IAR 2013-2014

The Excavation Branch-VI of the Survey during exploration on Vaigai river valley discovered various antiquarian remains including jewellery hoard consisting of inscribed gold bars from Tenur village.

The Tenur village (09°59'28"N; 78°00'57"E) is located of about 12km north- west of present Madurai city near Cholavantan in Madurai North Taluk of Madurai district on the left bank of river Vaigai. During the year 2009 the village attracted attention of archaeologists for the accidental discovery of a jewellery hoard containing gold bars and beads kept in a small pot.

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Among the jewellery hoards in Tamil Nadu and other finds, the present find is considered to be unique of its kind for the occurrence of labeled inscription on gold. Although such type of labeled inscriptions in different mediums including metal are reported especially from Karur (Tamil Nadu) region, inscription in gold bar are not forthcoming anywhere from Tamil Nadu till date. Hence this find should be considered first of its kind shedding light a precious the mode of writing in solid metal i.e. gold, a practice hitherto unknown in the history of Tamil Nadu. A comparison with the Tamil – Brahmi inscriptions in the caves in and around Madurai and other materials, on palaeographical grounds these inscribed bars could be assigned to circa 1 st BCE - 1 st CE. The archaeological vestiges found during the exploration at Tenur village support this fact.