A total of ancient 30 pottery pieces dating back to 3 century BC have been unearthed at Madhagam village on the Pudukottai-Avudaiyarkovil road near Embal, a coastal village, recently.

A salient feature of these pieces is that eight of them contained strokes testifying to the ancient practice of denoting figures.

While one of the pottery pieces had the strokes of wings of a bird, another contained Swasthik symbol.

Interestingly, one piece contained a couple of alphabet-like markings, said S.Neelavathy, Assistant Professor in History, Government Arts College for Women, here on Thursday.

Chance discovery

She said the digging of an irrigation tank in the village for maintenance led to the chance discovery of these pieces.

She, along with Karu.Rajendran, an epigraphist, went to the spot to study the pieces following a tip-off from the students hailing from the nearby villages about the finding.

The pieces testify to the fact that the coastal district accounted for human habitation in the hoary past.

She has planned to take up further research in the area with the cooperation of the local villagers.

She has appealed to the villagers to immediately contact her if they come across any piece of pot with strokes, by dialling 9788205562.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Tiruchirapalli / by Special Correspondent / Pudukottai – December 12th, 2014