Five-Sign Graffiti Bowl from Thelunganur in Salem Reopens the Debate on India's Earliest Writing

10 October 2026National

The Tamil Nadu Department of Archaeology reported a black-and-red ware bowl carrying five graffiti signs in a left-to-right sequence from Thelunganur, in the Mettur dam water-spread area of Salem district — the longest such sequence recorded in the state. A second bowl bears the same five signs in a different order. Excavation director S. Paranthaman led the dig, while department adviser K. Rajan dates the marks to over 3,200 years, with Thelunganur and nearby Mangadu placed at 1600-1200 BCE. Rajan reports about 90% morphological similarity with Indus Valley marks, feeding the standing debate on whether graffiti bridge the Indus script and Tamil-Brahmi.

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Black-and-red ware is a characteristic Iron Age and megalithic pottery of peninsular India | Tamil-Brahmi, the earliest attested script for Tamil, dates to about the 6th century BCE | Keeladi in Sivaganga district is Tamil Nadu's best-known recent Sangam-age excavation

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