CultureContemporary Tamil Nadu
Keezhadi excavation report dates Sangam-era settlement
· Keezhadi
The Tamil Nadu archaeology department reported that finds at Keezhadi near Madurai date to about the 6th century BCE.
Excavations at Keezhadi in Sivaganga district, near Madurai, were begun by the Archaeological Survey of India in 2015 under K. Amarnath Ramakrishna and later continued by the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology. In September 2019 the state department published a report dating some finds to about the 6th century BCE, suggesting an urban settlement in the Vaigai valley and early literacy in Tamil-Brahmi script. The findings strengthened claims about the antiquity of Sangam-era urban culture. Disputes later arose between the state and the ASI over the publication of the earlier excavation reports.
