TN govt commences archaeological digs at 8 sites to ‘rewrite’ India’s history from Tamil landscape

Chief minister M K Stalin launched the archaeological excavations via videoconferencing from the state secretariat in Chennai.

Tamil Nadu on Tuesday launched its ambitious archaeological excavations in four existing sites, including the Sangam Era’s Keeladi, and fresh digging at four new sites as part of its efforts to “scientifically prove” that India’s history should be rewritten from the Tamil landscape.
Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin

Keeladi, the Sangam Era site 12 km south-east of Madurai dated to be at least 2,600 years old with a thriving industrialised settlement on the banks of Vaigai river, Kilnamandi (Tiruvannamalai), Vembakottai (Virudhunagar), and Porpanai Kottai (Pudukkottai) are the four existing site where excavations will continue in different phases, a statement from the government said.
Chennanur in Krishnagiri district, Kongalnagaram (Tiruppur), Marungur (Cuddalore), and Thirumalpuram (Tenkasi), are the four new sites.

Chief minister M K Stalin launched the archaeological excavations via videoconferencing from the state secretariat in Chennai. These excavations were approved by the Central Advisory Board for Archaeology (CABA) earlier this year. However, the digging couldn’t happen due to model code of conduct enforced for the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls

One of the significant findings last year was the discovery of 2,030 graffiti marks, including four with Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions, from Thulukkarpatti in Tirunelveli district. Scientific dates obtained through Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) dating of samples collected from archaeological sites excavated by the Tamil Nadu state department of archaeology (TNSDA) have pushed the origin of Tamili (Tamil-Brahmi) script by hundred years to 7th century BCE. The state government is embarking on a comparative study of the graffiti marks, potsherds, with those from the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC).

Artefacts unearthed in Keeladi pushed the Sangam era to 600 BCE from 300 BCE, rice husks found in a burial urn in Sivakalai was found to be 3,200 years old, and that Tamils were aware of iron technology in 2172 BCE, 4,200 years ago. The carbon dating pushed the Sangam era by three hundred years that it was thought to be.

During the 2022-2023 season where digging was conducted in eight locations, nearly 10,000 antiquities, including terracotta figurines, glass beads, carnelian beads, iron tools, a tiger miniature made in bronze, gold, and punch-mark coins, were unearthed.

“We still have a long way to go to fill in the cultural and chronological gaps in our glorious, long history with recent archaeological achievements,” the government’s statement read.

Following the launch, the archaeological excavation entered its 10th phase in Keeladi, while it entered its third phase in Vembakottai, and second phase in Kilnamandi, and Porpanaikottai.The officials said that archaeologists will look for evidence of high tin bronze in Thirumalapuram, Iron Age in Marungur, and Neolithic period in Chennanur.


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