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Excavations by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) astatine a habitation mound successful Kumarikkalpalayam hamlet successful Tiruppur territory person led to the find of a potsherd bearing a abbreviated inscription that is paleographically dated to the precocious 1st period BCE-early 1st period CE.
A squad led by P. Aravazhi, Superintendent Archaeologist (in charge), ASI Tiruchi Circle, began excavations successful the past week of February 2026 for a stratigraphy survey of a tract successful Uthukuli Taluk, which lies wrong an cultivation tract and represents an extended Iron Age and Early Historic habitation, comprising a mound and an adjacent megalithic burial complex.
“The fragment, portion of a retention jar made of black-and-red ware, carries 5 Tamil-Brahmi characters that tin beryllium work arsenic ‘Irumpurai’,” according to Y. Subburayulu, Senior Epigraphist and formerly Professor, Tamil University, Thanjavur.
The rubric (of the inscription) is historically associated with the Chera rulers of the Karur region, located astir 95 km eastbound of the excavation site, during the Sangam period.
In summation to the inscribed sherd, a assortment of ceramic types person been unearthed, including red-slipped ware, black-and-red ware, and russet-coated ware.
“The excavations are inactive nether way. There are precocious possibilities for uncovering much specified inscriptions,” Assistant Superintending Archaeologist V. Muthukumar said.
The ASI is looking to getting the 26-feet Menhir astatine the Kumarikkalpalayam hamlet arsenic a protected monument. According to archaeologists, the menhir finds a notation successful the 249th verse of Akananuru, a Sangam-era classical Tamil anthology.
