1. Excavations
     Controversy 

2. Period

3. Archaeological findings
     Artifacts found  

4. See also

5. Notes and references

Keeladi, also spelled Keezhadi, is a small village near Silaiman on the border between Madurai and Sivagangai districts in Tamil Nadu, India.

An Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) excavation in Keeladi revealed a Sangam era settlement dated to the 2nd century BCE by radiocarbon dating.^[1] The Roman artifacts found at the site add to the evidence of ancient trade relations between the Romans and the Pandya kingdom.^[2]

Excavations

Since 2013, archaeological excavation has been carried out from Theni to Ramanathapuram along the banks of the Vaigai.^[3] An estimated 293 sites have been identified including Keeladi.^[4] In March 2016, a group of archaeologists from Excavation Branch VI of the Archaeological Survey of India was able to excavate a major settlement at Keeladi, which appears to have been an industrial or commercially important settlement area near Keezhadi. The settlement is estimated to have covered around eighty acres Tamil culture.

Controversy

In 2017, some Tamil academics, including V Arasu (the former head of department of Tamil Literature at the University of Madras), alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government made deliberate attempts to stall the excavations at Keezhadi. Arasu claimed that the BJP government had a Hindutva agenda, and wanted to stop the Keezhadi project because the excavations at the site provided an "undeniable evidence of a secular culture in South India".^[5][6]

The ASI normally conducts excavations at a major archaeological site for five seasons (years).^[7] In 2016-17, after the conclusion of the second season at Keeladi, the ASI transferred the Superintending Archaeologist (SA) K Amarnath Ramakrishna to its Guwahati circle.^[8] This caused a controversy in Tamil Nadu, leading to allegations that the ASI had deliberately transferred the SA to stall the project.^[9] K Amarnath Ramakrishna stated that he wanted to complete the excavation work at Keeladi, and challenged his transfer order before the Central Administrative Tribunal.^[8]

The ASI clarified that the transfer was ordered in accordance with the organization's policy, which mandates that the maximum tenure of an SA in a particular circle is only for two years. K Amarnath Ramakrishna had completed more than three years at the Bengaluru circle, under which the Keeladi site comes. So, ASI decided to replace him with P S Sriraman, who had earlier served as a Deputy SA in the Jodhpur circle.^[8] K Amarnath Ramakrishna was not the only officer to be transferred: 26 other officers had been transferred all over India. Moreover, the newly-appointed SA P S Sriraman was a native of Tamil Nadu.^[9]

The Union Ministry also clarified that it had no intention to stop or delay the excavacations at Keeladi. It also explained that there was a delay in allocation of funds for the third season of excavation, because the Ministry had not received the report for the work done in past two years on time. Once the report was submitted, the Ministry immediately cleared the funds for the third season of excavations at Keeladi.^[7] The reports of first two years of research will be released as a book.^[10]

Period

In 2017, the ASI sent two samples from Keeladi to Beta Analytic, a Miami-based radiocarbon dating laboratory. The laboratory dated the samples between 2,160+30 years ago and 2,200+30 years ago.^[1]

Archaeological findings

Since 2013, archaeological excavation has been carried out from Theni to Ramanathapuram along the banks of the Vaigai.^[3] An estimated 293 sites have been identified including temples, ports, small settlements and commercial sites.^[4] In March 2016, a group of archaeologists from Excavation Branch VI of the Archaeological Survey of India was able to excavate a major settlement which appears to have been an industrial or commercially important settlement area near Keezhadi. The settlement is estimated to have covered around eighty acres Tamil culture

The use of fired brick, the size of the building complex, an array of pots placed in such a way that it must have been used either as a lamp or for painting, and other finds suggest that the settlement is of a more civilized population than was previously suspected during the Sangam period.^[11][12]

72 potsherds with Tamil Brahmi script were discovered at the site. These bear Tamil names such as Iyanan, Uthiran, Vendhan, Santhanavathi and Saathan.^[1]

Artifacts found

• Stone celts found in the trenches. These were used for sharpening tools and, according to ASI archaeologists.
• Terracotta structures depicting earlobes
• Circular and square Chola- and Pandya-period coins.
• Ivory structures depicting earlobes
• Chess games made of ivory.
• A copper-antimony rod and a ring, bangles and beads made of copper.
• Arrowheads made of iron and bone.
• Tiny bi-conical gold beads.
• Iron implements such as forceps/thongs, nails, spearheads,knives, daggers, arrowheads and Celts.
• A copper coin belonging to Pandya period
• Gold ornament

See also

• Pallichandai Silaiman, a village near Keeladi, and the location of the dargah of Salar Sha Shaheed

Notes and references

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