Pattanam
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Contents |
Introduction
June 3, 2023: The Times of India
Pattanam Village In Kerala Is Believed To Be The Ancient Port Of Muchiri Or ‘Muziris’, Which The Romans Described As The ‘First Emporium Of India’. But While Goods And Ideas From Across The World Landed On Its Shore For Over 800 Years, Archaeological Digs Have Not Found Any Trace Of Weapons And Deities So Far… It’s hard to imagine an ancient society without war and religion, but the fabled Muziris port in Kerala might have been such an outlier. Archaeologists and historians who have spent 12 years digging for the port in Ernakulam district’s Pattanam village say they have not found any sharp-edged weapons or religious relics at the site. This ancient port city rose to glory around 300BCE – roughly the time of emperor Ashoka’s birth – and remained prominent for almost 800 years until 500CE. It played host to the Greeks, Romans and Arabs, and the excavations provide valuable insights into the transition from the Iron Age to Early Historic Kerala.
‘Nature-Loving Peaceful Society’
PJ Cherian, former director of Kerala Council for Historical Research (KCHR), which conducted the Pattanam excavations, says the absence of expected evidence tells as much about an ancient society as the presence of evidence. Hence, society in the ancient Thamizhakam (literally, home of the Tamils; it was a region comprising modern Tamil Nadu and Kerala), was “predominantly peaceful”, and lived a life “close to nature”.
“They were a people who had a different understanding of the cosmos,” Cherian, who is now part of the PAMA Research Institute carrying forward the Pattanam research, says. There was no state, market or scriptural religion as we now know them, he adds. What was life in this ancient society like? Cherian has drawn inferences from Roman, Sanskrit, and Sangam literatures: “They lived without private property and hierarchies, and had fewer socially constructed insecurities. ”
Cosmopolitan Trading Port
Pattanam, which is assumed to be the legendary port of Muziris, was part of an international trade network connecting more than 40 ancient ports in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean region and East Asia.
Excavations here have unearthed Iron Age pottery, Roman wine vessels, and West Asian and South Arabian ceramics. West Eurasian and Mediterranean genetic signatures in the skeletal samples confirm theglobal significance of this seemingly ordinary village.
Dr Selvakumar, a faculty member in the department of epigraphy and archaeology, Tamil University, Thanjavur, says many factors contributed to the growth of the trading settlement, which was part of the network of ancient trading settlements in the Thamizhakam. “The availability of natural resources (spices), a strategic location at the mouth of a river and at the centre of the Indian Ocean facilitated transactions with the interior regions, and the monsoon winds that could support the sailing of merchants and mariners from across the world were among these factors,” he says. “Can you imagine the kaleidoscopic assortment of people who mingled here, walking around, speaking different languages, as varied a group as one could imagine for any cosmopolitan place, but two millennia ago?” Cherian says.
‘Peaceful Conditions Plausible’
Selvakumar says the cosmopolitan and urban nature of ancient Pattanam is a possible condition. “The society of the early Thamizhakam was complex. The idea of a peaceful society is acceptable to some extent in the Early Historic (600-300BCE) context. ”
He further explains: “The Iron Age in South India witnessed warfare and clashes over territories in certain contexts. By the time of the Early Historic period, cultural transformation and changes took place. The politics of Chera, Chola and Pandya had emerged. In some contexts, they could create peaceful conditions. ” Some Historians Disagree
Historians like Kesavan Veluthat argue that “the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence”. He says not finding weapons at Pattanam does not necessarily imply its ancient society flourished without conflict. Jenee Peter, assistant professor of history at UC College in Ernakulam district, also says the absence of weapons does not mean the entire society was predominantly peaceful. “It is like imposing one’s views on the finds. Archaeology is based on evidence, material evidence,” she says.
Besides, Veluthat believes Pattanam was not the ancient Muziris but only a seasonal trading centre because its location does not match the ancient descriptions of Muziris.
