Muziris had trade links with Rome around 2 000 years ago, claims historian

A frontline historian working on the ongoing Pattanam excavation in coastal Kerala, has claimed that Muziris in southern India was a major commercial centre with trade links to Rome around 2,000 years ago.

According to Kerala Council for Historical Research founder director P J Cherian, the artefacts recently unearthed at Pattanam point to Muziris having been a major hub of Indian Ocean trade during the two centuries at the cusp of BC and AD.

Dr Cherian, who is also the curator of an ongoing N M Exhibition titled 'Unearthing Pattanam: Histories, Cultures, Crossing', said life began in Pattanam around 1,000 BCE and continued to be active till the 10th century AD with a string of ups and downs before the area vanished for reasons that are yet to concluded definitely.

he addde that led by chieftains, the people largely led a "semi-tribal" existence before a suspected natural calamity swallowed Muziris in 1341.

The pottery assemblage from Pattanam can be "clearly related" to other sites within the Indian Ocean sites on the Red Sea, in Yemen and Oman besides other sites in India," noted the Cherian.

The excavations so far carried out in 60 trenches over eight seasons at Pattanam's 70-hectare plot lying 3.32 metres above mean sea level.

The 12th N M monthly lecture was preceded by the release of a detailed catalogue on the Pattanam exhibition which will be on in the museum till January 10, 2015.