National Workshop On Aintinai – Interactions between Science and Culture: Perspectives from Earth Sciences and Marine Archaeology

Dates: 20,21 March 2019
Venue:Thanjavur

About Tamil University

Tamil University, located in the Heritage town of Thanjavur within a serene and green campus, was started in 1981. The University Grants Commission accorded a statutory recognition to the university in 1983. The aims and objectives of this unitary type of university comprise higher research in Tamilology and advanced study in various other allied branches such as Linguistics, Translation, Lexicography, Music, Drama and Manuscriptology, and various branches of sciences. The university offers, PG and M.Phil and Ph.D. programmes, and B.Ed. and M.Ed programmes, apart from various Certificate and Diploma courses.

Tamil University has five faculties:

The Faculty of Arts consists of the Departments of Sculpture, Music and Drama. The Faculty of Manuscriptology consists of the Departments of Rare paper Manuscripts, Palm Leaf Manuscripts, Epigraphy, Archaeology and Maritime History & Marine Archaeology. The Faculty of Developing Tamil includes the Departments of Tamil Studies in Foreign countries, Translation, Lexicography, Sociology and Education. The Language Faculty has major disciplines such as Literature, Linguistics, Folklore, School of Indian Languages, School of Philosophy and Tribal Studies as separate departments. The Faculty of Science has in its fold the Departments of Siddha Medicine, Ancient Science, Industries and Earth Sciences, Architecture and the Computer Science.

Department of Industries and Earth Sciences

The Department of Industries, the brainchild of Dr.V.I.Subramoniam, Former Vice Chancellor, Tamil University, Thanjavur, entered into the realm of research field at the right earnest in 1982. Prof.A.Subramanian initiated research works on the “Ship Building Technology”, and “Iron Industries of Tamil Nadu”. From December 1985, the department scaled new heights in the research field. In order to expand the scope of research into other sciences as well as to give impetus to scientific research using advanced techniques, the department has been renamed as Industries and Earth Sciences. It encourages multidisciplinary and multi-organizational projects for collecting data on the basis of experiment science for reconstructing the traditional scientific and industrial techniques. It undertakes scientific and an industrially well-advanced research especially in the field of earth sciences like geology, geography, oceanography, environmental management and Geospatial Technology and to augment the scientific manpower build-up in earth sciences for natural resource management, conservation and preservation.

Considering the meritorious research it has been chosen as the nodal centre for Coastal and Marine research by Department of Ocean Development (DOD) (formerly) , New Delhi permitted the operation of OCEAN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CELL(OSTC) in this Department. The department is currently concentrating in the fields of Geosciences applications for Natural resources mapping, Environmental geomorphology, Water Resources Mapping, Quality mapping, Disaster Management, Hyper spectral remote sensing and Lunar studies. The department has made its presence felt nationally as well as internationally through its qualitative scientific turnouts. The Department have received Innovative course on PG Diploma on Coastal Eco System and GIS by the UGC.

The department offers courses on M.Sc Geology, M.Phil in Earth Sciences and Doctoral research on Earth Sciences and its related fields

Department of Maritime History and Marine Archaeology

The Department of Maritime History and Marine Archaeology was established in 1983 as Centre for Underwater Archaeology at Mandapam campus. The department has evolved over the years from a simple beginning to undertake research and offer academic courses in various areas of Maritime history and Marine Archaeology and the centre has been renamed as Maritime history and Marine Archaeology. The faculty members explored the coastal areas and have identified stone anchors and archaeological sites and have documented traditional boats.
Late Prof. N.Athiyaman researched on various aspects of maritime archaeology and has documented and published on the chank diving and pearl fishery. He has undertaken underwater explorations at Kaveripumpattinam along with National Institute of Oceanography, Goa.

The faculty of the department have organised many exhibitions, and national and international seminars, and undertaken many research projects, and have brought out publications. The department has excavated at the site of Mandiripattinam under the direction of Prof. S.Rajavelu. The Department initiated a Heritage Walk program around Thanjavur in collaboration with Dhan Foundation and INTACH, Thanjavur under the leadership of Prof. S.Rajavelu and Prof. N.Athiyaman.

The Department currently offers programmes in MA, M.Phil, and PhD in History, and Maritime History and Marine Archaeology related areas.

About the Workshop

Science and culture are two important components that tremendously contributed to the development of human society. The theory and praxis of these two branches of knowledge have grown over the years of the historical trajectories, leading to the development of human civilization. The earth is the repository of all kinds of organic and material remains that resulted due to the natural and cultural processes. The Earth Sciences investigate the multiple dimensions of natural phenomena of the earth using various scientific approaches, methods, tools and techniques. The origin and development of landforms, soil, mineral and water resources, oceans, coastal deposits, monsoons and various dynamic processes and aspects of the earth that affect the human culture and contemporary society and its existence are investigated by the earth sciences.

The proposed workshop focuses on the earth sciences, coastal sediments, monsoon winds, GIS, ship-building and navigation, maritime history, geoarchaeology, and Marine Archaeology.

While this workshop primarily focuses on the core issues of the earth sciences and Marine Archaeology, it is also seeks to remember the contributions of Prof. Victor Rajamanikkam, Prof. Noboru Karashima, Prof. R Bhaskaran, Dr Iravatham Mahadevan and Prof. N Athiyaman, who have in their own way contributed to the study of earth sciences, maritime history, maritime archaeology and epigraphical sources of maritime interactions.

Aintinai represents an indigenous approach of the Tamil literary and grammatical traditions in classifying the landscapes and cultures of ancient Tamizhagam. The natural features and the cultural factors coalesced to form the interrelationships that are reflected in the Sangam literary texts. These five scholars, whom we remember here, have brought in diverse perspectives to the study earth sciences and maritime history and archaeology.

Workshop Themes

• Earth Sciences
• Landscape and morphology
• Coastal sediments and Ecosystem
• Climate changes, Environment and Technology
• Monsoon winds
• Culture and Earth Sciences interface
• Ship-building and navigation
• Maritime History and heritage
• Geoarchaeology
• Marine Archaeology

Resource Persons

The Resource Persons include scholars and researchers from various parts of India.

Participants

Participants need to arrange their own travel and accommodation at Thanjavur.

ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Chief Patron

Prof. G. BALASUBRAMANIAN

Vice Chancellor, Tamil University

Co-Patrons

Dr. Muthukumar
Registrar, Tamil University

Dr. S. Rajavelu
Professor and Head

Dr. K.Sankar
Professor and Dean

WORKSHOP CO-ORDINATORS

Prof. R. Neelakantan
Professor and Head
Department of Earth Sciences
Tamil University, Thanjavur
neels2004@gmail.com
9443385282, 8754134824

Dr. V. Selvakumar
Associate Professor
Department of Maritime History andMarine Archaeology,
Tamil University, Thanjavur
selvakumarodi@gmail.com
9442112601

For Registration, Contact
neels2004@gmail.com
selvaveera@hotmail.com

To Download Registration Form: Click Here
To Download Seminar Brochure: Click Here