Keeladi/ Keezhadi
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Historical legacy
Harappa-like site
The Times of India, May 30 2016
Arockiaraj Johnbosco
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Harappa-like site unearthed in Tamil Nadu
With structure after structure surfacing from under the soil, the massive scale of an ancient urban centre that lies buried at Pallisanthai Thidal in Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu is emerging. The second phase of the work undertaken by excavation branch VI, Bangalore, of the Archaeological Survey of India suggests that the settlement at Keeladi village could be as large as the ones in Harappa and Mohenjo Daro. The excavations reveal a well-built urban centre with many amenities.
After exploration works on the Vaigai riverbed in 2013-14, the office of the superintending archaeologist, excavation branch VI in Bangalore, shortlisted Keeladi village for excavation. The first phase of the study carried out in 2015 unearthed various antiquities, iron implements and earthenware, both foreign and locally made. The pot shreds of Arretine dating back to 3 BC proved foreign trade existed in the region during the period.
As the phase I study concluded that this was an ancient urban habitation site, the ASI went for the next phase of excavation at Keeladi. According to archaeologists wor king at the site, the results of phase II in 53 excavation trenches are overwhelming. “, The mound where we are excavating is of 3.5 km circumference in 80 acres of private agricultural land. We are finding structure after structure of the habitation site, the first of its kind in Tamil Nadu. It could be a huge urban settlement of independent civilisation on the banks of the Vaigai,“ said K Amarnath Ramakrishna, superintending archaeologist.
The current excavation works will go on till September this year. The excavation is lending much credence to the narrative in Sangam literature that throws light on the ancient Tamil way of life. The literature speaks volumes about the public and personal lives of rulers and the people of Tamil Nadu some 2000 or more years ago. However, there had been no solid evidence in archaeology to support the Sangam way of life.
Madurai Kanchi, Nedunalvadai and Paripadal in the literature speak about the Madurai and Pandya kingdoms in the region. “These books talk about the personal lives of kings and queens, their palaces and their way of life. But we could not know exactly where the city mentioned in these texts existed,“ says Vedachalam.
Artefacts excavated
The Hindu, November 16, 2016
The Madras High Court Bench asked the Archaeological Survey of India to explain why the artefacts excavated from Pallichanthai Thidal of Keezhadi in the Sivaganga district should not be taken to its Chennai Circle office, instead of the Bengalaru Circle Office, for scientific cleaning, analysis and detailed documentation of the antiquities.
A Division Bench of Justices S. Nagamuthu and M.V. Muralidaran passed the interim order on a public interest litigation petition to prevent the ASI from taking away the artefacts to Karnataka, filed and argued in person by lawyer Kanimozhi Mathi.
The judges also directed the Director General of ASI to consider the plea for establishing a site museum at Keezhadi and inform the decision to the court, possibly by November 24, 2016 itself.
The orders were passed after recording the submission of the Tamil Nadu government that it had already made a commitment to provide 72 cents of land for the establishment of a site museum, and was ready to provide even more, if required.
However, in his counter-affidavit, K. Amarnath Ramakrishna, Superintending Archaeologist, ASI, Excavation Branch-VI, Bengaluru, said the establishment of the site museum was a policy matter that could be taken only at the highest level.
‘National property’
Replying to the petitioner’s contention that the artefacts reveal the existence of an ancient Tamil civilisation and thus should not be moved outside the State, Mr. Ramakrishna said: “I submit that the excavated remains at Keezhadi can better be named and referred to as ‘National Heritage’ rather than calling it the pride of the Tamil community... Any antiquity or material retrieved from archaeological excavations are national property.”
“The objective of the exploration was to ascertain a suitable site for the systematic excavation to understand the cultural transformation of early historic Tamil Nadu,” he said.
Pointing out that the excavation work for the second season was stopped on September 30, he said the approval for the third season (2016-17) was yet to be received from the Director General’s office. Fearing for the safety of the antiquities if they were continued to be stored at the camp site at Keezhadi, he said they could be documented only if they were taken to the Bengaluru Circle Office and subjected to scientific cleaning and analysis.
Artefacts belong to Sangam era
Samples sent from archaeological excavations at Keezhadi have been identified as nearly 2,200 years old
For several years, experts had surmised that the archaeological site at Keezhadi in Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu dates back to the Sangam era.
Now, carbon dating has confirmed that two samples sent from the site are indeed nearly 2,200 years old.
The Keezhadi dig that started in 2013 provides archaeological evidence of ancient Tamil life that has so far been known largely from texts like Sangam literature.
While replying to DMK MP Kanimozhi in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, the Union Ministry of Culture informed the Upper House that the Archaeological Survey of India had sent two carbon samples from Keezhadi for carbon dating to Beta Analytic Inc., Florida, USA.
Historical calendarcol
“Radio Carbon dating suggests that the samples go back to 2,160+30 years and 2,200+30 years,” stated the Ministry.
Archaeologists found deposits up to 4.5 metres deep and the samples (of carbon elements) sent for carbon dating were from the middle part – i.e. 2 metres, says ASI’s Superintending Archaeologist K. Amarnath Ramakrishna in Guwahati who led the excavations in Keezhadi earlier.
“We can now say for sure that the samples were from 3rd century BC,” says Mr. Ramakrishna.
Major find
Unlike many other archaeological sites excavated in Tamil Nadu, Keezhadi is a major habitation site.
“The last time habitation sites were excavated in Tamil Nadu was at Arikamedu. We zeroed in on Keezhadi after studying both banks of Vaigai river through its entire stretch from Western Ghats till the point it reaches the Bay of Bengal,” he says.
A total of 72 potsherds with Tamil Brahmi script were found at Keezhadi which had several Tamil names.
“Iyanan, Uthiran, Vendhan, Santhanavathi and Saathan were some of the Tamil names found,” he says. When asked whether the Archaeological Survey of India was planning to set up any museum at Keezhadi, Superintending Archaeologist of Chennai Circle A.M.V. Subramanyam said such policy decisions have to be taken at New Delhi.
Nanotechnology
Older than the Damascus blades
Chandrima Banerjee, November 27, 2020: The Times of India
‘World’s first use of nanotech was in India, 2,600 yrs ago’
Five years ago, in a nondescript village some 450km from Chennai, were found the remains of a city that went back to the 3rd-6th century BCE. Now, in broken pieces of pottery from the excavation site, Keeladi, scientists have stumbled upon the world’s first known use of nanotechnology, over 2,600 years ago. The findings have been documented in a paper published in ‘Nature’ this month, reports Chandrima Banerjee.
“Before this, the oldest known carbon nanostructures were found in Damascus blades from the 16th-18th century CE,” corresponding author of the paper, Dr Nagaboopathy Mohan, told TOI. The Damascus blades, in fact, were also made in India. “The technique for coating used in Damascus blades appears to have been known only to Indians,” Mohan added, referring to a paper in ‘Nature’ about this. Before that, gold and silver nanoparticles were found in Islamic pottery from the 7th-8th century CE and in the Roman Lycurgus Cup from the 4th century CE.
This pushes the oldest known use of nanotechnology back by a thousand years.
Carbon nanotubes are tubes of carbon that are a billionth of a metre in diameter. Their occurrence was discovered in 1991 by Japanese scientist Sumio Iijima. Since then, researchers have come up with many ways to synthesise it. The most common method is chemical vapour deposition, Mohan explained, involving a complex process with high temperatures from 800°C.
