Gudiyam Caves

The Gudiyam Caves are prehistoric rock shelters in Thiruvallur district, close to the Poondi reservoir and around 60 km from Chennai. The British geologist Robert Bruce Foote was the first to identify them, and they are known for the stone tools and traces of early human culture found there. The Archaeological Survey of India excavated the site in 1963 and 1964 and has recorded sixteen such shelters in the Allikulli hills near Poondi.

Evidence points to use of the shelters by Palaeolithic people, and research in the region suggests early hominids moved widely across this landscape some 200,000 years ago. In 2015 the director Ramesh Yanthra made a short documentary named after the caves, and it was shown at the Cannes Film Festival.