twentyeight years ago a surface survey of kottaimedu in puducherry threw up fragments of ancient artefacts and ring wells that indicated that the ancient habitation found in the maritime port of arikamedu must have been spread across a larger expanse now working on that lead the archaeological survey of india asi has approved excavations to be undertaken at the sitethe puducherry government will undertake excavations at kottaimedu village in p s palayam mannadipet commune puducherry the asis approval will be valid until september 30 this yearkottaimedu is believed to be as the old arikamedu the erstwhile port town which had maritime trade links with rome and other european countries between 100bc and ad100an archaeological team led by p ravitchandirane assistant professor department of history tagore government arts and science college has identified the five different locations at the site where two trenches each would be dug the whole region is under cultivation kottaimedu is one of the few undisturbed sites we have found pottery items belonging to the 1st century bc in ps palayam said ravitchandirane ravitchandirane was part of the team led by indian archaeologist vimala begley that excavated arikamedu between 1989 and 1994he launched a series of surface surveys in the early 1990s and found several potential archaeological sites in and around puducherry such as arumpathapuram manapet thirukanchi and auroville i first found this site kottaimedu in 1994 after a few surface surveys the site is a contemporary of the popular archaeological site arikamedu the material and fragments found in kottaimedu during surface surveys match with the artefacts excavated in arikamedu proving that the two ancient towns are contemporaries there are also ring wells related to the first century bc in kottaimedu as in arikamedu they flourished with similar culture during the same time said ravitchandiranetrade activities during ancient times were generally through sea routes and through rivers inland raw material and finished products among other items reached arikamedu from kottaimedu which is on the bank of pambai river there may be several other ancient urban centres that existed when arikamedu and kottaimedu flourished roman gold coins found in thirukoilur in adjacent villupuram district tamil nadu proved that there were trade activities between rikamedu and other ancient urban centres he said the puducherry government which does not have an exclusive department of archaeology or sufficient equipment and experts to undertake excavations has managed to get approval to excavate kottaimedu the government has allotted a fund of 20 lakh for the project