BIG discovery: A 2,500-year-old industrial estate! - Rediff.com Business
Re: A 2,500-year-old industrial estate
This is a very interesting read. The area that comprises modern day Tamil nadu and parts of Karnataka and Andra have such a rich and eventful history. Archaeological evidence points to this area (Adhichanallur,Tirunelveli) as being one of the longest continuous habitations in India. About 60% of the total epigraphical inscriptions found by ASI in India are from Tamil Nadu and most of which are in Tamil.
Re: A 2,500-year-old industrial estate
^^
actually script found in this one included prakit,also written in brahmi.....
Re: A 2,500-year-old industrial estate
Yeah. I read that. Looks like the workers were multilingual which is a big advantage in multinational enterprises. Since they exported to Egypt as well, I wonder if the craftsmen had learned egyptian hieroglyphics as well or just hired egyptian workers. How did they interact with foreign clients? What was the method of payment and was there any financial record keeping? All these are fascinating to learn.
Re: A 2,500-year-old industrial estate
Interesting. What kind of manufacturing / industrial industries archeologists found there?
Recently, I read that Mughals did not promote any industry. They only buildings like Taj Mehal, which provided bread & butter to constructors and masons.
Re: A 2,500-year-old industrial estate
From the article...
...From the trenches have emerged fascinating and beautiful artefacts. Among the more decorative items are semi-finished bangles and bracelets made from beryl, a crystalline mineral. Some of these stones are so pure that they are colourless. One find is a tiger-shaped object made of copper, about 15 cm long.It was studded with carnelians, sapphires and diamonds.
Old quartz stones and broken beads -- of sapphire, beryl, agate, carnelian, amethyst, lapis lazuli, jasper, garnet, soapstone and quartz -- are strewn across the village.
In one memorable case, the archaeologists found 2,220 carnelian beads in a single grave. This may be the first instance of its kind in India, Rajan says.
There are sources of sapphire, beryl and quartz near Kodumanal, but carnelian, agate and lapis lazuli came from distant sources -- as far away as Gujarat, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. The ancient economy, too, was global.
The finds show that workshops for cutting and shaping precious gems, for making semi-precious stone beads, and also, incidentally, for shell-cutting, were present in Kodumanal more than 2,300 years ago.
But the workers' technical skills did not begin and end with gem-making. They also worked with iron and steel. In fact, ancient sources of iron ore have been found in and around Chennimalai hill, 15 km to the east.
There was, the archaeologists say, "constant movement of foreign traders between Chennimalai, where there are iron ore deposits, and Kodumanal where the ore was processed" and from where finished items were exported.
And in Kodumanal itself, Rajan's team has found pieces of a crucible furnace. Such furnaces can withstand heat up to 1,300 C, well over the melting point of cast iron. This find has been confirmed, Rajan says, by Sharada Srinivasan of the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, who has examined the crucible.
Kodumanal was one of the earliest wootz steel centres of the world. Wootz steel, a form of carbon steel, was a prized, highly durable speciality of ancient India, and much sought-after in the West.
In Roman literature there are references to the import of steel from the Chera country, or south India. References to wootz steel in Sangam literature indicate that Roman Egypt imported its finest steel from here. The rust-free ancient iron pillar still standing near the Qut'b Minar in Delhi is said to be made of iron from this region.
Kodumanal is not far from Tirupur, the textile hub of modern India. Ancient Kodumanal also manufactured textiles. A number of terracotta cotton spindles pierced through the centre with an iron rod have been unearthed here. Incredibly, a well-preserved piece of actual cotton has been found. It is believed to be 2,200 years old.
More proof of Kodumanal's trade links comes in the form of Roman coins, dug up in hoards as well as single pieces. The town lay on a trade route frequented by Roman merchants, who came to buy beryl, quartz and other stones.
Goods to be exported to the West were carried by road to the Chera port of Muziris (Pattinam) on the west coast near Thrissur, and then went by ship. Goods for South-east Asia were carried east to Karur, capital of the Chera kingdom, then to Poompuhar near the mouth of the Kaveri, and then overseas.
Judging by the trade pattern, and as is suggested by finds of beryl jewellery in eastern Europe and elsewhere, Kodumanal's exports went a long way....
Re: A 2,500-year-old industrial estate
Interesting. I have read in many books that India was famous for export of spices and colors and now this new research proves that people were good in iron and steel industry.
Re: A 2,500-year-old industrial estate
Yes. India was famous for its spice exports. I remember reading that from the perspective of the Malay Archipelago, Indian traders were the most common ones coming from "the West", therefore the word was absorbed into the Malay language. In the Malay lang, "barat" literally means "west". The north-west is "barat laut" (literally "west-sea"), and south-west is "barat daya".
The info below, I cannot confirm on authenticity..:)
For Middle Eastern traders, particularly Arabs and Turks, spices were the most common materials coming from the East. Hence, the term "Bharata" was borrowed first into Arabic as baharaat, meaning "spices;" this migrated into the Turkish "baharat" with the same meaning