01Beads for Rome and the north
Kodumanal lay on the trade route from the Kaveri delta across the Palghat gap to the Kerala ports. The Pathitrupathu, praising a Chera king, speaks of the fine jewels of Kodumanam. Excavations by Tamil University, Thanjavur, from the 1980s, and by the Tamil Nadu department since 2020, have found workshops for beads of beryl, quartz, sapphire, agate and carnelian, with unfinished pieces showing each stage. Furnaces and crucibles show the smiths made high-carbon steel. Hundreds of sherds carry Tamil-Brahmi names, and some carry Prakrit names of northern traders.
02Stone circles of the dead
Beside the town lies a megalithic cemetery of stone circles and cist burials. Some graves held the bones of more than one person and goods such as beads, iron swords and pots. The town and the cemetery together give a rare picture of a working Sangam settlement, its trade, its crafts and its care for the dead.
The life of this place
- 1980sTamil University, Thanjavur, excavates the site.
- 2020–21The Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology resumes digging.
A village site about 40 km from Erode; finds are best seen in state museums.
