Chennai, May 9 (PTI) Excavations and radiocarbon dating have confirmed that iron was in use in Tamil Nadu as many as 4,200 years before the present times and out of the 28 Accelerator Mass Spectrometry-based dating of sites, this is the earliest, Chief Minister M K Stalin announced on Monday in the Assembly.

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Following excavations by the TN Archeological Department of a habitation site located at Mayiladumparai in Krishnagiri district, two charcoal samples were sent to a lab for radiocarbon dating by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (C14-carbon dating) method. The samples were sent to United States-based Beta Analytic, Inc.

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The result has affirmed that iron was in use in Tamil Nadu as many as 4,200 years before the present times, he said amid thumping of desks by MLAs.

The 28 sites, include Mayiladumparai and others in Tamil Nadu besides those in Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Jharkhand.

Recalling that farming activities took shape after realisation of the uses of iron, he said, the new finding has given a clear answer to questions on the origins of farming-based society in Tamil Nadu. The Chief Minister said it has also been ascertained that black-red pottery were introduced even before 4,200 years, during the later stages of the New Stone Age.

The new finding related to the Iron Age has been appreciated by renowned scholars, which includes Cambridge University's Dilip Chakrabarti, a Padma Shri awardee, he said.

Excavations would be carried out in sites that have a connect to the Tamil people like those in Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, he reiterated.

A preliminary underwater archaeological survey would begin this month at the Sangam-era port of Korkkai, he said. The state archeology department would this year begin a comparative study plan of signs found in pottery shreds discovered in Tamil Nadu with that of seals of the Indus Valley Civilisation.

The history of the Indian subcontinent should henceforth commence only from the Tamil landscape and the government is working towards scientifically establishing it through evidences, he said.

It is a matter of pride that the Mayiladumparai excavations has proven that the utility of iron in Tamil Nadu was 4,200 years old, Stalin added.

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