Source: www.hinduonnet.com
DINDIGUL, TAMIL NADU, INDIA, June 22, 2009: A glass bead-making unit and an Iron Age graveyard, both about 2,500 years old, have been unearthed during the ongoing excavation in and around Porunthal, Tamil Nadu, an archaeology expert said.
The excavation made at Paasi Medu (bead mound) venue, a site spread over 13.5 acres on the ancient East-West Trade route linking Tamil Nadu and Kerala, revealed the presence of a glass bead manufacturing unit, Prof. K. Rajan, Archaeology Department, University of Pondicherry, told reporters at Palani near here.
They also recovered thousands of beads in various colors from the site along with 30 identical red bowls, triangular terracotta pieces and two furnaces.
This could have been the place where glass beads had been manufactured
in ancient Tamil Nadu, he said.