An excavation done by Archeological Survey of India at a site 14 kms south east of Madurai, in Tamil Nadu, has led to the discovery of an ancient Indian settlement that could change our perception about the state’s early history.

In Keezhadi village, the excavation has revealed a large settlement that seems to shares similarities — like town planning and terracotta figurines — with the bronze era civilization settlements of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, and what is known as the Sangam period. The site, which is in its second phase of excavation, has yielded large quantity of pottery (black and red ware, as well as red ware), rectangular houses made of burnt bricks, pathways and more.

While this is not the first of its kind, it has been a while since the Archaeological Survey of India has come across a site from the Sangam period, which is usually bracketed between 3^rd century BCE and 10^th century CE. “The earlier two sites were found in 1960s and 70s,” said K Amarnath Ramakrishna, superintendent archaeologist and a member of ASI’s excavating team. “After a long gap such a work in Tamil Nadu has been done where a river valley civilization has been found,” said Ramakrishna.

For ruin buffs and history geeks, this is exciting stuff. Till now, historical sources for this period mostly came from Sangam literature and the discovery of the two sites Ramakrishna had mentioned, Arikamedu and Katterikuppam. Now, in Keezhadi, the ASI has found a connect between the ruins and the literature of that era. Ramakrishna told Newslaundry, “Names found in the Brahmi inscriptions from the site like Chandan, Iravanda, Kishan have also corroborated with the names that appear in the Sangam Literature.”

Excavation activity is low in Tamil Nadu as most of the sites that could have ruins below them are still habited. This new site was fortunately in an abandoned spot and thus could be excavated. Ramakrishna feels this site will provide evidence of a new civilization in the region rather than establish a continuity with the bronze age Harappan civilization itself.

“It has similarities to Harappa,” said Ramakrishna. “It is a huge site, 80 acres in area.” He also stressed that the ruins they’d found spoke of a distinctive and different culture from that of Harappa. “Sangam is a well-defined culture in itself,” he said. “Earlier it was believed that Tamil Nadu did not have any urban centers, urban culture or urban civilization. The discovery of this site has disproved that.