links between the Classical Mediterranean and Ancient India. Soon thereafter in 1945, the penultimate year of World War II, he mounted excavations in a scientific manner. He was looking for an archaeological site in India that could establish its cultural link, a datum of the Indian antiquities to the Greco-Roman period, and this quest led him to the Arikamedu site. These excavations also involved Indian archaeologists, who were trained on the site. Wheeler published his findings in 1946. He noted that, for the local fishermen of the village, the antiquities were strange—as they consisted of lamps, glass items, gemstones, cutlery and crockery, wine containers, etc. He also observed that traders traveled from west coast and from Ceylon, Kolchoi (Colchi) and the Ganges area to trade goods such as gems, pearls and spices, and silk. He carried out excavations carefully, so that none of the antiquities were damaged. This was followed by investigations after the war, from 1947 to 1950 by Jean-Marie Casal. His report of excavations was not as fully published as Wheeler's. His report was not well known in India, as it was not written in English. However, his important conclusion was that the site belonged to an early megalithic period, as he had located megalithic burials marked by stones, locally known in Tamil as Pandukal close to the site. The excavations led to antiquities of Roman origin such as beads and gems, amphorae (wine making vats) with remnants of wine, a Roman stamp, big bricks recovered from an old wall, Arretine ware and so forth. From these antiquities Wheeler concluded that the site was related to a period of trading with Rome, and that it was first established by emperor Augustus. He also noted that this Indo-Roman trade lasted for a period of about 200 years, till 200 CE. Wheeler also found the Chinese celadon, identified to belong to the Song-Yuan dynasty, and Chola coins from about the eleventh century, but these were rejected as despoiling items or remnants left by brick-robbers. Items Chinese blue-and-white ware were also recovered from the site. Wheeler noted that "rouletted Ware" found at the site (designated as "Arikamedu Type 1" in the scientific study under the "Arikamedu Type 10 Project: Mapping Early Historic Networks in South Asia and Beyond") was not of an Indian origin, but was from the Mediterranean region. A ceramic sherd, ("Arikamedu Type 10) has also been investigated for