MADURAI: Chief minister M K Stalin on Friday inaugurated excavations by the state archaeology department at various sites including Keeladi in Sivaganga district where work on the eighth phase will take off.
The other projects are the third phase excavation at Sivagalai in Tuticorin district, first phase work at Vembakottai in Virudhunagar district and Thulukkarpatti in Tirunelveli district. A sum of Rs five crore has been set apart this year for excavation at seven places including these four.
The eighth phase of excavation at Keeladi and its cluster villages of Konthagai, Manalur and Agaram would work towards identifying the continuation of brick structures found in the earlier excavations. It would focus on finding evidence of trade connections that Keeladi had with different parts of India and other nations and also more evidence of the urban civilization which flourished on the banks of Vaigai river. Keeladi disproved a theory that Tamil Nadu did not have a riverbed civilization as in the case of Ganges. In addition, it has been proven that the people who lived there were literate as early as in the 6th century BCE.
In the third phase excavation at Sivagalai, archaeologists would try to find more evidence for the existence of a 3,200-year-old civilization on the banks of Porunai (Thamirabarini) river. Scientific analysis of dehusked paddy grains found in Sivagalai has fixed the age at 3,200 years. Thulukkarpatti is situated about six kilometres to the southeast of Valliyoor in Tirunelveli district.
