Excavations in Keeladi

Archaeologists have been busy digging out the treasures

buried in Keeladi, a village in Sivaganga district of Tamil
Nadu, and historians and anthropologists are now
interpreting the rich finds from the Sangam era. This is
the fifth phase of excavations, and it has revealed many
more artefacts and engineering designs. The fourth phase
had established that the antiquities unearthed here could
date from the 6th century BCE to the 1st century CE.

The present phase has shed more light, particularly on

the advanced engineering techniques used then,
“establishing that there was a culture and civilisation” in
the region, as one archaeologist puts it. This is the first
time that such a large-scale excavation on a ‘habitational
mount’ has been carried out in Tamil Nadu. The
excavations offer insights into engineering techniques
that are more than 2,000 years ago. As the Tamil Nadu
Archaeology Department’s experts dug around the site
based on a geomagnetism survey, they stumbled upon a
closed bridge channel enclosed on four sides with bricks
of various sizes. “Whoever built this seems to have had a
very good sense of engineering. There are terracotta
pipes in the pits that we dug; they could have used these
pipes but they created a curved structure with bricks
alone to create a closed channel. This would have allowed
them to control the flow of water and make sure the
channel did not collapse due to the force of water,” said
an official from the team.

Among the findings is an orange carnelian bead engraved

with the image of a wild boar. Carnelian stones, from the
quartz family, are not found in Tamil Nadu, but in the
north-western parts of India. The engraved bead could
date back 2,000 years, the official said, but further
studies are needed to confirm it. It hinted at the
possibility of an ancient north-south trade link. “This is
like a signature bead. The wild boar may be a totem
symbol. In the 2018 excavations, we had found some
bones, one of which was that of a wild boar. It is likely
there is a connection.” Spot of history: An aerial view of
the Keeladi excavation site spread over nearly five acres
in Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu. The fifth phase of
excavations is coming to an end. More than 10,000
artefacts have been unearthed by the Archaeological
Survey of India and the Tamil Nadu Archaeology
Department across the five phases. Keeladi is one of the
most important archaeological sites discovered in south
India.