Tamil Nadu's Keeladi continues to throw surprise artifacts

A rectangular dice made of ivory. DH photo/E.T.B. Sivapriyan

Weighing 74 grams, the head of a female figurine made of terracotta was unearthed from one of the trenches in the site inside a coconut grove. DH photo/E.T.B. Sivapriyan

This Sangam Era archaeological site, where excavations began for the first time in 2014, continues to throw surprises with a rich cache of artifacts, including an ivory rectangular dice and a female figurine made of terracotta, being unearthed in the eighth phase of the digging that is on the full swing now.

The site has yielded 700 artifacts in total, including a building structure, beads made of terracotta, glass, carnelian, and agate, since February 2022 when the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology (TNSDA) launched the eight phase of excavation. There is no dull moment in Konthagai, part of the Keeladi cluster, as well with over 20 burial urns being found inside the trenches that have so far been dug in the third phase, throwing more evidence that this was probably the burial of the inhabitants of Keeladi.

A grand museum is also being built in this hitherto sleepy town, 12 km from Madurai, where much of the 15,500 artifacts buried deep inside the land will be on display for the public who are expected to flock in huge numbers. Construction of the structure being built at a cost of Rs 12 crore is in the final stages after which the work on setting up the museum will begin, TNSDA officials told DH.

Weighing 74 grams, the head of a female figurine made of terracotta was unearthed from one of the trenches in the site inside a coconut grove in the first week of May, while archaeologists stumbled upon a rectangular dice made of ivory in the initial days of the eighth phase, for the first time since the excavations began in Keeladi.

“Since the last round of excavation is still in the initial stages, we hope to unearth a huge cache of artefacts in Keeladi. We continue to get beads made of different materials reinforcing our belief that the urban settlement that existed on the banks of River Vaigai had vibrant industries. The female figurine is intricately designed,” R Sivanantham, Commissioner, TNSDA and Director of Keeladi excavation, told DH.

“The vibrant industries allowed people to indulge in recreational activities. We have unearthed a rectangular dice made of ivory measuring 4.5 cm in this phase. Such dice were recovered by ASI as well. These are clear indicators of a lively life that ancient Tamils lived,” he added.

The excavation in Keeladi is significant as archaeologists feel the site has the potential to throw up several surprises with carbon dating analysis of artifacts found in the fourth phase dating back to 580 BCE, pushing the literature-rich Sangam Era behind by three centuries than it was thought

In Konthagai, archaeologists have so far found 20 urns in two large trenches they have dug in the past month. “We will know whether the urns are broken or intact only after exposing them. We will have to remove the soil from one-third of the urn to see the exact condition of the urn,” an archaeological officer at the site told DH.

The site yielded 47 urns and 31 urns in the first two phases conducted in 2020 and 2021 respectively. Bones found inside the urns and soil sediments from the bottom of the urns and scrapped sediments from the offering pots are being examined scientifically at the Ancient DNA centre being set up at the Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU).

“The analyses are very important to know the period of these urns. The human DNA will help us establish the period and we say Konthagai was the burial site of Keeladi because it is located just 750 meters diagonally from the coconut groovers of Keeladi. Unearthing more urns will help establish several unknown facts,” Sivanantham added.

Prof. G Kumaresan, Department of Biological Sciences, MKU, said the lab has so far received 30 samples from TNSDA and the work on them has already started. “We have been working on the samples for the past few months and the preliminary findings are encouraging. We are analyzing animal bones to find out their exact species,” he told DH.

Bones, tooth, skull, petrous and other parts of a human skull, paddy husk found in burial urns, and sediments of offering vessels found at burial sites will be subjected to various analyses and studies at the DNA lab, he added.