Kalinga Ancient Trade Routes

Amphora jars

Probable Archaeology

Broken pieces of tall Mediterranean storage jars have been dug up at two Odisha ports. They show that goods reached here from the Roman world.

Bits of amphorae, the tall two-handled jars used all round the Roman world, turned up at Manikapatna and Palur.

Across the Roman world, people stored wine and oil in tall clay jars. These jars are called amphorae, and each has two handles. Archaeologists found broken pieces of these jars at two old Odisha ports, Manikapatna and Palur [Patra, n.d., pp.109, 111].

The jar pieces lay next to another fine pottery. It is called rouletted ware, and it has a stamped pattern pressed into it. One historian reads these finds as proof of contact with the Roman world [Patra, 2014, p.120].

This atlas reads the evidence more carefully. This kind of rouletted ware is now thought to be mostly made in India. So the finds most likely show a wide trading network reaching this coast, not Roman ships sailing here themselves.

For scholars

Both reports used here share the same scholar as author, so they are not fully independent works, and no study of the jars’ clay has been done - that is why this good is held at the “Probable” tier, not higher [Patra, n.d., pp.109, 111; Patra, 2014, p.120]. Their date and origin rest on the excavators’ word alone. No record says what the jars once carried.

Facts

Category
Ceramic
Direction
Imported into Kalinga

Carried on these routes

  • Chilika coast to Arikamedu

    Arikamedu near Pondicherry traded with the Roman world. Broken jars and the same patterned pottery turn up at Odisha's ports as well.

    [Patra, n.d., pp. 110-111]; [Patnaik, 2014a, p. 103]; [Dayalan, 2019, offprint pp. 12-16, section 'Arikamedu']
    1. Sushanta Kumar Patra, Benudhar Patra. *Archaeology and the Maritime History of Ancient Orissa*. in Orissa Historical Research Journal XLVII. n.d. , pp. 110-111 (p. 111: 'The rouletted wares of Manikpatna have much similarity with those of Sisupalagarh and Arikamedu.' p. 110: the same ware from Kaveripatnam, Uraiyur and Arikamedu is grouped with the Odishan finds as one Roman trade network along the east coast.)
    2. Sunil Kumar Patnaik. *Puri: A Study of Early Trade and Pilgrim Routes*. in Odisha Review. 2014a , p. 103 ('the land routes extended from Taxila to Kaveripattinam in the south and Tamluk in the east up to Broach in the west'; Tosali, Kalingapatnam, Tamralipti and Pithunda were 'all in the trade circuit'.)
    3. Duraiswamy Dayalan. *Ancient Seaports on the Eastern Coast of India: The Hub of the Maritime Silk Route Network*. in Acta Via Serica 4. 2019 , offprint pp. 12-16, section 'Arikamedu' ('Arikamedu (11 deg 53' N; 79 deg 48' E), a well-known Indo-Roman trading station, is identified with "Pouduke" of the Periplus Maris Erythraei and Ptolemy.' Journal pagination not verified.)

Documented at these ports

  • Manikapatna

    Manikapatna is an old port on the shore of Chilika lake. People digging there found coins and broken pots from China, Sri Lanka and lands far to the west.

    [Tripati, 2021, pp. 1211-1212]; [Patra, n.d., pp. 111-112]; [Patnaik, 2014a, pp. 104-105]; [Tripati, 2022, Introduction; Sci. Rep. 12:13559]; [Patra, 2014, p. 120]; [Dayalan, 2019, offprint p. 23, section 'Manikapatna']
    1. Sila Tripati. *Indo-Arabian stone anchor of Manikapatna, Odisha, east coast of India: an indicator of maritime contacts of Odisha*. in Current Science 120. 2021 , pp. 1211-1212 (p. 1211: OIMSEAS, Bhubaneswar excavated 1989-1993; site lies on the bank of Chilika Lake in Brahmagiri taluk, Puri district. p. 1212: two periods, 2nd c. BCE to 5th-6th c. CE and 9th to 19th c. CE; Kharoshthi inscription, knobbed and rouletted ware, Puri-Kushan and Chola coins, Yuan/Ming porcelain.)
    2. Sushanta Kumar Patra, Benudhar Patra. *Archaeology and the Maritime History of Ancient Orissa*. in Orissa Historical Research Journal XLVII. n.d. , pp. 111-112 (Finds list: Chinese celadon and porcelain, rouletted pottery and amphora fragments, knobbed ware, Burmese and Siamese pottery, a Ceylonese coin of Sahassamalla, Indonesian terracotta, egg-white Arabian ware, and a Kharoshthi potsherd read as 'Dasatradeva'.)
    3. Sunil Kumar Patnaik. *Puri: A Study of Early Trade and Pilgrim Routes*. in Odisha Review. 2014a , pp. 104-105 (Excavation seasons 1989-90 and 1992-93; site c. 45 km south of Puri; mounds topped by the 13th-c. Bhabakundaleswar temple; period I 2nd c. BCE to 5th-6th c. CE, period II 9th c. to early 19th c. CE; East India Company copper coins, Mughal and Shah Alam coins, a British medal.)
    4. Sila Tripati, Jyotiranjan S. Ray, Rudra Prasad Behera, Prakash Babu, Milan Kumar Mahala, Murali Kocherla, Vijay Khedekar. *Geochemical provenance of an Indo-Arabian stone anchor from Manikapatna highlights the medieval maritime trade of India*. in Scientific Reports 12. 2022 , Introduction; Sci. Rep. 12:13559 (Confirms OIMSEAS 1989-1993 and Deccan College 2010 excavations, same two phases; a stone anchor near the mosque, 2018-19. Also: 'Chinese ceramic sherds ... of the 13th to 14th century CE ... produced in Fujian and Zhejiang Provinces of China' (pers. comm. Ran Zhang).)
    5. Benudhar Patra. *Ports in Ancient Odisha: Historical Perspective*. in Odisha Review. 2014 , p. 120 (Prints a coordinate for the site: 'Lat. 19 deg 43' 54" N and Long. 85 deg 33' 14" E', in the northern tip of the Chilika Lake, Brahmagiri tahsil, Puri district. Also the Sahassamalla-coin network linking Manikpatna, Polonnaruva and Kotchina (Sumatra), and Maratuan (Burmese) brown glazed ware.)
    6. Duraiswamy Dayalan. *Ancient Seaports on the Eastern Coast of India: The Hub of the Maritime Silk Route Network*. in Acta Via Serica 4. 2019 , offprint p. 23, section 'Manikapatna' (Independently gives 19 deg 43' N; 85 deg 34' E, agreeing with Patra 2014 to the arc-minute. Records Abul Fazl (1595-96) on Manikapatna as a large port where salt tax was collected. Journal pagination not verified.)

