PERAMBALUR: Kunnam, a quaint village in Perambalur, hogged the limelight after hordes of people converged on the place to see what they believed to be dinosaur eggs.
Pictures of the ‘eggs’ went viral on social media on Wednesday when farmers stumbled upon them while digging the Venkatan pond for alluvial soil. The euphoria, however, was short lived as archaeology enthusiasts identified them as concretions, hard, compact mass of matter formed by precipitation of mineral cement in spaces between particles. More than 25 concretions were found in Kunnam.
As Perambalur and Ariyalur districts have a history of fossils being found, locals believed them to be dinosaur eggs.
Nirmal Rajah, a paleontologist educator said, “I have found a lot of fossils and concretions in Perambalur district. In 2016, I found concretions by a road, now we found some here. These are not dinosaur egg.”
“Archaeological evidence suggests that dinosaurs lived in the Ariyalur area 6.5 billion years ago. But the remains of the eggs are rarely found. Eggshells have been found during non-marine periods about sixty-eight million years ago. There are fossils formed in the sea found in the cement factory quarries. There a dinosaur egg was found but other than that there has been no discovery of fossiled eggs here,” he added. Fossils in Kunnam might have formed about nine billion years ago when the depth of the sea was about 100 metres in the Turonian-Cenomanian Cretaceous period. Ammonite fossils have been found in it. But after years of research, dinosaur eggs were nowhere to be found. I went there many times and never saw an egg.” said Rajah said. Further, Raja said round-shaped Phosphatic nodules, called Uttatur potatoes, were available in Kunnam and Karai areas. Officials led by Kunnam Tahsildar A Chinnadurai visited the village and informed the Geological Survey of India. “People call this dinosaur egg. But we don’t know what it is. We informed Tiruchy Geological Survey of India Department about it. Only after their research will we know what it is. Until then it will be preserved,” Chinnadurai said.
A fossilised tree and ammonite sediments were also found in Aanaivari stream in the area. The tree was 7-feet long and buried in the rock, and only its surface is visible. Locals who saw it, preserved it and informed the Geological department. Farmers stumble upon 27 ancient artefacts As many as 27 ancient artefacts including five bronze idols were found when pit was dug for planting saplings. According to sources, the work of digging pits for planting tree saplings was taken up at the land of Lenin, a farmer of Athivetti near Pattukkottai on Thursday. The workers engaged in digging a pit heard unusual sound from the earth where they were digging. Later they found some metallic objects. Lenin visited the place and found 27 metal artifacts including three idols of Perumal, an Amman and an Azhavar were found. These were measured around half a feet, sources said. The other artifacts included nine metallic pots.
The revenue officials were informed and they took the artefacts to the Pattukkottai Tashildar office for safe custody. Sources said only after inspection by the archeological department officials the antiquity of the artefacts could be established.