“Housing foundations or remains of hearths haven’t been found there,” he points out, ruling out the existence of a large and permanent settlement. Even the trade seems to have been based on barter: “It was a relationship based on reciprocity, exchange, and gift-giving. ”
Cherian agrees the exchange of goods at Pattanam might not have been profit-oriented. “When you ask for five sacks of pepper, you may get seven or eight, because locals consider it as nature’s gift,” he says, adding, “We come across coins at a later stage. ”
Need To Dig Deeper
Selvakumar says the ancient Sangam literature discounts the idea of a completely peaceful society. “Cattle raids, piracy, invasion of towns, etc, are mentioned in the Sangam literature. There are references to Yavana guards providing security to the moving traders… Maybe we need to excavate more to understand the early society. ”
Jenee says there’s a need to analyse the growing archaeological evidence. “Every year we get more artefacts from the Pattanam site. The wealth of evidence keeps growing but the problem is that there has been little analysis and synthesis. Some interim reports have come but not many interpretations have been done. ”
Dr Krishnaraj of the state archaeology department says while KCHR’s scientifically organised excavations at Pattanam are significant, the view that peace reigned and that the people lived in harmony with nature is not maintainable with the artefacts discovered so far.
“We need to conduct more studies and excavations. We need to explore how the settlement was formed, its hinterland relations, from where the products came, how it was organised, etc,” he says.
Location
M.G. Radhakrishnan
From the archives of "India Today"
May 12, 2009
Thiruvananthapuram: If archaeological findings are anything to go by, Pattanam in Ernakulam district may just be the oldest port site in the Indian Ocean rim with links to ancient Rome. The third phase of the three-year-old archeological excavations conducted by the Kerala Council of Historical Research (KCHR) have unearthed a variety of tangible evidence. “We discovered semi-precious stones, copper coins, iron, copper, tin and gold artefacts, terracotta lamps, etc.” says P. J. Cherian, director, KCHR. Pattanam excavations have also unearthed evidence of the site’s trade relations with West Asia even predating the Roman connections.
The Roman connection
P.J. CHERIAN, GIULIA ROCCO, October 09, 2020: Frontline
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From: P.J. CHERIAN, GIULIA ROCCO, October 09, 2020: Frontline
Excavations in Kerala’s Pattanam reaffirm its trade links with Rome
What was a seal ring with the carving of the Sphinx, which looks similar to the one worn by the Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar about 2,000 years ago, doing at Pattanam, a sleepy hamlet, 25 kilometres north of Kochi in Kerala? A seal, part of a ring, was retrieved on April 25, 2020, a couple of days after the lifting of the national and State-level COVID-19 lockdowns, when excavations were marginally restarted at Pattanam by the PAMA Institute for the Advancement of Transdisciplinary Archaeological Sciences. The trench, named PT 20 XLV, was located in the backyard of the kitchen-shed of Sukumaran and his five sisters at the northern sector of the Pattanam archaeological mound. The tiny, oval-shaped seal, with a length of 1.2 cm, width of .2 cm and thickness of .1 + cm, was found at a depth of 115 cm, where it must have remained for centuries while life flowed on and empires and emperors vanished into the mists of history. Pravitha P.A., a student intern of the excavation team, picked it up from the wire-mesh net while sieving the soil from locus 5. Pattanam is assumed to be the legendary port of Muziris or Muciri Pattinam, which finds mention in ancient Greek and Roman sources as well as in the Sangam literature dating back to the centuries before the Common Era. It is from these references that we know Muziris was a centre for a booming trade in goods that linked the indigenous worlds of the Graeco-Romans, the Egyptians, the West Asians, the Africans, the South Arabians, the Indians and the Chinese. The Pattanam 2020 findings, along with the 2006–16 excavation and post-excavation studies of the same site, reconfirm the intense maritime commercial, technological and cultural exchanges between Eastern Mediterranean and ancient Tamilakam. But who could have made the ring with the Sphinx, and how did it end up at Pattanam? Did one of the traders or perhaps an emissary of the emperor bring it with him or her? Or was it made in Pattanam itself, especially since there is evidence of people working there with numerous precious stones such as agate, amethyst, beryl, carnelian, chert, garnet, onyx, quartz and topaz. Substantial lapidary remains such as raw materials, roughouts, tiny flakes and semi-finished or discarded precious stone artefacts were found in most of the 66 trenches so far excavated at Pattanam. The trench that produced the Sphinx intaglio also produced cameo blanks and debitage of banded agate and other precious stones. In fact, the Sphinx gem is the third intaglio so far found at Pattanam. All the three gems were retrieved from the northern sector of the 70-hectare Pattanam archaeological mound, of which only less than 1 per cent has been excavated so far. The Sphinx gem is made of banded agate, a precious stone belonging to the Indian subcontinent, while the theme or symbol is of Mediterranean genesis.
