The Archaeological Survey of India has granted permission to the Department of Archaeology for the sixth phase of excavation at Keezhadi, the Sangam era settlement in Sivaganga district. In addition to Keezhadi, permission has also been extended to Kodumanal, Erode district and Adichanallur and Sivakalai in Thoothukudi.

According to a statement from the state Department of Archaeology, “The state government had sought permission from the Archaeological Survey of India to carry out detailed excavations in four archaeological sites located in Adichanallur and Sivakalai in Thoothukudi district, Kodumanal in Erode district and Keezhadi in Sivaganga district. Responding to the request, the central body granted permission for the excavations in these sites on Thursday.”

The non-transferable approval is valid up to September 30, 2020.

The fifth phase of excavation concluded earlier this month even as a report is expected on its findings. The work for the sixth phase is expected to begin in January 2020 at a budget of Rs 2 crore.

Following the conclusion of the fourth phase of excavation, the Department released a report on the Keezhadi excavations, which stated that there might be a possible link between the scripts of Indus Valley Civilisation and the Tamil Brahmi script, a precursor to the modern Tamil script. Another landmark discovery that was reported recently from Keezhadi was the existence of an urban civilisation on the riverbed of Vaigai that was contemporary to the Gangetic plain civilisation. 

The discovery is crucial because it has long been speculated that people from the Indus Valley Civilisation might have moved down south around 1500 BCE (Before Common Era) after the collapse of the civilisation. The script used by its people was called the Indus script and experts have speculated for a long time that language used by the people in Indus Valley Civilisation could be Dravidian. The recent discoveries from Keezhadi show a possible link between the two cultures.