By Shuchi Giridhar
Chennai, Sep 10: Carbon dating done on organic material retrieved from archeological excavations in Sivakalai in the Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu reveals that the Thamirabarani civilization in the state of Tamil Nadu is up to 3,200 years old. Radiocarbon dating or carbon dating is a method used to determine the age of an object containing organic material.
To exhibit the findings from the excavations, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin announced the opening of a fifteen crore rupee museum in Tirunelveli. The museum is named Porunai, which is the ancient name of the Thamirabarani River. The carbon dating results of rice and soil in a burial pot retrieved from Sivakalai were released on August 27th by the Beta Analytic Testing Laboratory in Miami, USA. The results suggested that rice and soil existed in times as old as 1155 BCE, in other words 3,200 years ago.
Excavations will also be carried out in other states in case of any Tamil trade links. The first to see archaeological excavations will be the port of Musiri, now known as Pattanam, in Kerala. The excavation will be undertaken with experts from Kerala to study the Chera Kingdom. Studies will also be conducted in Vengi in Andhra Pradesh, Palur in Odisha, and Thalaikudi in Karnataka.