It is common knowledge now, especially after the excavations at Pattanam and other contemporary sites, that gem and cameo engravers in the Mediterranean area mostly used Indian precious stones. It is also clear that the artist who made the Sphinx was working within the Graeco-Roman tradition of gem carvers. But whether s/he was from the Mediterranean region or from the Indian subcontinent is difficult to confirm. For the figure to have been carved by the fingers of an Indian craftsperson there would have had to be some cultural “amalgamation” between the Indian and Graeco-Roman cultures. Considering the evidence of lapidary remains at Pattanam, the possibility of a Tamilakam artist carving the Sphinx at a Pattanam workshop cannot be ruled out.
DNA and radiocarbon analysis of bone samples from Pattanam validates the idea of a cultural admixing at the Pattanam site 2,000 years ago. These tests and analyses were done by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad, India, and the Centre for Applied Isotope Studies (CAIS) at the University of Georgia in the United States. DNA was extracted from 11 samples and when their mitochondrial DNA was sequenced and matched with the DNA database of modern human beings across the world, these individuals were revealed to have belonged to very different regions and cultures. Four were from South Asia, four from Eurasia and three from the Western European region. To borrow a usage, Pattanam was the “cultural rain-forest” of the Old World; an ancient cosmopolitan centre in its population mix.
Sphinx: Story and Origins
But what exactly is a Sphinx seal ring, and what does the Sphinx stand for? In a deeper sense it is a difficult question to answer, since it might represent an areligious artistic expression of an indigenous community and a symbol of evolving multipronged power relationships. Otherwise, a seal ring is a finger ring with a seal for leaving an impression on, say, a document or on sealing wax. The Sphinx was a hugely popular character in Mediterranean mythology, with strong links to the city of Thebes in the Boeotian region of Greece which, from 800 BCE onwards, has been known through numerous myths and heroes. In one such myth, the Sphinx, with its home in Cithaeron mountain, was sent to Thebes to devour the Thebans for committing illegal love—in today’s nomenclature, probably non-consensual love.
In Boeotian legends, the Sphinx is referred to as a winged, female creature in relation to either Thebes or the mythological hero Oedipus, who accidentally fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby bringing disaster to the city of Thebes.
There is no reference to the Sphinx in Homer, although he refers to two other basic elements of the Boeotian myth, Oedipus’s parricide and incest. The earliest citation of the Sphinx in connection with the Boeotian myth is in the poem “Theogony” by the Greek poet Hesiodus, who lived in the eight century BCE. He used the word “Phix” for the hybrid creature. How the later popular term “Sphinx” originated is obscure. Some authors have thought it as having links to the Egyptian traditions, though this is quite uncertain.
In Greek literature, the Sphinx is always female; the only male reference is by Herodotus, but that was in relation to the male Sphinx he had seen in Egypt. In fact, creatures mixing human with animal features in Greek art were mostly feminine, to underscore their primordial descendance from Mother Earth. The Sphinx is described by the Greek tragic poets as a winged young woman with the body of a lion. The fullest description of the Sphinx is given by Pseudo-Apollodoros in a compendium of Greek mythology, written between the 3rd and 2nd century BCE, as having a woman’s face and breasts, wings, a lion’s body and tail. A few tragedians have replaced some elements of the Sphinx with a dog’s body and snake’s tail—hybrid, double-natured monsters, but without explanation. However, all Greek tragedians emphasise the winged and feminine character of the Sphinx.
Every day, as the story goes, she infested Thebes by seizing and devouring men, mostly young. As an escape offered to her victims, the Sphinx posed a riddle, which was composed on the advice of Muses (goddesses of arts and sciences), referring to three successive phases of human life. She posed the question, what walks in the morning on four feet and at noon with two and in the evening with three? Those who were unable to answer were seized and devoured irrespective of their status and position. The Thebans assembled every day to answer the riddle and get rid of the Sphinx until Oedipus solved the riddle by answering, “Man crawls on all fours as a baby, walks upright in the prime of life, and uses a staff in old age.” The Sphinx then killed herself by jumping from her mountain or, as in some other versions, allowed herself to be killed by Oedipus.
Seal ring of Octavianus (63 BCE to 14 CE)
According to Roman archaeologists and art historians, the Pattanam Sphinx is a gem belonging to a seal ring and can be considered a good quality example of Graeco-Roman carving art. The Pattanam Sphynx is female not only because of the nipples, but because of the hairstyle and the cheeks without beard. Though the myth of the Sphinx is a subject of wide chronological range, the accuracy of the Pattanam gem style and carving technique suggest a chronology between the 1st and the 2nd century CE.
