Ancient site · Settlement
Arikamedu
Also known as Poduke
A riverside trading port near Pondicherry on the Coromandel coast. Mortimer Wheeler's excavation in 1945 found Roman amphorae, red Arretine tableware and lamps, and he called it an Indo-Roman trading station.
Later work by Vimala Begley showed the port was busy from the 2nd century BCE to the 7th or 8th century CE and was a major maker of glass and stone beads traded across the Indian Ocean. It is generally identified with the 'Poduke' of Greek and Roman geographers.
- Dates
- 2nd century BCE–7th/8th century CE
- Still standing
- No, or only traces
- Location
- 11.90° N, 79.82° E
How we know
Probably the port Poduke named in the Periplus and by Ptolemy; Roman pottery and coins date its trade.
Nearby sites
- Kodumanal c. 5th–1st century BCE (dates debated)
- Keezhadi 6th century BCE–3rd century CE (radiocarbon); excavator proposes 8th century BCE; ASI questions this
- Anuradhapura settled c. 900 BCE; capital from the 4th century BCE to the 10th century CE; sacred city today
- Sivagalai c. 1200–700 BCE (rice from a burial urn); a claim of iron at 3345 BCE is disputed
- Adichanallur c. 1000–600 BCE (radiocarbon); earlier claims debated
- Pattanam c. 3rd century BCE–5th century CE