Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology is setting up an exhibition at Vembakottai archaeological excavation site in Virudhunagar district to display the artefacts unearthed there.
The exhibition hall, measuring 20 feet by 40 feet has been constructed and interior works for exhibiting 3,254 artefacts found during the first phase of excavation held in 2022, is under way, said Vembakottai Excavation Site Director Pon. Baskar.
Among them were ivory bangles, glass beads, terracotta seal, earlobes, carnelian beads, shell bangles, hopscotches, and several iron and copper objects.
“We had displayed a part of these artefacts at an exclusive exhibition hall put up during the first Book Fair of Virudhunagar. Now, Virudhungar Collector V. P. Jayaseelan, has asked us to display all the articles at the site exhibition,” Mr. Pon Kumar said.
Even as the second phase of excavation work began at Uchimedu along the northern bank of Vaippar river in April, lot of students and members of public have started coming to the excavation site.
The Collector has asked the department to open the exhibition at the earliest to help school and college students make use of their vacation.
“We have joined the beads found in the site and re-created them into a necklace. This will help the people to know how people of Sangam era had used those beads as ornaments,” Mr. Pon Kumar said.
The artefacts will be exhibited in nine showcases set up inside the hall. Night watchmen would be deployed at the site to protect the valuables. Besides, police protection has been sought, he added.
Meanwhile, the road leading to the excavation site was being re-laid to help tourists and students to visit the site and the exhibition.
The exhibition would soon be thrown open to the public.
