Kaveripoompattinam- T.N. launches third phase of Underwater Archaeological Survey

Why in News?

The Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology has commenced the third phase of underwater archaeological exploration off Poompuhar in Mayiladuthurai district. 

Underwater archaeological exploration off Poompuhar: 

• Objective: The nearly 20-day exercise seeks to locate submerged remains of Kaveripoompattinam, understand its maritime trade connections and reconstruct changes in the ancient coastline. 
• The exploration covers areas nearly two kilometres offshore, using side-scan sonar and echo-sounders to identify seabed anomalies, followed by examination and excavation by trained divers. 

Key facts related to Kaveripoompattinam: 

• Location: At the mouth of the River Kaveri on the Coromandel Coast, facing the Bay of Bengal.
• Other names: Puhar, Poompuhar, Kaveripattinam and Kaveripoompattinam.
• Political importance: It was a flourishing port and an early capital of the Early Cholas during the Sangam period. 
• Strategic advantage: Its location connected the fertile and craft-producing Kaveri hinterland with the wider Indian Ocean trading network.

The tentative chronology of some archaeological structures (remains) of the port extends from around the second century BCE to the fourth century CE, but their precise date and function require further investigation. 

Literary Evidence:

Kaveripoompattinam occupies a prominent place in Tamil literary tradition:

• Pattinappalai, a Sangam poem, describes its harbour, customs administration, warehouses, bustling markets and movement of overseas merchandise.
• Silappadikaram begins in Puhar and portrays it as an affluent, cosmopolitan city inhabited by merchants, artisans, sailors and people from distant lands. The city was divided into two distinct districts:
  • Maruvurpakkam: The busy harbour area home to foreign traders, merchants, craftsmen, and marketplaces.
  • Pattinapakkam: The inland residential area housing the king, nobles, palace officials, and wealthy citizens.
• Manimekalai narrates the city’s destruction by the sea, providing an important literary memory of coastal submergence.
• The port is also associated with the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, indicating its place in early Indian Ocean commercial geography.

Archaeological Evidence: 

Onshore excavations conducted since the 1960s have revealed:

• Brick structures interpreted as wharves or port installations
• Terracotta ring wells and drainage structures
• Buddhist remains, suggesting a religiously diverse mercantile society
• Rouletted ware, amphora fragments, foreign pottery and coins, pointing to long-distance trade
• Local ceramics, beads and other artefacts reflecting an extensive urban settlement.

Earlier marine investigations identified submerged brick and stone structures, pottery, ring-well remains, a shipwreck and a large U-shaped stone formation. 

Significance of the Present Exploration: 

• Mapping the ancient city: It can determine how far Kaveripoompattinam extended beyond the present shoreline.
• Reconstructing maritime trade: Pottery, anchors, cargo remains, or shipwrecks may reveal connections with Sri Lanka, the Mediterranean world and Southeast Asia.
• Corroborating literature: Material evidence can test descriptions found in Pattinappalai, Silappadikaram and Manimekalai.
• Understanding ancient urbanisation: Port installations, warehouses and habitation remains can illuminate Chola administration, production and merchant networks.
• Studying coastal change: Sediments and submerged structures can help reconstruct shifts in the Kaveri’s course, shoreline erosion, sea-level change and extreme marine events.

Kaveripoompattinam demonstrates that Sangam-age Tamilakam was not an isolated agrarian region but an active participant in the early Indian Ocean economy. However, credible conclusions must rest on systematic excavation, scientific dating and careful separation of archaeological evidence from legend.