Remains of ancient urn found near Perambalur in TN

TRICHY: Pieces of an ancient earthen pot have been discovered from Varagupadi village in Perambalur district of Tamil Nadu.
While the revenue officials maintained that the remains were those of a burial urn (muthumakkal thaazhi), an archaeologist involved in unearthing burial urns said they could be the remains of ancient cooking utensils.

On Thursday, P Chinnasamy of Varagupadi village was involved in digging a portion of his land to construct a septic tank. He found fragments of earthen pots from the pit.

Chinnasamy alerted revenue officials in Alathur. Tahsildar N Srivasan and other revenue officials inspected the spot and moved the recovered remains to Varagupadi VAO’s office.

“The remains of the earthen pot had bones, a reason why we believe it was a burial urn. Besides, years ago, burial urns were recovered by the Archaeology Survey of India (ASI) from Karai village situated close to Varagupadi,” Srinivasan told TOI.

However, archaeologist S Narayanamurthy doesn’t think the remains are those of a burial urn. The remains were said to be spotted around four-foot from the surface. “Usually burial urn would be spotted only after digging beyond five feet from the surface. Chances are that the recovered remains could be those of a cooking utensil,” Narayanamurthy said.

Revenue officials said the ASI would be informed about the find.