Sample test of stone age site finds region in Krishnagiri district inhabited for 10,000 years

CHENNAI: A sediment sample from the stone age site in the hamlet of Chennanur in Krishnagiri district has been dated to 8,450 BCE by an Oxford University lab. This is scientific proof that people have been living in the region for at least the past 10,000 years.

Over the past year, experts from Tamil Nadu’s archaeology department had excavated the site, collecting sediment from layers that yielded Microlithic tools such as flakes, blades and cores in quartz. The site also yielded polished stone tools such as celts, hammerstones and sling balls belonging to the Neolithic period.

The sediment was sent to Oxford Luminescence Dating Laboratory of the School of Geography and Environment for dating. The lab used the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating method to arrive at 8,450 BCE.

“The first-ever date for the later Microlithic period in Tamil Nadu has scientifically proved that this region was continuously inhabited for the past 10,000 years,” said professor K Rajan, academic and research adviser, Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology.

“So far, archaeologists have been saying people were continuously living in this region based on stratigraphy. Now, we have evidence for continuous inhabitation, and further studies will reveal more about the cultural development of South India,” said archaeologist V Selvakumar of Tamil University in Thanjavur.

Archaeologists in the state say the dating has given them hope that they will be able to scientifically trace the evolution of inhabitants from being hunter-gatherers to more settled agrarian communities.