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Shares 1938
1 of 17 9/23/16, 11:17 PM
A Harappan Site In South India? Ground Report from Keeladi,... http://swarajyamag.com/culture/there-is-no-real-connection-wit...
The green of the coconut grove was a soothing sight in the fierce noon sun
that had started frying Keeladi, near Madurai. Where is the archeology
excavation? I asked an old lady and she pointed me to three tents in one
corner of the plantation. There was sir the Superintending Archaeologist K.
Amarnath Ramakrishna. He is from Bengaluru but his Tamil is good and shows
no accent.
2 of 17 9/23/16, 11:17 PM
A Harappan Site In South India? Ground Report from Keeladi,... http://swarajyamag.com/culture/there-is-no-real-connection-wit...
Sadly, only burial sites have come up so far and not a single settlement in the
proper sense has been excavated, the Superintending Archeologist said. The
reason is places like Madurai where interesting archeological discoveries may
await beneath the surface have had continuous occupation. Today, they are
busy cities. So, you have to depend only on temple inscriptions and literary
evidence.
3 of 17 9/23/16, 11:17 PM
A Harappan Site In South India? Ground Report from Keeladi,... http://swarajyamag.com/culture/there-is-no-real-connection-wit...
than 100 locations along the river bed and small but ancient villages near the
vicinity of the river bank. It was through this methodology they arrived at
Keeladi. And Keeladi did not disappoint them. The central government is
interested in history and archeology and facilitates such projects, otherwise
they often remain pipe dreams for want of funds, Amarnath revealed.
Dr. Vedachalam arrived at the camp as we were talking. Let us look around the
site, he said.
The Vaigai river once flowed here, explained Vedachalam. The archeologists
had to remove plenty of river soil from the depths. Brick making is a cottage
industry that flourishes around this area. This particular place had remained
4 of 17 9/23/16, 11:17 PM
A Harappan Site In South India? Ground Report from Keeladi,... http://swarajyamag.com/culture/there-is-no-real-connection-wit...
under the coconut grove and therefore escaped destruction. Most of the rooms
they had excavated are too small for living, Vedachalam pointed out. There are
ovens not for cooking but for some kind of artisan work.
An oven structure
There are small drainage systems made of terracotta that crisscross the
buildings.. Were they used for draining water or the effluents/formulations
from whatever process they were doing? We do not know.
5 of 17 9/23/16, 11:17 PM
A Harappan Site In South India? Ground Report from Keeladi,... http://swarajyamag.com/culture/there-is-no-real-connection-wit...
There are very small enclosures made of bricks which are too small for people
to live.
6 of 17 9/23/16, 11:17 PM
A Harappan Site In South India? Ground Report from Keeladi,... http://swarajyamag.com/culture/there-is-no-real-connection-wit...
Were the enclosures store houses and this some kind of industrial complex?
Maybe even most probably, Dr. Vedachalam said. The professional
archeologist in him issued a caveat immediately, But never associate todays
housing pattern and habitation style with how it should have been two
thousand years ago.
7 of 17 9/23/16, 11:17 PM
A Harappan Site In South India? Ground Report from Keeladi,... http://swarajyamag.com/culture/there-is-no-real-connection-wit...
Even as we were walking, a father came in with two children. Amarnath told
me that a lot of school children and college students visited the excavations
and that they allowed it. As we were talking, a big pot, almost intact, got
identified in a trench. Some designs on its surface were visible and the
archeologists got to work in all seriousness.
8 of 17 9/23/16, 11:17 PM
A Harappan Site In South India? Ground Report from Keeladi,... http://swarajyamag.com/culture/there-is-no-real-connection-wit...
9 of 17 9/23/16, 11:17 PM
A Harappan Site In South India? Ground Report from Keeladi,... http://swarajyamag.com/culture/there-is-no-real-connection-wit...
I spoke to some of the PhD students assisting in the dig. They were excited.
They did not mind the scorching sun and were making sure that the trenches
allocated with them showed clearly the discoveries made in them.
Phd students from Madras University are involved in supervising trench level
excavations.
Recovered artifacts were being spread neatly and categorized. The work was
proceeding in a systematic and professional manner.
10 of 17 9/23/16, 11:17 PM
A Harappan Site In South India? Ground Report from Keeladi,... http://swarajyamag.com/culture/there-is-no-real-connection-wit...
11 of 17 9/23/16, 11:17 PM
A Harappan Site In South India? Ground Report from Keeladi,... http://swarajyamag.com/culture/there-is-no-real-connection-wit...
The Keeladi excavations and subsequent ones may provide us with a vivid
picture of how the real Sangam society lived. I phoned eminent epigraphist S.
Ramachandran. He pointed out the possibility of this site being related to
some events mentioned in later day Saivaite legends which he explained could
have come from an older core event possibly the South Indian expedition of
Kalinga king Kharavela which he undertook in the eleventh year of his reign
(first century BCE). However, at this stage these are all speculations. A lot of
studies need to be done including carbon testing, study of possible pollen
grains or other such materials from inside the pottery etc.
12 of 17 9/23/16, 11:17 PM
A Harappan Site In South India? Ground Report from Keeladi,... http://swarajyamag.com/culture/there-is-no-real-connection-wit...
heir of the Sangam golden age. The archeologists continued their work
unmindful of this irony.
Shares 1938
Aravindan Neelakandan
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13 of 17 9/23/16, 11:17 PM