He had been informed by Dr. Vedachalam, state department archeologist that I was coming on behalf of Swarajya. I quickly started with my questions. “The Harappan connection reported in the press…” I was cut short by Amarnath. No, it is a misunderstanding, he explained. The size of the site can be compared to some Harappan sites but there is no real connection with Harappa. What they had discovered was exciting in its own right. This was the first time a settlement—an urban habitat—had been excavated so completely in Tamil Nadu. That is a major find.

“Could this be seen as part of the so-called second urbanization?” I asked. “No culture evolves in isolation and every civilization develops its own uniqueness. We expect to find both here,” he replied. While most archeological explorations have some comparable contemporary sites, in Tamil Nadu this is perhaps the first excavated urban habitation going back 2000 years. The discovery was not accidental or a stroke of luck. It was a result of some systematic work.

Sangam literature—the ancient Tamil poetry—describes urban centers that were cosmopolitan in nature, doing business with other countries including Rome. Both contemporary North Indian inscriptions, as well as literature prior to the Sangam age have mentioned already established Tamil royal dynasties. So, any student of history would expect a lot of archeological sites to have come up in Tamil Nadu.

‘Sadly, only burial sites have come up so far and not a single settlement in the proper sense has been excavated,’ the Superintending Archeologist said. The reason is places like Madurai where interesting archeological discoveries may await beneath the surface have had continuous occupation. Today, they are busy cities. So, you have to depend only on temple inscriptions and literary evidence.

The archeologists decided to do excavations along the banks of Vaigai – the river that courses through Madurai till Rameshwaram. They identified more than 100 locations along the river bed and small but ancient villages near the vicinity of the river bank. It was through this methodology they arrived at Keeladi. And Keeladi did not disappoint them. ‘The central government is interested in history and archeology and facilitates such projects, otherwise they often remain pipe dreams for want of funds,’ Amarnath revealed.

Dr. Vedachalam arrived at the camp as we were talking. ‘Let us look around the site,’ he said.