the
Nilgiris. The Karikiyur rock paintings are the largest rock-art site in
South India with about 500 paintings in an area that is 53 metre
long and 15 metre wide. Experts say that the rock paintings at
both Mavadaippu and Karikkiyur could be dated to 2000 B.C. to
1500 B.C. The paintings in white ochre include a procession of
bisons, monkeys climbing up a tree branch, a herd of deer grazing,
human beings welcoming one another with outstretched arms, a
battle-scene with men aiming at each other with bows and arrows,
men on horseback engaged in battle, a shoulder- clasping dance
after a successful boar-hunt, a man with a mask, the depiction of
sun and its rays, a tiger fighting another animal, and a man and his
dog sleeping. These paintings give us insight into the lives of the
people of the megalithic age.

B.Arunraj

Faculty

Department of History and Tourism

Bharathiar University, Coimbatore.

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