Why is Tamil Nadu's Keezhadi back in news? As ASI seeks rework on excavation report, know twist in the Sangam-era tale

The excavation site at Keezhadi. (Image: Tamil Nadu govt website)

After more than two years after he submitted a 982-page report on the first two phases of the excavation at the Sangam Era site in Keezhadi, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has returned the Keezhadi Excavation Report submitted by archaeologist K Amarnath Ramakrishna and asked him to resubmit the report after making certain corrections.

The communication by the Exploration and Excavation Section of the ASI said the report changes were suggested by two experts who vetted the report to make it “more authentic”.

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. Keezhadi in Sivaganga district was chosen for excavation and artefacts unearthed by the ASI in the second phase of the excavation at Pallichanthai Thidal of Keezhadi pointed to an ancient civilisation that thrived on the banks of the Vaigai.

Carbon dating of charcoal found at the Keezhadi 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?

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

In its latest 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 Keezhadi 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 latest ASI letter, several leaders in Tamil Nadu have 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 Keezhadi."

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.