The recent archaeological excavations conducted at Mayiladumparai near Krishnagiri provided a much wanted scientific date on the introduction of iron in Tamil Nadu. As per the radiometric dates, the AMS date goes back to 2172 BCE. In this sense, the Tamils who lived 4200 years ago were aware of iron technology. The iron technology pushed economic development, particularly in the field of agriculture due to the availability of defensive and offensive tools and weapons. Agricultural production led to prosperity in every sphere of life. Thus, technological innovation in the field of iron technology transformed the entire life of the contemporary period. For the first time, the Mayiladumparai excavation placed the introduction of iron in Tamil Nadu 4200 years ago. – Minister. Thangam Thennarasu
Mayiladumparai (78° 18′ 48″ E; 12° 25′ 12″ N) is a small hamlet located at the foothill May Labout 3 km west of Togarapalli village in Bargur taluk of Krishnagiri district. The intensive archaeological explorations carried out in the 9600 sq.m area yielded rich data ranging from Palaeolithic times down to the medieval period (Narasimhaiah 1980; Raman 1977-78:50; Rajan 1991:37-52, 1997:125-195). e archaeological explorations conducted by K.Rajan in 1989 brought to light 2 Palaeolithic sites, 5 Neolithic sites and 170 Iron Age sites and quite a number of historical sites. Besides, ten sites with rock paintings and about 125 memorial stones belonging to early medieval times were also discovered (Rajan 1991a:51-70; Rajan 2000: 138-189). Among them, Mayiladumparai is one of the important sites of this region yielding cultural material ranging from Microlithic to Early Historic times. This site is situated in the midst of several archaeological sites such as Togarapalli, Gangavaram, Sandur, Vedarthattakkal, Guttur, Gidlur, Sappamutlu and Kappalavadi. The presence of a 13th-century trade guild inscription at Aikundam close to Mayiladumparai suggests that it was on the ancient trade route. All these important archaeological sites lie within a radius of 10 km.