The young Octavianus (later emperor Augustus Caesar) signed using a seal ring with a Sphinx at the beginning of his political career. Octavianus chose the Sphinx as seal ring because of her oracular power to declare the dawn of a new golden age. It was also the symbol of Apollo, the “personal” god of the young heir of Julius Caesar; Octavianus was also believed to be the son of Apollo. Later, as Augustus Caesar, he used to sign with the portrait of Alexander the Great and then with his own portrait; also, Capricorn, his zodiacal sign and also the sign of the first month of the year, January, is a recurrent symbol on gems portraying Augustus. Astrology seems to have played an important role in the power corridors of Rome but certainly so in determining the seal ring of the emperor.
A travelling seal ring?
Perhaps some of these seal rings travelled to the East with their owners, merchants or as merchandise. Raw material was imported in large quantity from the East in the Roman Empire and was worked on by craftsmen who sometimes came from far-off countries where the material originated (for example, red porphyry, quarried in Egypt, were made into statues, columns and architectural lintels, imported to Rome half-worked and finished there by Egyptian craftsmen travelling with them or living in Rome).
Of course, craftsmen having a long familiarity with the raw material quarried in their land of origin (especially when we consider some exceptional cameos produced for the emperor and his court), worked as “foreigners”, sometime slaves or “liberti”, but also as free artisans, having assimilated the Hellenistic-Roman culture, in the West or for a Western committance. In Egypt, at the Hellenistic Ptolemaic court of Alexandria, there flourished a school of gem and cameo engravers, and some of them, after the conquest by the Romans in 31 BCE, moved to work in Rome.
Regarding the gender preference of their use, in the Roman Empire seal rings were worn by men and women, usually with no distinction in the repertory of images between them.
Cultural Admixing
There was immense possibility for cultural blending because Indian and West Asian precious and semi-precious stones were extensively used in the different provinces of the empire—Greece, Syria, Egypt, but especially in Rome and Italy, where the imperial and senatorial committance required high quality work. Some of these gems could have been sold to people and merchants travelling beyond the borders of the Roman Empire for exchanging jewels, gold, silver, glass and precious objects as payment for silk, spices, carved or uncarved precious and semi-precious stones, art works and similar exquisite objects.
The Berenike site, on the Red Sea coast, in Egypt, the destination port for Indian Ocean merchandise, especially that of Muziris, has brought forth a huge volume of artefacts and materials such as teak wood, gems, glass beads, spices of all varieties, including 7.55 kg of black pepper, and bamboo matting in all probability from the Periyar river valley region, including the Idukki high ranges which even today produces the world’s best-quality spices. There is sufficient evidence to suggest that South Asians resided at Berenike, says Dr Steven Sidebotham, the director of the Berenike excavations.
It is worth recalling here the other two intaglios, seals, unearthed at Pattanam, made of carnelian with carved images of a pouncing lion (2010), and Tyche or Fortuna (2014), the Graeco-Roman goddess of good luck. The engravers could have had a different ethnic background, but adopted a common language, that of the Hellenistic-Roman art, where images of sphinxes and lions were known from the 8th century BCE and of Tyche or Fortuna from the 4th century BCE, and they had symbolic meanings. The goddess on the gem from the Pattanam excavations holds not only the cornucopia, the symbol of abundance and richness, but also the rudder, an allusion to the changing nature of the sea and of luck in human life, suggesting her benevolence towards sailors and merchants who relied on her also to escape the dangers of navigation. The lion symbolised courage, strength and kingship, and also death and was a common subject in the Mediterranean, taken from the art of Egypt and West Asia, as no lion ever lived in Italy or Greece or south India. But the artists copied those images from other artefacts; often the animals were taken as prey in Rome and in the empire for the games in amphitheatres. Identified and excavated in the 21st century, the Pattanam site could be studied, conserved and illumined following advanced scientific protocols, collaborations, transparency, local community participation, civil society ownership and judicious care of the government. PAMA nurtures such a project—Little Heavens are Possible—towards transforming Pattanam village into a knowledge hub and model heritage zone.
The admixing of “indigenous” cultures that throb beneath the Pattanam archaeological mound might carry elements that may help save “the human race from destroying itself and leading the earth to a disaster”.
P.J. Cherian is Director, Pattanam Excavations and PAMA, Institute for the Advancement of Transdisciplinary Archaeological Sciences (pjcherian@gmail.com). Giulia Rocco is Director, Excavations at Rome and Faculty in Classical Antiquities, University of Rome (giulia.rocco@uniroma2.it).
