The Personality of India: Pre- and Proto-historic Foundation of India and Pakistan c14.s1.t7.40

c14.s1.t7.40

Now we pass on to the eastern littoral or Tamilnad, comprising the valleys of Palar, Kaveri and Tamraparni. Unfortunately very little systematic exploration has been carried out in this region. The excavations of Wheeler¹ and Casal at Arikamedu,² and those of K. R. Srinivasan and N. R. Banerji³ at Sengamedu, Sanur and Pallavamedu give us the first glimpses. All the excavations stated above, except the last, have revealed two main phases, the earlier one being the Megalithic and the latter one characterized by the Roman contact resulting in the occurrence of Rouletted ware and belonging to the first few centuries of the Christian era. The Pre-megalithic phase in this part of the country is still obscure. If we accept the influence of raw material, we can very well account for the absence of the Neolithic cultures south of the river Kavery. The largest single group of diorite polished axes occur in the Shevroy hills in the Salem district, where there are five very large dykes of basalt north of the Shevroy mountains. According to Sir Edwin Pascoe,⁴ "the dykes under consideration are extremely rare in Tinnevelly, and very few are seen in Madura, Pudukkotai State, South Trichinopoly, Salem and South Arcot." The earlier systems have been covered by the cretaceous and later systems. Very significantly, few celts have been reported south of Salem and none south of Kevery by Foote.