MADURAI: A group of students have found Chinese porcelain ceramic- sherds at villages of Pokkanarendal and Pallapacheri in Ramanathapuram district.

This is evidence of the trade links between Tamils and the Chinese people. It also indicates that the Chinese porcelain vessels were in use by the people of the localities, sources said.

Five students in the Heritage Club of Suresh Sudha Alagan Memorial Government Higher Secondary School, Thirupullani found Chinese porcelain ceramic sherds on a field near the panchayat union primary school in Pokkanarendal and in the east of the Sethupathi Palace at Pallapacheri near Thiruppullani.

They gave them to V Rajaguru, archaeologist and secretary of the school’s Heritage Club.

After examining those artifacts, archaeologist Rajaguru on Tuesday said there are two types in Chinese pottery - porcelain and celadon.

A closer look at theChinese potteryreveals a web-like structure. Made of white clay, the pottery had painted designs and shapes and seemed polished with salt to make porcelain type ceramics.

The students, including D Manoj, M Ramkumar, V Fidel Castro, J Aswinraj and V Balaji found the broken pieces of bowl, jar and plate.

The white porcelain surface was painted with red, black, brown, blue, yellow stripes, flowers, curves and leaf patterns. These rare antiquities date back to the medieval period of 12th and 13th century AD.

The sherds found by the students have been handed over to Sivakumar, the curator of the Government Museum at Ramanathapuram, Rajaguru said.

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