References (1997): Lexicon of the Iconography of Classical Mythology (LIMC), Vol. VIII, Zürich-Düsseldorf, s.v. Sphynx. Zanker, Paul (1995): The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus, University of Michigan Press. Cherian, P.J. and Jaya Menon (2014): Unearthing Pattanam, New Delhi: National Museum. Cherian, P.J. et al (2006 to 2016): Excavations Reports (Ten volumes), Thiruvananthapuram: KCHR.
The site’s importance
Jiby J Kattakayam, November 16, 2020: The Times of India
‘Pattanam site’s importance isn’t confined to Kerala or India … it tells us the world was here 2,000 years ago’
Archaeological excavations at Pattanam, a small village an hour’s drive from Kochi, tell a fascinating story of a cosmopolitan people who traded with the Roman Empire around two millennia ago. The finds point to the fabled port town of Muziris mentioned in the Greek text Periplus of the Erythraean Sea and Muciripattanam in the Tamil Sangam literature. PJ Cherian, the project’s spearhead at inception, has resumed the dig this year on behalf of Pama, a transdisciplinary research collective, after it stalled in 2015. He spoke to Jiby J Kattakayam:
What led you to Pattanam?
Before a successful trial dig in 2004, we knew this could be an archaeological site with frequent reports of local people finding antiques. We visited the village and found the place was full of beads and potsherds. In 2001, a British museologist friend concluded after visiting the area that one pottery could be Italian because of its Vesuvius volcanic material. Many such factors, including ancient literary sources, prodded us to investigate further.
How do you conclude this village is Muziris?
There is clinching evidence. The only question is whether Muziris is confined to the 70 hectares identified as an archaeological mound or goes beyond it. Definitely it goes beyond. It will take generations to complete the excavations. DNA extract analysis of human skeletal fragments conveys a cosmopolitan society. Of 11 samples, four suggested South Asian, four West Asian and three Mediterranean origin. So an amazing mix of people were here. We found material from Gibraltar to Catalonia to Southern China; Pattanam artefacts were discovered at sites like Hepu in China and Khor Rori in Jordan. Pattanam has the Indian Ocean region’s largest cache of Meditteranean amphora jar sherds. Such culturally diverse material pointed to a port site.
Then came the wharf discovery confirming a port. We have 38 radiocarbon dated materials between 0-400 AD. Stratigraphy offers clarity on the mound which is an elevated area with four metres of cultural deposits. It is a perfect mound though not easily discernible. Typology of materials like pottery, jewellery, points to extensive foreign contacts. Literary sources say the port was inland and it was a riverine island, 25 stades away from the sea (4.5 kms), nearly same as today. Though the site is now landlocked, its geomorphology matches with textual sources in many ways.
Do the finds align with knowledge of that age?
The area that is Kerala today was part of the larger Thamizhagam (area inhabited by Tamil speakers) when Muziris existed. Sangam literature portrays Thamizhagam as a beautiful people in the humanist sense, as very rational, not too much into religion or warfare. They were open minded, believed in technology, welcomed foreign trade and contacts. Most of these elements are present in Pattanam’s finds. We are yet to find weapons meant to harm people, cause injuries. There is only slender evidence of religion. Pattanam society was very organised, there was urbanisation and adeptness in technology. Despite digging just 1% of the 70-hectare mound, we have retrieved 1.3 lakh artefacts made of precious stones and metals like gold, iron, copper, lead, around one lakh beads and 45 lakh potsherds, and numerous terracotta works like ornaments. The variety of pottery, burned bricks and structures resembling warehouses, tiled roofs, toilets, ring wells, besides the wharf implies a very urban, organised society.
The site’s importance isn’t confined to Kerala or India. It is beyond our imagination that people from 30 cultures were coming and going with their goods, technology, ideas and languages. A port site cannot exist in isolation; it has networks, operations and interfaces with umpteen port sites and the hinterland. Pattanam tells us the world was here and we went out into the world. The Chera kingdom had surpluses to trade. As shipments increased, entire society had to be tuned into the production processes. The Muziris papyrus agreement between the Alexandria banker and local merchant reveals sophisticated understanding of trade. The period till the Roman empire’s fall was critical, but trade continued even afterwards.
Can technology help speed up digs?
In the 2014 digging season, Oxford University researchers suggested LIDAR and came with hugely expensive gadgets. The site is very clayish. Like any Kerala village, there is dense vegetation and an intense web of roots running across. Oxford said these two factors aren’t helpful to electromagnetic study. Groundpenetrating radar works in desert sites with sand and no clay. Unfortunately Indian agencies are behind the technological curve. Recently, Tamil Nadu introduced new technologies at some sites and their success could help everyone. In Pattanam, we have dug 66 trenches so far but because the site is intensely populated progress will be slow. However, the local people are enthusiastic partners. We are inviting civil society participation and professionals from all walks to join us. Every year, college students across India join us on the digs.
