Megalithic burial urn found in Parumala

By Our Staff Reporter

PATHANAMTHITTA, JULY 21. A large earthen urn believed to be dating back to not less than 2,500 years was found buried in a residential courtyard at Parumala on the western borders of the Pathanamthitta district on Saturday.

The Curator at the Hill Palace Museum in Thripunithura, Mr. S.Hemachandran, and the Co-ordinator of the State Institute of Archeology, Dr. Rajan Chedambathu, said that the urn found could have been buried sometime between 5th century BC and the 5th century AD.

The two archeologists who rushed to Thiruvalla following a message received from the Thiruvalla RDO, Mr. P. G. Thomas, closely inspected it in his presence this afternoon.

The urn was found in the courtyard of one Mr. Sarngadharan of Parumala while digging the earth on Thursday. Mr. Sarngadharan said that a similar urn was found four years ago from the same courtyard.

A cap stone and a three-legged jar were also found from the site. Mr. Sarngadharan said that the stone piece was broken and the small jar was taken to a nearby temple.

According to the experts, the urn has every feature of a burial urn in which the elite sections of the megalithic society used to bury the remains of their dead along with the ornaments and other iron implements used by the deceased. Semi-precious stones like gate, carnelian, jasper, etc, were found in many similar burial jars excavated from certain parts of Kerala.

The archeologists opine that the burial jar found in Parumala is an indication that a civilized society lived there more than 2,500 years ago and the excavation also reflects the typical south Indian megalithic culture.

According to Dr Rajan, the system of burial in earthen jars is still said to be prevalent among certain Khasi tribes in Meghalaya.

The experts collected some carbon pieces, black stones and some other stones from the earth-filled urn for chemical examination and carbon-dating.

Archeologists from the Thripunithura Hill Palace Museum inspecting the burial urn found in a residential courtyard at Parumala in Pathanamthitta district in the presence of the Thiruvalla RDO, Mr. P. G. Thomas on Saturday. and (right) experts searching the urn.

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