Keezhadi excavation site

The excavation was first started in Pallisanthai Thidal which is in the north of Manalur, about a kilometer east of the town of Keezhadi in Sivagangai district. Various archaeological residues were found when plowing the land around the site. A survey was conducted for the study, which found that this ancient settlement was less than two and a half meters below the ground level.[5] The area currently being excavated is spread over 80 acres with a 3.5 km radius. The ancient towns of Kondagai and Manalur are also part of this region.[6]

Initially, this site was estimated to be from the period between 5th century BCE and 3rd century CE. Two samples were sent for carbon dating from this excavation site for confirmation in 2017. The results that came in July 2017 confirmed that the samples were from about 2,200 years ago (3rd century BCE).[7][8] Radiocarbon dating of samples obtained from the fourth phase of excavation revealed that one of the artifacts was from 6th century BCE.[9] In 2017, the ASI sent two samples from Keezhadi to Beta Analytic, a Miami-based radiocarbon dating laboratory. The laboratory dated the samples to be about 2,300 – 2600 years old (from 3rd century BCE).[10] In 2018, six carbon samples collected from the fourth phase of excavation were sent to Beta Analytic in the United States for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) dating. It was found that one sample collected at a depth of 353 cm goes back to 580 BCE.[11]

An archaeological survey was first conducted in 2013, by Archaeological Survey of India, in the vicinity of the Vaigai river from Theni district to Ramanathapuram district where the river meets the sea.[12] During the study, 293 sites, including Keezhadi, were identified to have archaeological residues.[13] The first three phases of excavation at Keezhadi were conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India while the phases after that were conducted by the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department.

Brick wall found in the excavation.

Almost 48 square pits have been cut and various structures and artifacts have been found, including frosts, brick walls, roof tiles, pottery, mimic accessories, skeletal tools, iron Vel, and Tamil-Brahmi letter-etched plates.[16] This place is considered to be Pandyan dynasty's city called "Perumanalur", the pioneer of literature.[28] The use of fired brick, the size of the building complex, an array of pots placed in such a way that it must have been used either as a lamp or for painting, and other findings suggest that the settlement is of a more civilized population than was previously suspected during the Sangam period.[29][30]

Pottery

The rouletted, arretine-type ceramics brought by merchants demonstrate business connections with the Roman Empire. It is noteworthy that such products have been discovered. Furthermore, black and red parchment fragments and white-colored black, red papillae and reddish-pitted pieces have also been unearthed.[34][33] There are Tamil words engraved on the potteries that mention the names of individuals like 'Aathan', 'Uthiran' and 'Thiesan'.[28][35]

Pottery

Keeladi was initially chosen by Amarnath Ramakrishnan and his team at ASI in a search along the banks of Vaigai for the most promising site for a river bank civilization near Madurai and was chosen because of many nearby mounds.

Other sites near Keeladi was jointly brought together with Keeladi as the main site. The Keeladi Cluster includes, Keeladi, Agaram, Manalur, Konthagai (a burial site) and Pasiapuram.[44]

In 2017, some Tamil academicians, including V Arasu (the former head of the Department of Tamil Literature at the University of Madras), alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government had made deliberate attempts to stall the excavations at Keezhadi. Arasu claimed that the BJP government had a Hindutva agenda, and wanted to stop the Keezhadi project because the excavations at the site provided an "undeniable evidence of a secular culture in South India".[45][46]

The ASI normally conducts excavations at a major archaeological site for five seasons (years).[47] In 2016–17, after the conclusion of the second season at Keezhadi, the ASI transferred the Superintending Archaeologist (SA) K. Amarnath Ramakrishna to its Guwahati circle.[48] This caused a controversy in Tamil Nadu, leading to allegations that the ASI had deliberately transferred the SA to stall the project.[49] K. Amarnath Ramakrishna stated that he wanted to complete the excavation work at Keezhadi, and challenged his transfer order before the Central Administrative Tribunal.[48]

The ASI clarified that the transfer was ordered in accordance with the organization's policy, which mandates that the maximum tenure of an SA in a particular circle is only for two years. K Amarnath Ramakrishna had completed more than three years at the Excavation Branch VI, located in Bengaluru, under which the Keezhadi site has been excavated. So, the ASI decided to replace him with P S Sriraman, who had earlier served as a Deputy SA in the Jodhpur circle.[48] K Amarnath Ramakrishna was not the only officer to be transferred; 26 other officers had been transferred all over India. Moreover, the newly appointed SA P S Sriraman was a native of Tamil Nadu.[49]

The Union Ministry also clarified that it had no intention to stop or delay the excavations at Keezhadi. It also explained that there was a delay in allocation of funds for the third season of excavation, because the ministry had not received the report for the work done in the past two years on time. Once the report was submitted, the ministry immediately cleared the funds for the third season of excavations at Keezhadi.[47] The reports of the first two years of research will be released as a book.[50]

The following photographs were taken at the excavation site on 11 October 2016.

• Arikamedu
• Adichanallur archaeological site
• Kodumanal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Keezhadi archeological site.

• Keezhadi