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City police have arrested a man for allegedly stealing 4.6 sovereigns of gold jewellery from his tenant’s house, after a spy camera caught him entering the property using a spare key. On November 1, after returning from Mr. Sreehari’s parents’ house in Pattanam, they found a pair of earrings weighing about 13 grams missing. Later, on November 23, the couple …

There is a need to conduct extensive studies in the Periyar delta to have a clearer understanding of the erstwhile port of Muziris and Pattanam, the archaeological site near North Paravur where excavations conducted by the Kerala Council for Historical Research a decade ago threw up artefacts pointing to the existence of a production and trade centre between the first …

Pattanam

Ancient DNA study confirms West Eurasian genetic imprints in Kerala’s Pattanam

The archaeological site of Pattanam, on the South-western coast in Kerala’s Ernakulam district, is believed by historians to be part of the ancient port city of the Muziris that played a key role in trade and cultural exchanges between India and the Middle East, North Africa and the Mediterranean regions. Scientists and archaeologists have also found human bones, storage jars, …

Pattanam Site

No idols, no arms: the Pattanam mystery

In the serene village of Pattanam in central Kerala lies the only multi-cultural archaeological site on the southwestern coast of the Indian subcontinent. The Pattanam excavations have unearthed over 45 lakh sherds ; these include approximately 1.4 lakh belonging to the littoral regions of the Mediterranean, the River Nile, the Red Sea, the western and eastern Indian Oceans, and the …

Nature Indian Remains Pattanam Site

Pattanam excavation: more role sought for local community

There is mixed response to the decision of the Kerala Council for Historical Research to appoint a manager for a year’s contract at its Pattanam regional centre, which is part of the Muziris Heritage Project, what with former KCHR director P.J. The local community seems to have little role now, Mr. Cherian, who is now director of PAMA Institute for …

“How did it come to Pattanam?” Researcher Deepak Padmanabhan is speaking of the intaglio or Sphinx seal ring that was found in 2020 during the excavations at Pattanam, roughly 30 km from Kochi. Cherian, former director of Kerala Council for Historical Research with PAMA Institute for the Advancement of Transdisciplinary Archaeological Sciences, presented a paper titled The She Sphinx That …

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday stayed an order of the Archaeological Survey of India withdrawing the approval granted to Professor P.J. Justice Rekha Palli stayed the September 3, 2021 order of the ASI in which the permission granted to Prof. Cherian’s team on June 4, 2021 for excavation of Pattanam and Mathikalam sites till September 30, 2021 was revoked. …

Student Finds Historic Seal Which Could Prove Kerala's Pattanam Was Legendary Roman City 'Muziris'

First-ever human image at Pattanam

A Graeco-Roman head of a miniature statue from the same trench that produced the Sphinx was another significant artefact of the 2020 season. This happens to be the first-ever human image excavated at Pattanam. But for the vigilance of PAMA intern Swagata Boruah of Assam University, the artefact, covered with muddy soil, could have been mistaken for the hundreds of …

Excavations in Kerala’s Pattanam reaffirm its trade links with Rome

What was a seal ring with the carving of the Sphinx, which looks similar to the one worn by the Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar about 2,000 years ago, doing at Pattanam, a sleepy hamlet, 25 kilometres north of Kochi in Kerala? It is common knowledge now, especially after the excavations at Pattanam and other contemporary sites, that gem and cameo …