Page:Origin and spread of the Tamils.djvu/28



AUTHORS OF EARLY TAMIL CULTURE 17 (tinais)," the praise of coolness and the avoidance of heat, the total absence of the Asiatic tablelands or the vine and fig of Chaldean regions, the mention of indigenous fauna and flora in Sangam works, all these point to these peculiar characteristics of South Indian culture. EVIDENCE OF ARCHAEOLOGY It is a matter for regret that in spite of the existence of many old sites in South India, which if properly excavated, would yield a rich crop of harvest, the Archaeological Department has been treating them in a stepmotherly attitude. We are all indebted to the pioneer explorer, Bruce Foote,95 who did good work in this direction. The services rendered by Breeks " in his special study of the Nilgiris prehistory and A. Rea should also be mentioned. The objective evidence on which I have based my thesis is on the authority of these early archaeologists, who made earnest efforts to study South Indian sites. Bruce Foote examined, among others, the most important prehistoric burial places covering over hundred and fourteen acres of land at Adichanallur on the south bank of the Tambra'parni in the Tinnevelly District. These graves at Adichanallur are to be dated in the early Iron Age which succeeded the Neolithic Age in South India. Remarkable parallels are seen in the sites near the village of Annavasal” in the Pudukottai State, in the Palni and Anamala ranges, Nilgris, and in the districts