Dindigul, the largest district in Tamil Nadu, has long been a hotbed of archaeological discoveries, including rock art, tools and burial sites. Recently, 4,000-year-old stone cupules from the megalithic era, possibly dug to indicate a funeral or ritual, were discovered in the area.
According to Archaeological researcher Dr Narayanamurthy, a stone structure seemingly a dolmen was found at the site which had roughly arranged rocks with depressions on them. He shared that the cupules are one of the oldest sculpting techniques known to man. The dolmen contained forty-four cupules distributed in three clusters. Each cupule measured 0.5 cm to 4 cm in depth and 3 cm to 8cm in width, reported TOI.
These cupules have been discovered in three clusters: one with 28, another with seven and a third with nine. Some of the cupules are also linked with a line. He mentioned that similar cupules had been discovered in Bolivia, England and France.
The dolmen also had 131 lines carved on them, each 3 cm to 4 cm long and divided into seven sections, which could have been drawn with an iron nail. As per the archaeologist, these lines were meant to represent a community. When water is poured into one pit, all the pits will be filled with water through these lines.
Narayanamurthy also requested that the Archaeology department should study and protect these 4000-year-old stone pits.
Locals in Dindigul worship Karuppasamy, a revered deity in Southern India. Dr Narayanamurthy, who studied the Karuppasamy structure, said it was a monument built during the Stone Age era and is dedicated to a deceased soldier or warrior. The symbols crafted on it may have been set up as a memorial to the death of the leader or a commander.
In other news, a 16th-century stone inscription on a sluice depicting a man digging a tank and a channel to supply water to a community was also discovered near Palani in the Dindigul district.
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