Keezhadi, a historically significant place in the district of Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu, has been in the process of excavation since 2015. K Amarnath Ramakrishna, who was appointed as the site excavator for Keezhadi since the excavation started, and now Director (Antiquities), received a letter on May 15th 2025 and asked for corrections regarding the chronological brackets.
Amarnath was transferred in 2017, amid the excavations to Assam, and the Archaeological Survey of India closed the site, stating that there was a “lack of significant findings”. In 2023, he submitted a 982-page report on Keezhadi to the Archaeological Survey of India.
As per the letter Amarnath received from ASI, they asked to reassess the site’s chronological brackets, as it’s proposed to be of the 8th century BCE. It indicated that the earliest possible date “could be, at the latest, somewhere in pre-300 BCE,” while raising concerns that the three cultural periods needed “appropriate names or a fresh perspective.” It also referenced input from two unnamed specialists, which caused concern among various independent researchers who perceived the postponement and modifications as efforts to undermine Keeladi’s importance.
In the letter, Amarnath wrote that “After a gap of two and half year of my submission, you have again raised some query on my final report…In this regard, it is informed you that already accepted nomenclatures of the changes in the period was agreed and accordingly the changes of the same was communicated. It is to inform that regarding the period of Keeladi excavation has been evaluated (as per) the archaeological excavation procedure. Here the period of the site was reconstructed as per the stratigraphic sequence, cultural deposit available with material culture and with AMS date found during the excavation. Based on the findings and facts the final outcome of the observation of the excavator was incorporated in the final report with all documentary evidence, and the chronological sequence of the Keeladi site was clearly explained in the report. The view expressed by you for further examination of sequence is against the well reasoned conclusive finding of the excavator of the site.”
After the sudden closing of the Keezhadi site, the Tamil Nadu government had challenged the Archaeology Department’s decision in the Madras High Court, which allowed the State Government’s archaeology department to continue the excavation. Phase 11 excavation of Keezhadi is soon set to begin in June.
