Tamil Nadu: Archaeologist Who Excavated Keezhadi Transferred Amidst Row Over Report

Amidst the row over the report about the findings at Keezhadi, an archaeological site near Madurai in Tamil Nadu, the Archaelogical Survey of India (ASI) has transferred K Amarnath Ramakrishna, who had led the excavations at the location.

He has now been posted as a Director at the National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities (NMMA) in Greater Noida.

Ramakrishna had recently been asked to make revisions to the report he had submitted to the ASI but had declined to do so, as per a report by Indian Express.

The dating of the artefacts at the site have the potential to push back the Sangam Age in Tamil Nadu to the 6th century BC and before, i.e. to a time frame similar to that of the Mahajanapadas in northern India.

While the state government holds that the testing carried out was adequate, Union Minister for Culture and Tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has said that more work needs to be done to reach a final conclusion.

The matter took a political turn as the centre has been accused by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam of trying to scuttle the report because of an alleged bias against Tamil Nadu.