காஞ்சிபுரம் மாவட்டம் ஆர்ப்பாக்கம் என்ற ஊருக்கு அருகில் அமைந்துள்ள மண்டபம் என்ற ஊரில் பெருங்கற்காலத்திற்கு முந்தையத் தாழிகள் கண்டுபிடிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளன. இதனை சென்னைப் பல்கலைக் கழகத் தமிழ் இலக்கியத் துறைத் தலைவர் பேராசிரியர் வீ. அரசு அவர்களும் விருந்து நிலை விரிவுரையாளர் முனைவர் சி. இளங்கோ அவர்களும் கண்டுபிடித்துள்ளனர். இப்பகுதி குறித்த தகவலை இங்குள்ள கல்குவாரியைச் சேர்ந்த மணி என்பவர் தெரிவித்தார். காஞசிபுரம் - உத்திரமேரூர் செல்லும் சாலையில் 13 கி.மீ. தொலைவில் பாலாறு, செய்யாறு ஆகிய இரு ஆறுகளுக்கிடையே இம்மண்டபம் என்ற ஊர் அமைந்துள்ளது. இப் பகுதியில் கல்குவாரியில் பணிபுரியும் ஊழியர்களால் தோண்டப்பட்ட பெரிய பெரிய குழிகளில் பானைகள் பாதி பாதியாக உடைந்த நிலையில் தென்படுகின்றன. ஆதிச்சநல்லூரில் கிடைக்கும் தாழி மரபிற்கு இணை யானவையாக இவை உள்ளன. இத் தாழிகளில் பல கிழக்கு திசை நோக்கி சாய்ந்த நிலையிலும், நேரான நிலை யிலும் புதைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளதைப் பார்க்கும் பொழுது இங்கு வாழ்ந்த மக்களிடம் நிலவிய இறப்பு குறித்த சடங்கினைப் புரிந்து கொள்ள முடிகின்றது. சில தாழிகளின் உள்ளே மண்தட்டுகளும், சிறிய மட்பானை களும் உள்ளன. மூடியுடன் புதைக்கப்பட்ட தாழிகளும் இங்கு கிடைக்கின்றன. சிறிய இரும்பு கத்தி ஒன்று தாழியில் இருந்து கிடைத்துள்ளதால் இவை இரும்பு காலத்தைச் சேர்ந்தவை என்பதை உறுதியாக கூறலாம்.
இங்கு கண்டெடுக்கப்பட்ட தாழித் துண்டுகளில் எவ்விதக் குறியீடுகளும் பிராமி எழுத்துப் பொறிப்புகளும் இடம் பெறவில்லை. தாழியின் தன்மை மற்றும் அதன் அமைப்பினைக் கொண்டு அதன் காலத்தை இன்றிலிருந்து சுமார் 3,800 ஆண்டுகள் என தொல்லியல் ஆய்வாளர் சத்தியமூர்த்தி அவர் களும் கல்வெட்டாய்வாளர் முனைவர் ஆ. பத்மாவதி அவர்களும் குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளனர்.
Urn burial site discovered near Kancheepuram
Dated to the pre-Megalithic/Iron Age period in T.N. — 1,800 BC-1,500 BC
A vast urn-burial site has been found at Mandapam village, near Aarpakkam intersection, about 14 km from Kancheepuram.
The importance of the site, archaeologists say, is that it belongs to a period earlier than the Megalithic Age or Iron Age in Tamil Nadu.
They estimate that the site is datable to 1,800 BCE to 1,500 BCE, that is, 3,800 to 3,500 years before the present.
The site, however, has been ravaged by quarrying for blue-metal. Earth-movers have sliced the big urns and smashed into pieces ritual pottery, bowls and terracotta plates inside the urns.
Quarrying has reduced the site to small lakes with deposits of blue metal jutting out and broken urns protruding in places. A stone-crushing machine is filling the air with dust.
Villager P. Mani, who discovered the site, reported it to V. Arasu, Head of the Department of Tamil, University of Madras, and S. Elango, lecturer in Tamil, Madras University. Dr. Elango, who visited the site a few times, said the flat/conical bottomed urns were buried only one or two feet below the soil surface. While some had ritual pottery and terracotta plates inside, others were empty. There were disintegrated human bones in several urns. More importantly, there were no cairn circles on the surface of the graves to mark them. There were no graffiti marks on the urns.
The site could be as ancient as the Adichanallur site, another urn-burial site in Tamil Nadu, Dr. Elango suggested.
Cairn circles are big stones, i.e., liths, placed in a circle on the surface of the soil and urns are kept below them. The urns are also kept inside cists, which are compartments made of granite slabs. Since big stones/liths mark the urn burials below, they are called Megalithic Age burials.
The Iron Age and the Megalithic Age are contemporaneous in south India. Archaeologists say the Iron Age in south India was extant from 1,000 BCE to 300 BCE.
T. Satyamurthy, former Superintending Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India visited the Mandapam site on Wednesday. He called it “an interesting site.”
It was “one more instance where we can say with authority that there was a phase earlier than Megalithic Age in Tamil Nadu.” He dated the site to between 1,800 BCE and 1,500 BCE.
While urn burials with cairn circles could easily be located, the discovery of urn burials without megaliths on the surface was mostly accidental. Such sites, without cairn circles, were not uncommon in Tamil Nadu. They included the Adichanallur site. It was a misnomer to call them megalithic sites because there were no big stones to mark them, Dr. Satyamurthy argued. So there was a phase when iron was used and which was older than the Megalithic Age, which could be called pre-Megalithic/Iron Age in Tamil Nadu.
Needed: Systematic Excavation
A. Padmavathy, retired Senior Epigraphist, Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department, said the upper age limit of the Mandapam site could be 3,500 years, judging from the coarse texture of the urns that were hand-made and their flat and conical bottoms.
The ritual pots inside were made by a slow-wheel. “Mandapam is an ancient site, equalling Adichanallur in antiquity and we should do a systematic excavation at Mandapam,” said Dr. Padmavathy.
When the Adichanallur site was re-excavated by Dr. Satyamurthy in 2004 and 2005, he found 185 burial urns there, including 90 intact and 36 with complete human skeletons inside.
Among the artefacts discovered were red ware, black ware, copper bangles and ear-rings, iron spearheads, daggers and swords ( The Hindu , March 14 and July 25, 2004 and Frontline , July 1, 2005).
“If the railway line between Tirunelveli and Tiruchendur, cutting across the mounds at Adichanallur had not been laid by the British, Adichanallur would not have to come to notice,” he said.
Akin to Adichanallur
The Mandapam site was analogous to the Adichanallur site in many ways, Dr. Satyamurthy said.
In both the cases, the urn burials were not associated with stone monuments; the urns were kept a couple of feet below the earth's surface, above a natural rocky outcrop; in both, it-lines were absent; the urns were covered with lids; the urns and associated pottery had no graffiti marks; and while Mandapam is located between Palar and Cheyyar rivers, Adichanallur is located on the banks of Tamiraparani. (The pottery found in the habitatational site at Adichanallur, however, had graffiti).
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/urn-burial-site-discovered-near-kancheepuram/article3294887.ece
http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/11/2012/urn-burial-site-discovered-near-kancheepuram-under-threat
