Archaeological excavation at Keeladi, Sivagalai to resume in 2022

The Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology has sought permission to resume or start excavations in seven locations in 2022

If all goes well, the archaeological excavations at Keeladi and Sivagalai, where findings so far have created a huge buzz, will enter their eighth and third phase respectively in January 2022 as the Tamil Nadu government makes a push to explore the “past glory” of Tamils.

The Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology (TNSDA) has sought permission to resume or start excavations in seven locations in 2022 from the Central Advisory Board for Archaeology (CABA), which is likely to give its approval by December end.

TNSDA has sought permission for resuming the excavations in Keeladi (eighth phase), Sivagalai (third phase), Gangaikondacholapuram (2nd phase), and Mayiladumparai (2nd phase). The previous phase in these sites ended in September this year after which permission for resuming the excavation has been sought, a top TNSDA official said.

He added that the nod to begin excavations in Vembakottai, Thulukarpatti and Perumbalai for the first time has also been sought from the CABA.

“The CABA will take a call on granting permission. We have submitted the required documents. Once the permission is granted, we will launch the excavation work a week after Pongal which falls on January 14. The excavation work usually goes on till September,” the official said. He added that the excavations go on for the first nine to ten months of the year and the remaining time is used to write reports on the exercise and its findings.

The archaeological findings have created a buzz with researchers and archaeologists in Tamil Nadu calling them significant as they “narrow down” the gap between the Tamil urban settlements and the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC). However, they say “more evidence” should be forthcoming before arriving at a definite conclusion.

TNSDA took over the Keeladi excavation in 2017 (from the fourth phase) following a surprise announcement by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) that there was “no significant finding” from the site during the third phase after unearthing over 5,000 artefacts in the first two phases.

The findings in Keeladi — carbon dating of artefacts found in the fourth phase revealed that they dated back 2,600 years pushing the Sangam Era behind by at least 300 years — encouraged the TNSDA under the then AIADMK government to launch the excavation in many sites.

During the second phase of excavation at Sivagalai in Thoothukudi district in 2021, carbon dating of rice husks found in a burial urn dated back to 3,200 years old. The new DMK government gave much-needed impetus to the TNSDA by allotting “enough funds”.

The Keeladi cluster includes Agaram and Konthagai, a habitation and burial site respectively. Sediments scrapped from the burial urns and skeletons found from the site have been sent for carbon dating and DNA analysis for further studies.

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