  • Palur

    Palur is an old port village near the mouth of the Rushikulya river in south Odisha. People found bits of Chinese and Mediterranean pots there, which shows traders came from far away.

    [Patra, n.d., p. 109]; [Patra, 2014, p. 121]; [Dayalan, 2019, offprint pp. 20-21, section 'Palur']; [Sahu, 2026, Times of India, 1 August 2026]
    1. Sushanta Kumar Patra, Benudhar Patra. *Archaeology and the Maritime History of Ancient Orissa*. in Orissa Historical Research Journal XLVII. n.d. , p. 109 (Prints 'Palur (Lat 19 deg 27' E. and Long 85 deg 11' N.)' with the labels reversed. Exploration by A. Nath (ASI) and K. S. Behera at Palur (Kantigarh) found Chinese celadon, rouletted ware and amphora pieces; K. K. Basa's survey found a possible lighthouse pillar and a stamped boat motif nearby.)
    2. Benudhar Patra. *Ports in Ancient Odisha: Historical Perspective*. in Odisha Review. 2014 , p. 121 (Gerini: Ptolemy's Paloura = modern Palur, 'at Lat. 19 deg 27' N and Long. 85 deg 11' E, just above the mouth of Rushikulya'. Same page: 'On linguistic grounds, S. Levi identifies Dantapura ... and Dandagula of Pliny with Paloura of Ptolemy', citing Indian Antiquary LV (1926), pp. 98-99.)
    3. Duraiswamy Dayalan. *Ancient Seaports on the Eastern Coast of India: The Hub of the Maritime Silk Route Network*. in Acta Via Serica 4. 2019 , offprint pp. 20-21, section 'Palur' ('Palur (19 deg 27' N; 85 deg 11' E), situated in the Ganjam district of Odisha, was mentioned as an important port on the eastern coast of India.' Kantigarh explorations yielded Chinese celadon, rouletted ware and Mediterranean amphora. Journal pagination not verified.)
    4. Diana Sahu. *Digging at Palur reveals thriving maritime hub from pre-Mauryan era*. in The Times of India. 2026 , Times of India, 1 August 2026 ('Nine cultural layers ... nearly three metres ... from the pre-Mauryan period through the Early Historic and Early Medieval phases.' NBPW, knobbed and red polished ware; 363 graffiti sherds; beads. A conference report on the 2023-25 dig, not yet published; 'lends strong support' to Palur=Paloura.)
Scholar notes

Both accounts I could read are by Benudhar Patra (one co-authored), so they are not fully independent works; the tier is held at Probable for that reason. No published typology or fabric study of the sherds was available to me, so date and origin rest on the excavators' identification. The rouletted ware found with them is now generally taken to be Indian-made, so these finds show participation in a long-distance network, not Roman ships in Odisha. What the jars carried is not recorded.

  1. Sushanta Kumar Patra, Benudhar Patra. *Archaeology and the Maritime History of Ancient Orissa*. in Orissa Historical Research Journal XLVII. n.d. , pp. 109, 111 (p. 109: exploration around Palur (Kantigarh) 'unearthed fragments of the Chinese celadon ware, the Roman rouletted ware, amphora pieces etc.'. p. 111: Manikapatna yielded 'Roman rouletted pottery and fragments of amphora'.)
  2. Benudhar Patra. *Ports in Ancient Odisha: Historical Perspective*. in Odisha Review. 2014 , p. 120 ('The discovery of rouletted ware, fragments of amphora etc., indicate its contact with the Roman Empire in the early centuries CE' (Manikapatna).)