Geoarchaeological Evidence of a Chola-Period Tsunami from an Ancient Port at Kaveripattinam on the Southeastern Coast of India

Rajendran, CP and Rajendran, Kusala and Srinivasalu, S and Andrade, Vanessa and Aravazhi, P and Sanwal, Jaishri (2011) Geoarchaeological Evidence of a Chola-Period Tsunami from an Ancient Port at Kaveripattinam on the Southeastern Coast of India. In: Geoarchaeology, 26 (6). pp. 867-887.

PDF Kaveripattinam-tsunami-article.pdf - Published Version Restricted to Registered users only Download (629kB) | Request a copy

Abstract

Literature of the ancient Chola Dynasty (A.D. 9th-11th centuries) of South India and recent archaeological excavations allude to a sea flood that crippled the ancient port at Kaveripattinam, a trading hub for Southeast Asia, and probably affected the entire South Indian coast, analogous to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami impact. We present sedimentary evidence from an archaeological site to validate the textual references to this early medieval event. A sandy layer showing bed forms representing high-energy conditions, possibly generated by a seaborne wave, was identified at the Kaveripattinam coast of Tamil Nadu, South India. Its sedimentary characteristics include hummocky cross-stratification, convolute lamination with heavy minerals, rip-up clasts, an erosional contact with the underlying mud bed, and a landward thinning geometry. Admixed with 1000-year-old Chola period artifacts, it provided an optically stimulated luminescence age of 1091 perpendicular to 66 yr and a thermoluminescence age of 993 perpendicular to 73 yr for the embedded pottery sherds. The dates of these proxies converge around 1000 yr B. P., correlative of an ancient tsunami reported from elsewhere along the Indian Ocean coasts. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Geoarchaeology
Publisher:	John Wiley and Sons
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to John Wiley and Sons.
Department/Centre:
Date Deposited:	08 Nov 2011 11:04
Last Modified:	09 Nov 2011 08:49
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/41926

Actions (login required)

View Item