The government of Tamil Nadu will begin excavation works at Adichanallur (Thoothukudi district), Sivakalai (Thoothukudi district) and Kodumanal (Erode district) next week. This is part of the sixth phase of excavation in Tamil Nadu.

According to reports, Ma Foi K Pandiarajan, the state minister for Tamil Culture and Archaeology inspected the sites at Keezhadi on Sunday. After the inspection, he told reporters that the excavation at Manalur will also begin soon.

He also said that evidence suggested that Agaram and Manalur villages were sites where there was habitation and that around 150 to 160 people are involved in excavating these sites. He stated that since the excavation in Agaram and Manalur began last month, six urns in their complete state have been found in these sites.

The minister also said that the onsite museum at Keezhadi will be completed by January 2021. The state government has allocated Rs 12.21 crore for setting up the museum. The three-storeyed museum, for which the government will lay the foundation stone next month, will have 15,000 artefacts.

The fifth phase of excavation was completed in October 2019, during which around 900 artefacts were discovered. In its report after the fifth phase, the state archaeological department stated that there might be possible links between the script of the Indus Valley civilisation and the Tamil Brahmi script, which is a precursor to the modern Tamil script. The fifth phase also led to the discovery of an urban civilisation along Vaigai river, which is important since there have been speculations for a long time that people from the Indus Valley civilisation had moved down to settle down along the Vaigai river around 1500 BCE, after their civilisation had collapsed. These discoveries have made the sixth phase of the excavation, which began in February, significant.