Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu
| Photo Credit: B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM

A total of 12 historically significant locations will be declared protected monuments/sites, Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu (also holding the archaeology portfolio) announced in the Assembly on Thursday. He also announced that a museum for inscriptions would be set up on the World Tamil Sangam campus in Madurai.

The Tamili inscriptions in Mannarkoil in Tirunelveli district, rock-cut caves in Aralipatti in Sivaganga district, Koothapoondiyan Valasu in Dindigul district, V. Kottaiyur in Pudukkottai district, Avoor in Tiruvannamalai district, and Nayanur in Villupuram district will be among the locations to be declared protected monuments/sites, he said.

Dolmens in Mallachanthiram in Krishnagiri district, the palace in Thirupullani in Ramanathapuram district are to be made protected sites. The Maraiyur Choultry in Narikkudi and boulder and cave paintings in Meenakshipuram in Rajapalayam taluk, the old mandapams in Mamsapuram and in Pillayar Natham — all in Virudhunagar district will join the list too.

The State government will formulate a programme to publish the cultural history of Tamil Nadu in 18 volumes to capture the history of various regions within the State, Mr. Thennarasu said.

Anomalous feature in Korkai

In a policy note tabled in the House, Mr. Thennarasu said that during an offshore reconnaissance survey of a Sangam age port in Korkai, undertaken with sonar surveys and diver inspections, “an anomalous feature” was identified, but did not elaborate further.

The survey was extended to Poompuhar since February, with side scan sonar coverage, during which “a few new features have been identified”, he added. The work was in progress and would be completed by this month, he said.

Contending that archaeological evidence from Attirampakkam, near the Poondi reservoir in Tiruvallur district, confirmed human presence in Tamil Nadu “dating back approximately 15 lakh years ago,” the Minister said: “The reconstruction of this vast 15 lakh chronological span presents a formidable challenge.”