Huge quantity of cannon balls unearthed at Kannur fort

In a chance finding, more than 10,000cannon balls have been excavated at the historic Fort St Angelo here.
The cannon balls, made of iron, and of weights ranging from 800 gms to 10 kgs, were unearthed when workers were digging the earth to lay a cable channel for the upcoming light and sound show at the Fort.
"More than 12,650 balls have been recovered from three pits so far and the work is going on in the fourth pit. As the work is in progress, the quantity will go up," C Kumaran, Archaeologist who leads an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)team from Thrissur in the work said when contacted today.

ASI has given permission for digging earth to lay channel for the show at the fort, a protected monument, in January next year. The authorities of the District Tourism Development Committee who found the balls buried at a spot during the work informed the ASI, he said.
Later a team of ASI officials carried out the work at the site on December 9 and found the balls in thousands, he said.
"The balls are made of iron and are of eight different weights, ranging from 800 gms to 10 kgs. The largest one is of 10 cm size and the smallest 3.12 cm," Kumaran said.

"Most of them are solid and some of them are hollow. The age of the balls could be ascertained only after the chemical examination," he added.
The excavation would throw light on the historic importance of Kannur, Kumaran said.
Superintending Archaeologist (Thrissur Circle), Sreelakshmi, who is guiding the excavation works, yesterday said, "This is the biggest number of cannon balls unearthed in South India according to ASI reports.