University of Madras student finds pre-historic tools and rock art near Coimbatore

An archaeology student from the University of Madras in Chennai has discovered two pre-historic sites containing ancient rock art and stone tools near Kovai.

The discoveries were made at Chinnamalai in Malaipalayam village and Senjerimalai in Sulur near Coimbatore. The sites provide physical evidence of pre-historic human settlements, tool usage, and artistic expression in the region.

Umamaheswari G, a postgraduate student from the department of ancient history and archaeology at the University of Madras, located the sites during an archaeological exploration. Her findings include a rock shelter featuring red ochre geometric paintings and in-situ microlithic tools at Chinnamalai, while the nearby Senjerimalai yielded stone tools and debitage.

In total, Umamaheswari recovered 150 stone tools and seven stone tool artefacts from the two hillocks, which are separated by just 1.4 kilometres.

According to Jinu Koshy, the excavation in charge at the University of Madras's department of ancient history and archaeology, a typo-technological analysis identified tools such as a borer, thumbnail scrapers, a notched tool, and end scrapers.

Koshy noted that the bipolar flaking technique was dominant, consistent with locally sourced quartz and crystal quartz nodules. Crystal quartz was preferentially selected for finer tools.

Additionally, a quartzite hammerstone recovered from the Senjerimalai cave showed clear battering marks on its striking edges. Because fine-grained quartzite is entirely absent from the local bedrock geology, researchers believe this is physical evidence that pre-historic people in the area had contact with other regions.

Archaeologist V Selvakumar, who previously excavated a neolithic site in Molapalayam near Coimbatore, noted that quartz microliths are common in the shelters of the Coimbatore and Palakkad regions. Similar microlithic sites have been identified at Maruthamalai, Walayar, Siruvani Falls, Bharathiyar University campus, Kumittipathi, and Thiruchengode.

Both hillocks also hold documented medieval history. J Soundararajan, associate professor and head of the department of ancient history and archaeology at the University of Madras, stated that the Mandhiragiri Velayudhaswamy temple at Senjerimalai features a Hoysala inscription dating to 1339 CE, which records renovations by a Hoysala chieftain. The original structure is attributed to Karikala Chola. The Sundararaja Perumal temple at Chinnamalai dates to the Nayak period.

Experts have stated that further investigations are needed at the sites.