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The big scoop: The Archaeological Survey of India s excavation site in Keezhadi village, near Madurai. Photo: Sibi Arasu A l An archaeological site near Madurai, in Tamil Nadu, promises to unearth evidence Every time the people in Keezhadi tilled their fields, dug trenches to plant coconu in any way at all, they were puzzled at the numerous shards of pottery that showe city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu, did not think much of it. For the staff of the Archa scouting for any information on potential dig sites along the Vaigai river, this wa Gold. We were surveying for over two years before we finally heard of Keezhadi, says superintending archaeologist, when we meet at Pallichandai Thidal, a coconut gr breeze blowing at the height of summer wasn t the only thing out of the ordinary 53 trenches, each 10x10 ft, buzzing with nearly 60 people digging carefully, collec clues to life from an ancient era. This is the site that promises to become one of s discoveries. Tamil Nadu s Harappa? Based on the finds so far, it won t be right to compare Keezhadi to Harappa, say supervisor involved with the project for the last few years. Even if what we re fin 2 of 5 9/24/16, 12:23 AM
think it is, that dates the site back to 500 BCE. That s still at least a millennium a civilisation (2600 1600 BCE). Maybe because of the lack of other equivalent site comparing it to the Indus sites. Ramakrishna and his team had conducted an extensive survey along the Vaigai r districts of Theni, Dindigul, Madurai, Sivagangai and Ramanathapuram all of to meet the Bay of Bengal in the village of Atrangarai. We surveyed villages locat on either side of the Vaigai river and managed to zero in on 293 archaeological si In the late 70s, a school headmaster in Keezhadi had found terracotta artefacts i noted epigraphist V Vedachalam had visited the site after a tip-off from the teach archaeologists radar. They had also earlier discovered an ancient burial ground a When Vedachalam revisited the site in 2014 along with the ASI team, they found An earthmover working in a coconut grove had hit against the structure just a fe lying there all along. That was incredible, informs Ramakrishna. With enough evidence pointing to a major discovery, the ASI team began the firs We dug 42 trenches from March till September last year and almost every one o amazing, says Ramakrishna. The finds included structures made of large-sized b with engravings, pearl micro-beads and terracotta figurines. Reaping larger-than managed to renew funding for another year s dig and the second round began ear Hitting gold The find turned out to be even more incredible metal objects, spearheads, blac antimony rod, a dice, terracotta figurines that may have been chess pieces, nails, besides the thousands of potsherds, including some with Tamil Brahmi (an early Interestingly, the practice of etching one s name on kitchen utensils continues ev The most spectacular finds are the brick structures. Some appear to be canals, ot there is one that seems to be a furnace. It s still really early days and we don t wi we re sending it to be carbon-dated... and we re just documenting everything met While Keezhadi is the first major habitation site discovered in southern Tamil Na Sangam age, there are several other archaeological sites in the state, including so 3 of 5 9/24/16, 12:23 AM
Arikamedu in Puducherry, Kaveripoompattinam or Poompuhar in Nagapattinam district, and Mahabalipuram have all provided clues, which when combined with at the existence of a vibrant civilisation in these parts 2,000 years ago. It s too early to come to a conclusion, but the magnitude of the architecture sugg settlement along the Vaigai river, says Pondicherry University professor K Rajan keeps a close watch on the developments in the field. Keezhadi s finds and the results to come are bound to be encouraging. It might p at many of the other 500-odd archaeologically important sites across the state. Landowners pride At the Pallichandai Thidal coconut grove, excavations are on at full steam and the involved. Most of the labourers at the site are locals, who now have a steady sour readily leasing out plots for the excavations, as they believe the ASI project is brin land. There are about 3,000 people in our village. While we always found it stra potsherds earlier, now we finally know what it means. I m really happy that evide found in my land and I hope the archaeologists continue their work. I ve told the they need to, says 80-year-old landowner Sonaisami, who has leased out a part o Ramakrishna and team will continue the current round of excavation until Septe he hopes to return next year and continue from where they leave off. I ve had th archaeological sites such as Raakhigarhi (a Harappan site in Haryana) and Shrav While those were amazing, to find such archaeological wonder just 100 km from satisfaction, he says. Alongside the jubilation, there are ambitions aplenty too. As great as the Tamil civilisation is, there is a woeful lack of archaeological evide is the beginning of a magnificent discovery for decades to come. In certain trench society and culture predating even the Sangam age might be found... one never k up. Sibi Arasu is an independent journalist based in Chennai (This article was published on July 8, 2016) MORE FROM BUSINESS LINE 4 of 5 9/24/16, 12:23 AM
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