ASI Seeks Revised Report on TN Excavations

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has challenged the dating and classification of key discoveries from Tamil Nadu's Keeladi excavations, asking its officer to carry out extensive revisions to a report that underpins the state government's, and of rival Dravidian parties', claims about ancient Tamil civilisation.

- Divya Chandrababu

CHENNAI:

In a May 21 letter, ASI asked K Amarnath Ramakrishna—who led the first two phases of excavations at the site—to rework his 982-page findings submitted in January 2023. The central agency said two experts vetted the report and suggested five corrections to make it "more authentic."

ASI questioned his classification of three historical periods and suggested the earliest dating was "very early," placing it "at maximum, somewhere in pre-300 BCE"—significantly more recent than claims supporting Tamil Nadu's narrative.

The intervention strikes at what has become a core issue of an escalating political conflict over Keeladi, a site near Madurai that has become central to the ruling DMK government's campaign to establish an ancient history of Tamil civilisation.

Ramkrishna did not respond to HT's request for a comment on the matter.

Ramakrishna led ASI's initial excavations at Keeladi from 2015-2017, finding artifacts that appeared are now key to chief minister MK Stalin's contention that Tamil civilisation is thousands of years older than traditionally believed and contemporaneous with major ancient civilisations like the Indus Valley.