Keeladi

Keeladi
கீழடி
Keezhadi, Keelady
village
Keezhadi archeological site
Archaeological site
Keeladi
Location in Tamil Nadu, India
Keeladi
Keeladi (Tamil Nadu)
Coordinates: 9°51′47″N 78°10′56″E / 9.8630727°N 78.1820931°E / 9.8630727; 78.1820931Coordinates: 9°51′47″N 78°10′56″E / 9.8630727°N 78.1820931°E / 9.8630727; 78.1820931
Country India
State Tamil Nadu
District Sivagangai
Block Thirupuvanam
Government
 • Body Panchayat
Elevation 123 m (404 ft)
Population (2011)
 • Total 5,140
Time zone UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN 630611
Telephone code 0452
Lok Sabha constituency Sivagangai

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 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 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

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 3 Dennis S. Jesudasan (28 July 2017). "Carbon dating confirms T.N. site is from Sangam era". The Hindu.
  2. ↑ Annamalai, S. (18 June 2015). "Uncovered: Pandyas-Romans trade link". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 30 May 2016.
  3. 1 2 "'Sangam-era site at Keezhadi is as complex as Indus Valley, proof of a glorious Tamil civilisation'".
  4. 1 2 "Keezhadi excavation: what was found and what they mean". The Hindu. 13 June 2017.
  5. ↑ Priyanka Thirumurthy (7 November 2017). "Keezhadi dig delayed as it reveals secular culture says academic, TN minister denies". The News Minute.
  6. ↑ M T Saju (2 November 2017). "'Centre stopped Keezhadi dig due to place's secular culture'". The Times of India.
  7. 1 2 Rajasekaran RK (29 April 2017). "Centre not for stopping excavation at Keezhadi: Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma". New Indian Express.
  8. 1 2 3 Rajasekaran R K. "Transfer of Keezhadi excavation site archaeologist final, says ASI". 24 April 2017.
  9. 1 2 Padmini Sivarajah (28 April 2017). "Keeladi excavation will be completed in five years, Union minister says". The Times of India.
  10. ↑ கீழடி அகழ்வாராய்ச்சி பணிகள் 5 ஆண்டுகளுக்கு நீடிக்கும்.. ரூ.40 லட்சம் நிதி ஒதுக்கீடு- மத்திய அமைச்சர்
  11. ↑ Johnbosco, Arockiaraj (29 May 2016). "Harappa-like site surfaces in Tamil Nadu". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 30 May 2016.
  12. ↑ "சங்க காலத்திலேயே வெளிநாடுகளோடு வர்த்தகம்: வணிகப் பெருவழிப் பாதையில் அமைந்த நகரம்" [Associated with Overseas Trade: Traderoute within City Pandyas]. The Hindu (in Tamil). 26 July 2015.
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