How did the Pattanam settlement end?
We have no indications how the site declined and the port disappeared. Geomorphic studies indicate Pattanam 2,000 years back was some sort of riverine island with water bodies crisscrossing it. The usual flood theory was propounded but is inconclusive. However, many water channels are incapable of surviving beyond a few centuries because of silting. Modern Kochi port survives on dredging. Annual flooding might have pushed silt away at Pattanam for a long period and then stopped around 5th century.
Absence of idols and arms
P.J. CHERIAN,DEEPAK P., April 2, 2023: The Hindu
The iron-age and post-iron-age archaeological site in Kerala is revealing an example of a space and time with no caste or institutionalised creed, but with a close connect to nature
In the serene village of Pattanam in central Kerala lies the only multicultural archaeological site on the southwestern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Often referred to as the ‘first emporium’ of the Indian Ocean, Muziris — of which Pattanam is part — is an example of the Greco-Roman classical age coming into direct contact with an ancient South Indian civilisation.
Excavations so far, that have unearthed less than 1% of the site, point to a startling fact: there is no evidence that institutionalised religion existed in ancient Pattanam. There was certainly no indication of the graded inequality embodied in the caste system that has characterised contemporary Kerala and most of the rest of India.
The technological, metallurgical, literary, and artistic advances of this phase bear witness to rigorous cultural and commercial exchanges. The Pattanam excavations have unearthed over 45 lakh sherds (ceramic fragments); these include approximately 1.4 lakh belonging to the littoral regions of the Mediterranean, the River Nile, the Red Sea, the western and eastern Indian Oceans, and the South China Sea. Recent findings include the seal of a sphinx, native to the ancient Greek city of Thebes.
This wide span of locations confirms the existence of a thriving urban centre from the 5th century B.C. till the 5th century A.D., with its peak phase from 100 B.C. to A.D. 300. Amid the excitement of seeing the overwhelming treasure trove, researchers asked another key question: What are the things that did not emerge from Pattanam?
Pattanam has not chosen to delight archaeologists with idols of gods and goddesses, or the remains of grandiose places of worship. This iron-age and post-iron-age site was also bereft of sophisticated weaponry. This is in sharp contrast with some Pattanam-contemporary sites such as Berenike in Egypt and Khor Rori in Oman.
Were Pattanam residents a peace-loving people who did not harbour religious and caste boundaries? The apparent absence of religious and martial remains can only tell us that religion and war did not exist as they are known today. It is safe to say there is no evidence of institutionalised religion or caste.
Driven by curiosity and the collaborative support of leading scientific institutions such as the University of Oxford and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad, Pattanam researchers considered another angle of inquiry. Given that death and customs associated with mortality are areas that see the biggest religious and caste divides today, what do the Pattanam remains convey about the death rituals of people of that time? The grave remains at the Pattanam site were confined to fragmentary skeleton remains.
The burials were of a “secondary” nature, where the dead were cremated first and the osseous remains ceremoniously buried later, taphonomic studies and minimal pathological analysis found. Large terracotta urn burials and a wide variety of stone monuments abound in the Periyar delta and basin regions, showing the ceremonious nature of the later burial practices. No artefact found indicates any religious customs. The genotype results and ancestry analyses of samples point to South Asian, West Asian, and Mediterranean lineages. Indeed, people of widely differing backgrounds were buried the same way, strongly suggesting the prevalence of a secular ethos.
K.V. Balasubramanian and Vaidehi Herbert, researchers focusing on Sangam-era literature, connect this observation with the evidence from Sangam sources to point out that the people of the time were secular in every aspect of their highly sophisticated and pluralistic society.
Material evidence from the site strengthens the belief that Pattanam society may have lived in harmony with nature, like several indigenous societies did, and not viewed people as separate from nature. This had the positive fallout of living life in an ecologically responsible manner. At the very least, such a society did not sanction the exploitation of natural resources that is at the heart of most problems faced by the contemporary world. Those who aspire to meaningful alternatives of community living, looking beyond a casteless society towards a closer connect with nature, might find answers in the ground beneath, as more of Muziris (Pattanam) is unearthed. (P.J. Cherian has been the director of the Pattanam excavations since 2006, and Deepak P. has served as co-director since 2019.)
