KANNUR, INDIA—Laborers digging a trench for electricity cables for a light-and-sound show at Fort St. Angelo discovered more than 39,000 cannonballs that had been discarded in four pits. The fort, located in southern India on the coast of the Arabian Sea, was constructed by the Portuguese in 1505. “We are not sure whether such a huge stock has ever been unearthed from anywhere in the world and we have to corroborate with evidences from history to find out why such a huge quantity was dumped in the pits, thus making sure it would not be reused,” archaeologist T. Sreelakshmi of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) told The Times of India. “It is a long process to clean and chemically treat the cannonballs, which might take a few weeks, before which we would not be able to tell anything about the history,” added ASI archaeologist C. Kumaran. To read about the medieval Indian city of Hampi, go to "Living Heritage at Risk."
