digging was done. Further excavations were conducted by me for a few months annually up to the official year 1903-04. The collection now in the Madras Museum, and an almost equally large number of duplicates are the results obtained.

Description of the site.-The site extends to slightly over one hundred acres of land included in some villages at and near Ādichanallūr,⁴ nearly twelve miles to the south-east of Tinnevelly town. It is a long piece of high ground, extending north to south, on the south bank of the river Tāmbaraparni, with a small hill at the end adjoining the river. One peculiarity in regard to such prehistoric sites is that whenever possible, high land, waste or rocky or such as is unsuitable for cultivation, is that which has been generally selected for burial sites. This has already been mentioned in a previously published paper of mine.⁵ Another fact is that in the neighbourhood of these sepulchral sites, there is often found the evidence of an ancient settlement. Cemeteries are usually situated on the south side of a town, the south being the abode of Yama, the God of Death; this having from time immemorial, been selected wherever possible, as the site for burials.

About the centre of the ground some three feet of surface soil is composed of gravel, with decomposed quartz rock below. The rock has been hollowed out for the urns, with a separate cavity for each of them.

In this burial ground the objects were found both inside and outside large urns of a pyriform shape. The urns were at an average distance of about six feet apart and at from three to twelve feet or more below the surface. Some were found placed over other ones. An idea of the deposits which exist in the whole area, may thus be obtained, as an acre probably holds over a thousand urns. This is the most extensive and important prehistoric burial place as yet known in Southern India. There are hundreds of prehistoric sites in several of the Madras districts which may contain two or three dozen urns, but none equal to this in extent.

Contents of the urns and description of the objects.-The objects found comprised gold,⁶ bronze,⁷ and iron⁸ articles and pottery. The

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⁴  Probably the village originally had the name of Ādittanallūr from the fact that one of the kings was known by he name of Ādittan.

⁵  "Some Prehistoric Burial Places in Southern India", Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. LVII, 1889.

⁶  It might be interesting, on some future occasion, to get this analysed as considering the age, it is not likely to have any added alloy.

⁷  From analysis it was found that the alloy consisted of copper 75 per cent, tin 23 per cent., lead 0.2 per cent., iron 0.4 per cent., and the casting seemed to contain some of the copper in the form of copper. oxide.

⁸  On examination this was found to be a particularly pure wrought iron.

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