CHENNAI: The first man to the Indian subcontinent may well have come to the south and there was now some evidence to support this theory, said minister for Tamil official language, Tamil culture and archaeology K Pandiarajan on Monday. While it is widely believed that first man came from Africa and settled in the Indus Valley, the excavations in Attirampakkam indicate that he may well have come deeper to the south, said Pandiarajan.

Corroborating his statements with the findings from the pre-historic Attirampakkam site in Thiruvallur district, the minister said the paleolithic tools like the stone axe weapons that were excavated from the area were found to belong to a period between 3.75lakh years to 1.75lakh years ago.

“The Sharma Centre for Heritage Education headed by archaeologist Dr Shanti Pappu has been collaborating with us during its four-phase excavations, beginning in the year 2015,” Pandiarajan told TOI. The period was calculated using the technology called ‘Luminescence dating’, said to be more reliable than carbon dating, said the minister.

“At Attirampakkam, the earliest layers, have evidence of a culture called the Acheulian (Lower Palaeolithic), marked by characteristic tools like handaxes and cleavers. These are similar to those in parts of Africa, West Asia and Europe,” said Dr Pappu. “Our excavations revealed tools showing a transition to a phase called the Middle Palaeolithic that dates from around 380,000 to around 172,000 years at Attirampakkam. We estimated this by luminescence dating,” she said.

The luminescence dating, done at the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, measures the amount of light emitted from energy stored in certain rock types and soil to obtain an absolute date. Dr Shanthi’s findings have been published in the British multidisciplinary scientific journal Nature in 2018.

The minister spoke about the excavations in the state assembly on Monday during the debate on demands for grants for his departments. “During the

meet recently held in Chicago, the researchers said the paleolithic tools and other findings at the site (at Attirampakkam) were not less than 3.75 lakh years old. The entire site has detailed urban planning that dates back to before the Indus Valley Civilization,” Pandiarajan told the assembly.

On the ongoing Keeladi excavations, the minister said carbon dating results showed the findings of the old city dated back to 600BC.