Nose ornament among three artefacts found at Porpanaikottai site

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology (TNSDA) recently found three artefacts during the first phase of excavation at Porpanaikottai, a village in the Pudukottai district where several remains of an ancient fort and antiques were found in recent studies including one by Tamil Nadu Open University (TNOU) in 2021.

Speaking to DT Next, the Joint Director of TNSDA R Sivanantham said that the TNSDA has found three important artefacts in the Porpanaikottai site.

“A six-petaled gold nosepiece, a bone tip tool, and a circular red carnelian moss bead have been found recently. A bone tip tool has been used in the weaving industry for spinning yarn. Carnelian stones are found only in North India, especially in Gujarat. Now, the circular coral bell found here is made of carnelian stones and it is an example of domestic trade in the early historical period. The discovery of a six-petalled gold nosepiece weighing 0.26 grams reveals the importance of the history and culture of the Sangam era,” said R Sivanantham, Joint Director of TNSDA.

He further said that so far, 49 hopscotches, 2 spouts, 4 glass bangles, 95 beads, 1 TC lamp, 2 spindle whorl, 1 coin, 1 carnelian bead, 2 rubbing stone, 159 artefacts and 2 graffiti have been found in Porpanaikottai.

“Apart from this, various types of pottery such as glazed ware, black ware, black and red ware, roof tiles, perforated ware were also found, “ the official added.