Why in News?

• Encouraged by the archaeological findings in Keeladi that testified to the existence of an ancient urban Tamil civilisation, the Department of Archaeology has decided to launch excavations at seven more sites and field studies in two places.

About the excavation

• • Excavations in Keeladi proved that an urban civilisation existed in Tamil Nadu in the Sangam era on the banks of the river Vaigai.
  • Researchers  found that the cultural deposits unearthed during the fourth excavation at Keeladi in Sivaganga district could be safely dated to a period between 6th century BCE and 1st century CE.
  • The Keeladi findings have led academics to describe the site as part of the Vaigai Valley Civilisation. The findings have also invited comparisons with the Indus Valley Civilisation.
  • There are  similarities in urban planning between the Indus Valley and Keeladi.
  • Some of the symbols found in pot sherds of Keeladi bear a close resemblance to Indus Valley signs. Graffiti marks are found in earthenware, caves and rocks in or near the excavation sites of Tamil Nadu. 
  • The Tamil Brahmi script, found engraved on the outer surface or the shoulder of black and red earthenware in Keeladi, carries personal names.
  • When the carbon dating test was performed, it confirmed the date of the Tamil-Brahmi script is dated to the year 580 BC.

• Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon.

• The results suggest that the second urbanization (the first is the IVC ) happened in Tamil Nadu during the 6th century BC.
• Skeletal fragments of Cow/Ox & Buffalo, Sheep & Goat, Nilgai & Blackbuck, Wild boar, and Peacock suggest that the society in Keeladi had used animals predominantly for agricultural purposes.
• The discovery  of spindle whorls, pinpointed bone tip tools, hanging stones of the yarn, terracotta spheres, copper needle, and earthen vessels to hold liquid, outlines the various stages of weaving industry from spinning, yarning, looming, weaving and dyeing.
• Pottery specimens from Keeladi confirmed that they  were shaped out of locally available raw materials.

Sangam Age

• The word sangam is the Tamil form of the Sanskrit word Sangha which means a group of persons or an association.
• The Tamil Sangam was an academy of poets and bards who flourished in three different periods and in different places under the patronage of the Pandyan kings
• It deals with secular matters relating to public and social activity like government, war charity, trade, worship, agriculture etc.
• Sangam literature consists of the earliest Tamil works (such as the Tolkappiyam), the ten poems (Pattupattu), the eight anthologies (Ettutogai) and the eighteen minor works (Padinenkilkanakku), and the three epics.
• It is believed that the first Sangam was attended by gods and legendary sages, and its seat was Ten Madurai. All the works of the first Sangam have perished.
• The seat of the second Sangam was Kapatpuram, another capital of the Pandyas. It was attended by several poets and produced a large mass of literature, but only Tolkappiyam  has survived. Tolkappiyam is the oldest extant Tamil grammar written by Tokkappiyar (one of the 12 disciples of Saint Agastya.)
• The seat of the third Sangam was the present Madurai. It has also produced vast litera­ture, but only a fraction of it has survived. It is this fraction which constitutes the extant body of Sangam literature. 
• The Age of the Sangam is the age to which the Sangam literature belonged. The Sangam literature constitutes a mine of information on conditions of life around the beginning of the Christian era.

Tamil-Brahmi Script

• Tamil-Brahmi is the earliest script used to write Old Tamil. 
• Tamil language has since then been written in a wide range of continuum of scripts. Tamil-Brahmi is in principle an adaptation of the Brahmi script with several additional features being added.

 Reference:

1. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/archaeological-excavations-set-to-begin-in-seven-more-places-in-tamil-nadu/article33566589.ece