Chennai: Days after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin announced that the Iron Age existed in Tamil Nadu parallel to the Copper/Bronze Age of the Indus Valley Civilisation, the state government has decided to release the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archeology (TNSDA) report supporting its claim.
The report relies on carbon dating of samples excavated from sites across the state to present revised dates of the Iron Age. Earlier, the government planned to table the report in the assembly but sources at the Secretariat said Stalin would release the report at a technical seminar after Pongal.
“The received results comfortably place the Iron Age of South India in the third millennium (3000 to 2001 BCE), which is the Copper/Bronze Age of the Indus Valley civilisation. This time it is not from one sample from one site and it is not one particular year that proves South India’s Iron Age is contemporary to the IVC’s Copper Age. We have multiple dates obtained from multiple samples excavated from at least three different sites to substantiate the claim,” said a highly-placed source.
Earlier in the week, on 5 January, Stalin announced that the Iron Age existed in Tamil Nadu parallel to Copper/Bronze Age in the Indus Valley Civilisation, giving a fresh impetus to his push to link India’s cultural evolution to the history of the Dravidian identity.
However, he did not reveal the dates of the Iron Age.
The Iron Age marks the period in human history when iron became the primary material for crafting weapons and tools. In India, it traditionally dates back to around 1000 BCE, following the Indus Valley Civilization (3300 BCE–1300 BCE).
However, excavations in Uttar Pradesh between 1996 and 2001 revealed evidence pushing the Iron Age’s origins in India further back to 1800 BCE. This date was pushed further back after iron implements unearthed in 2022 from Mayiladumparai in Krishnagiri district, dated back to 2172 BCE (4,200 years ago) which is considered to be the oldest in India till now.
These discoveries have strengthened efforts by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) to draw historical connections between the Dravidian identity and the broader cultural development of the Indian subcontinent.
It comes days after the Tamil Nadu CM announced about 1 million US dollar to those deciphering the Indus Valley Civilisation scripts.
The state’s archaeology department released a research paper that said that about 60 percent of the signs and 90 percent of the graffiti found in South India appear to be dated in parallel to those linked to the Indus Valley Civilisation on 5 June.
“The occurrences of identical graffiti marks in South India suggests a kind of cultural contact. One needs more material evidence and tangible data to support or strengthen the view,” the study, titled ‘Documentation and Digitization of Graffiti and Tamili (Tamil-Brahmi) inscribed potsherds of Tamil Nadu’, said.
The Tamil Nadu State Department of Archeology (TNSDA) report, published on 5 January, said that the Indus Valley Civilisation and Iron Age in South India were contemporaneous, but did not mention any specific period for when the overlap might have occurred.
“The recent chronometric dates indicate that when the Indus Valley Civilisation experienced the Copper Age, South India experienced the Iron Age. In this sense, the Iron Age of South India and the Copper Age of Indus are contemporary,” the report said.
Professor K. Rajan, a research adviser at TNSDA, who authored the project, said development of the two civilisations should not be taken vertically.
“It is not a question of who used what first. We can only say that both (Indus Valley Civilisation and South India) existed simultaneously. More research would present more scientific data on the same,” Rajan, a senior academician who was earlier associated with Tamil University, Thanjavur, told ThePrint.
Rajan said there would be a detailed report on the new dates.
“There is not going to be one date, but multiple dates. This time the report will have all the details that are being questioned. If a seminar is conducted, all the graffiti would be displayed for the people to see and people can contest their claim and ask questions. We would be glad to answer them. Of course, we are always ready for constructive criticism, since everything is being done on a scientific basis,” he told ThePrint.
However, other experts have warned against claiming that the two ran parallel until direct evidence is found.
Speaking to ThePrint, veteran archaeologist R. Jagadeeswaran said, “There are several claims and counterclaims as to who came here first and who is parallel to the Indus Valley Civilisation.”
“Some claim Indus Valley Civilization as Saraswati River Civilization, where there was no river at all. But, they claim that it is under the ground. So, claims of the Tamil Nadu government should be with more direct evidence than hypotheses and myths like Saraswati River Civilisation,” he added.
Disha Ahluwalia, who is currently pursuing a PhD in Archaeology at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, sought more clarity and context.
