Excavations at Keezhadi of Tamil Nadu connects Indus Valley civilisation

Excavations at Keezhadi of Tamil Nadu connects Indus Valley civilisation

4th phase of excavations at Keezhadi village close to the Vaigai riverbed in Tamil Nadu has found new study about the connection with Indus Valley civilisation.

Excavations at Keezhadi of Tamil Nadu connects Indus Valley civilisation
     Excavations at Keezhadi of Tamil Nadu connects Indus Valley                                                              civilisation.

On Thursday, a 61-page report was released by the Tamil Culture and Archaeology Minister K. Pandiarajan which possibly connects Tamil Nadu with Indus Valley civilisation. Archaeological excavations at Keezhadi village near Madurai have yielded artefacts dating back to 580 BCE. Some of the artefacts were with graffiti marks which are similar to Indus script. More than 15,000 artefacts were found on the site.

These excavations have hinted an alter to the history of South India. Some of the scholars and politicians in Tamil Nadu believe that have descended from the Indus Valley civilisation.

Sangam period of Tamil literature is considered as the golden era for Tamils. The artefacts provide material evidence to the Sangam period. Till date it was believed that the Sangam period was around 600 BCE. But these archaeological findings suggest it might be between 200 BCE and 400 BCE.

Keezhadi excavations findings contradict with some historians theory of Tamil culture and civilisation link to the Vedic culture and civilization.

State Archaelogical Department Secretary T Udayachandran said

It is ‘Vaigai Civilisation’, an indigenous, well developed self-sustaining urban culture with an industry and script, indicating that the people of that era were highly literate. So far we have not come across a religious symbol or deity or anything to indicate to that effect,

Six Carbon samples of the artefacts was conducted at Florida’s BETA Analytic Testing Laboratory in the US for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) dating. While the other experiments and analysis were carried out at Pune based Deccan College PG Research Institute and Italy based Geo Sciences Department of University of Pisa.

Other significant findings during the excavations at Keezhadi include shards and pots of pottery with Tamil Brahmi script, skeletal remains of animal species such as a bull with hump, cow/ox (Bos indicus), buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), sheep (Ovis aries), goat (Capra hircus), nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra), wild boar (Sus scrofa) and peacock (Pavo cristatus),

Apart from animal skeletal remains, sharp weapons made of bones, iron nails and spindles for weaving, comb made of ivory, sharp weapons made of bones and gold ornaments.

The excavations at Keezhadi indicate a sophisticated lifestyle as the construction of houses are facilitated with drainage system and wells with terracotta rings.

The reports published stated

Recovery of 10 spindle whorls, 20 sharply pinpointed bone tip tools used for design creations, hanging stones of the yarn, terracotta spheres, copper needle and earthen vessels to hold liquid clearly attest to the various stages of weaving industry from spinning, yarning, looming and weaving and later for dyeing,

The excavations will enter into the fifth phase soon as there is a nod from the concerned departments. Hence, one can hope that more interesting things may come into light related to Tamil culture and origin.

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