Arikamedu Archaeological Site
அரிக்கமேடு தொல்லியல் தளம்
Ancient port and trading settlement at Kakkayanthope, about 4 km south of the city; finds from its excavations are in the Puducherry Museum.
On a bend of the Ariyankuppam river, about 4 km from the city on the road to Cuddalore, lies one of the most important archaeological sites of South India: an ancient port that traded across the Indian Ocean and with the Roman world.
History
Sir Mortimer Wheeler excavated here in 1945, and Jean-Marie Casal between 1947 and 1950. The site was identified with Podouke, the “emporium” named in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea and by Ptolemy. The digs found amphorae, Arretine ware, Roman lamps, glassware, glass and stone beads and gems. Wheeler took it for a trading post of the time of Augustus; later work by Vimala Begley (1989–1992) dated the settlement from the 2nd century BCE to the 8th century CE.
The river bend sheltered sea-going vessels. The site covers about 14 hectares and has been under the Archaeological Survey of India since 1982.
What to see
- The site on the bank of the Ariyankuppam river
- The Arikamedu finds in the Puducherry Museum
Why visit
It places Pondicherry in a story of trade more than 1,800 years older than the French town.
- Coordinates
11.902630, 79.819374