ASI seeks report on Keeladi's third phase of excavation: Why unearthing site near Madurai gained prominence

Months after asking K Amarnath Ramakrishna to “rework” his detailed report on the first two phases of excavation at Keeladi in Sivaganga district, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has now sought a detailed report on the third phase of excavation from retired Superintending Archaeologist P S Sriraman.

Back in 2017, ASI had halted the excavation after Sriraman said there were no significant findings during the third phase.

According to official sources in the ASI, the agency has permitted Mr. Sriraman, who retired in 2019, to prepare reports on the third phase of excavations at Keeladi and one season of excavations at Kodumanal in Erode district, which he led, according to a report by The Hindu.

While speaking to The Hindu, Sriraman confirmed that he had sought permission from the ASI to write the reports on excavations at Keeladi and Kodumanal.

“As I had retired, both reports were pending. I sought the approval of the ASI to access the material and prepare the reports. Since all the related materials are in Chennai, I will begin preparing the reports soon,” he said.

This comes a couple of months after the ASI asked archaeologist K. Amarnath Ramakrishna, who unearthed an ancient civilisation during the first two phases of excavations at Keeladi, to revise and resubmit his report with necessary corrections.

However, he refused to do so, and defended his conclusions as well-reasoned, according to The Hindu.

While 5,800 artefacts were unearthed from the first two phases of excavations in Keeladi, about 14,000 artefacts have been recovered by the TNSDA between 2017 and 2025.

What is the Keezhadi excavation site?

In 2013-14, the ASI carried out explorations in 293 sites along the Vaigai river valley in Theni, Dindigul, Madurai, Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram districts in Tamil Nadu. Keeladi in Sivaganga district was chosen for excavation and artefacts unearthed by the ASI in the second phase of the excavation at Pallichanthai Thidal of Keeladi pointed to an ancient civilisation that thrived on the banks of the Vaigai.

Carbon dating of charcoal found at the Keeladi site in February 2017 established that the settlement there belonged to 200 BC. The excavations thus proved that urban civilisation had existed in Tamil Nadu since the Sangam age.

What were the report findings?

Ramakrishna, who conducted extensive digging that began in 2014 and oversaw the first two phases of the excavation, studied the ancientness of the objects through Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) and prepared a 982-page report.

The findings brought a lot of focus as it provided evidence to indicate that the Sangam Age could be pushed back to 800 BCE, around 300-500 years older than what was earlier thought.

The findings of the excavations, that also unearthed iron age material, had suggested that that an urban civilisation existed in Tamil Nadu in the Sangam age on the banks of the Vaigai river.

Ramakrishna sent the report to the Director General of ASI on January 30, 2023. Earlier, before he could send his report, Ramakrishna was transferred to Assam in 2017 and now, he is working as Director, Antiquities.

Why is it back in focus?

Keeladi has become one of the most politicized archaeological sites in South India, with the BJP and DMK frequently sparring over its significance.

More than two years after Ramakrishna submitted a report on the findings, in a letter, the ASI told archaeologist him to make the report “more authentic” and that two experts had suggested corrections, reported The Hindu.

In another letter the ASI stated that three periods require proper nomenclature or re-orientation, and the time bracket of 8th century BCE to 5th century BCE for Period I requires concrete justification.

“The other two periods also must be determined based on scientific AMS dates and the material recovered with stratigraphical details. The date of the earliest period, in the present state of our knowledge, appears to be very early. It can be, at the maximum, somewhere in pre-300 BCE,” said the ASI.

It had informed Ramakrishna that only mentioning depth for the available scientific dates was not enough; the layer number should also be marked for comparative consistency analysis.

Ramakrishna was transferred out of Keeladi in 2017, a move seen by the opposition parties as BJP’s efforts to suppress the historical evidence emerging from the site, according to a report by The New Indian Express. The excavations were later taken up by the Tamil Nadu State Archaeology Department.

The move was allegedly a perceived attempt to play down the excavation findings.

Following the ASI letter, several leaders in Tamil Nadu alleged that the BJP-led Union government is trying to suppress information about the ancient Tamil civilisation that had flourished on the banks of the Vaigai river.

Condemning the development, CPM MP from Madurai Parliamentary constituency and well-known Tamil writer Su Venkatesan, in a statement, said "BJP remains an adversary to Tamil Nadu's antiquity and the truth of Keeladi."

R Balakrishnan, Chairman, International Institute of Tamil Studies, who authored the book - Journey of a Civilisation: Indus to Vaigai - told The Hindu, “We are distressed by the fact that the report of an excavation done 10 years back is still facing roadblocks."

“Not digging adequately is considered a tragedy, not letting the reports come out is a greater tragedy. It is simply pathetic,” he said, The Hindu reported.