Kottapuram Fort  Click to view images

Kottapuram Fort, built by the Portuguese in 1523 was referred to popularly as Cranganore Fort and is now known as Kodungallur Fort. It was captured and destroyed by the Dutch in 1663. The Fort had a strategic position, on the mouth of the river Periyar, before it joins the Arabian Sea, which gave it the advantage of controlling the ships and boats that passed to and from the interior of Malabar. The town developed from just this fort.

In 1662 the Dutch fleet had made an attempt to capture this fort from the Portuguese, but that invasion was successful only in 1663. It was a heavy fight, in which the Kottapuram Fort was severely damaged. After taking over the Fort, the Dutch demolished it to the minimum and used it as an out-house to guard their trade ships. The ruins of the original Fort show that its walls were 18 feet thick and were made of Laterite. The Archaeology department has started the excavation and has unearthed quite a few remnants of history as well as the fort walls and layout

Pattanam  Click to view images

The Pattanam excavations were the first ever multi-disciplinary excavations undertaken in Kerala State. The main objective of the excavation was to search for archaeological evidence that would help to locate/identify an early historic urban settlement and the ancient Indo-Roman port of Muziris or Musiri on the Malabar Coast

The site at Pattanam covers approximately 1.5 sq. km and the core area measures about 600 x 400 m. The north-eastern part of the site was chosen for excavation based on the surface exploration undertaken earlier. The "locus methodology" adopted for this excavation distinguished each layer/feature/pit/structure/ activity area on the basis of color, texture and composition.

Many important finds were obtained like human bones, storage jars, a gold ornament, glass beads, stone beads, utilitarian objects made of stone, copper and iron, typical pottery, early Chera coins, brick wall, brick platform, ring well, wharf with bollards, and a six meter long wooden canoe parallel to the wharf structure about 2.5 m. below surface level.

The structures indicate a vast 'urban' settlement. The excavations suggest that the site was first occupied by the indigenous “Megalithic” (Iron Age) people, followed by the Roman contact in the Early Historic Period. It appears that the site was continuously occupied at least from the 2nd.century BC to the 10th century AD. The maritime contacts of this region during the Early Historic period seem to have been extensive as evidenced by the large number of Roman amphora shreds, a few terra sigillata shreds, Sassanian, Yemenite and other West Asian potteries. Proliferation of roulette ware probably made in the Bengal-Gangetic region signifies the site's importance in the pan Indian context as well.