Sivaganga: In the sixth phase of excavation work, carried out by the Tamil Nadu Archeology Department at Keezhadi, a furnace-like structure and a bone of an animal were unearthed in Tamil Nadu's Sivaganga district.
According to reports, the structure and the bone were discovered in Manalur, one of the cluster villages of Keezhadi.
Following the relaxation measures announced by the central government, excavation works in Keezhadi resumed in the third week of May.
Keezhadi, a small village in Sivaganga district near Madurai, came into the limelight, after the archeologists from Archeological Survey of India, unearthed a river-based civilization of Tamil Nadu that backs to the Sangam era between 300 BC to AD 300.
Read: Explore the revelations from Keezhadi excavation site in Madurai
After ASI winded up the excavation with three phases, Tamil Nadu Archaeological Department, based on popular demand, continued the following phases. The Keezhadi cultural deposit could be dated between the 6th century BCE and the 1st century CE.
In the ongoing excavation, a skeleton was found in a six-foot-deep pit. Researchers predict that this may be a skeleton of a domestic animal like bull.
However, they also said that only after molecular study, it is possible to ascertain more facts on the findings.
The Keezhadi excavation ascertains that the people of the 6th century BCE had attained literacy or learned the art of writing Tamil-Brahmi that was evident from several potherds that were found.
Similarly, the earlier hypothesis was the second urbanisation didn't happen in Tamil Nadu after the early historic phase that began in the 3rd century BCE. But the excavations at Keezhadi of brick structures suggest the second urbanisation did happen in the state in 6th century BCE as in the Gangetic plains.
During the five seasons of excavations, over 14,540 samples were taken out.
