Since antiquity, sedimentary deposits led to gradual changes in the coastal area around the delta of the Tambraparni River in South India. Many of the lagoons at the mouth of the river silted up and the coast line slowly shifted outward, to the east. The famous port and trading centre of Korkai (Colchoi, etc.), mentioned by Ptolemeus and others, literally dried up and, over the years, a new site emerged to replace it. 1 This new site, about four kilometres to the northeast of Korkai, was Kayal (Cael, Cail, etc.), later also called Palayakayal (ie Old Kayal or" Old Lagoon"). Little is known about the history of Old Kayal but it apparently flourished in the thirteenth and fourteenth century. Marco Polo described Old Kayal as a rich port which" all ships touch that come from the west, as from Hormos and from Kis and from Aden, and all Arabia". 2 At the end of the thirteenth century Kayal imported thousands of horses from