2,000-Year-Old Rare Sarcophagus With Human Remains Discovered In Rock-Cut Cave In India

AncientPages.com - Archaeologists report they have discovered a 2,000-year-old rare sarcophagus in a rock-cut cave in India.

The stone tomb was found at Viyur village of Kollam, near Koyilandy, in Kozhikode. There are human remains inside the stone tomb, but whether these belong to a man or woman is too early to say.

The cave, with an inside pillar, measuring 1.9 metres in diameter, has a height of 90 centimetres.

The entrance of the cave was on the eastern side. “The square-shaped door has equal length of 50 centimetres on all sides. Different types of pottery, mostly four-legged jars and iron implements, were found in the cave, ” K. Krishnaraj of the Archaeology Department, who is supervising the excavation, said.

The sarcophagus discovered from a rock-cut cave at Viyur village of Kollam. Credit: The Hindu

According to Krishnaraj such a rare finding has been discovered only from two sites in Kerala.

The ancient bones will be sent for carbon dating using accelerator mass spectrometry at the Beta Analytical Laboratory in California.

See also:

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Archaeologists have only preliminary reports, but it is already known that that a rich Megalithic culture existed in the region following the discoveries of pre-Iron age civilization earlier.

Researchers will continue with the excavations and hope to unearth more artifact and gain information about the site.

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