“We will also be happy with the new dates, if there is some context like at what level the iron implements were recovered, how much were recovered and samples at what levels were tested in the laboratories etc. These details would make it more authentic and give us a better understanding of the findings,” she said, adding that the previous report about Mayiladumparai lacked such details.
Nevertheless, 70-year-old Rajan was confident that all such questions will be answered once the report is released. “It is just a matter of time,” he said.
Also Read: DMK-governor spat turns into ‘Dravidian’ vs ‘Tamil’ row. What’s debate over state anthem
DMK government’s archaeological cause
The discoveries come amid Stalin’s push to assert the Dravidian identity and the antiquity of Tamil Nadu. Since the DMK government came to power in May 2021, it has allocated substantial funding to excavations in Tamil Nadu.
In the 2024-2025 budget, the Tamil Nadu government allocated Rs 25.65 crore to the archaeology department, of which 17 crore was meant for the construction of an open-air museum in Keeladi and Rs 5 crore for excavations.
At present, archaeological excavations are being carried out at eight sites in the state, including Keeladi (Sivaganga district), Vembakottai (Virudhunagar district), Porpanaikottai (Pudukkottai district), Keelnamandi (Tiruvannamalai district), Thirumalapuram (Tenkasi district), Konkalnagar (Tiruppur district), Marungur (Cuddalore district), and Chennanoor (Krishnagiri district). Excavation at all eight sites began after 2021.
The government also opened a museum at Keeladi on 5 March, 2023, while another museum is under construction in Sivakalai and it is expected to open later this year.
On 9 September, 2021, CM Stalin said for the first time the agenda to prove that the history of the Indian subcontinent needs to be rewritten to begin from the Tamil landscape. He was sharing the results of a carbon dating analysis report of rice found at the Sivakalai site with the Tamil Nadu Assembly. The report established the existence of the Thamirabarani River civilization dating back to 3,200 years.
“It is the government’s work to scientifically prove that the history of the Indian subcontinent begins from the Tamil landscape,” he said.
He was also the one to announce the results of the carbon dating at the Mayiladumparai site. It appeared that the government had consciously decided that any announcements related to carbon dating findings would be made by the CM.
The push to assert Dravidian identity
However, experts said that while it looks like the DMK leader has been overzealous with his archaeological push, the desire to assert the Dravidian identity has existed in the state since the days of the Self-Respect Movement in the 1920s.
While social reformist E.V. Ramasamy, popularly called Thanthai Periyar, asserted the identity through rationalist ideas, former Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai and M. Karunanidhi did so through Tamil literature, and Stalin was taking it forward with the archaeological findings.
Speaking to ThePrint, archaeology enthusiast, a retired journalist and author of the book, The Wonder that was Harappan Civilisation, T.S. Subramanian said that Karunanidhi, popularly called Kalaignar (or artist), emphasised his Tamil identity through various secular literature like Silapathikaram and Tirukural as well as through archaeology.
“Kalaignar was instrumental in the excavation of the Kaveripoompattinam site (located in present-day Poompuhar town, Mayiladuthurai district) that went under the sea about 50 years ago.”
It was during his time that the Valluvar Kottam statue (1975-76) in Chennai and 133 feet-tall Thiruvalluvar statue (1999-2000) in Kanyakumari, dedicated to Tamil poet-philosopher Thiruvalluvar, were built, he said.
At the World Classical Tamil Conference 2010, held in Coimbatore, during his time, archaeological findings were also exhibited, Subramanian added. This conference was unrelated to the official World Tamil Conference, sponsored by the International Association for Tamil Research, which brings together enthusiasts of the Tamil language.
A former civil servant, who did not wish to be named, gave further examples of his role in asserting the Tamil identity. “It was because of Kalaignar, there was a grand exhibition on Cholas during the 1000th-anniversary celebrations of Thanjavur temple popularly called the Brihadisvara or the Big Temple built by Raja Raja Chola (who ruled from 985-1014 CE). Although archeological studies were not happening at this phase, he was also keen to understand this despite having ideological differences with the officials handling the archeology department.,” he said.
During the first DMK government, in 1968, former CM Annadurai organised the second edition of the official World Tamil Conference in Chennai. As a part of the conference, the statues of 10 icons of Tamil literature were erected on the Marina beach. It included Kannagi, a female protagonist in the Silapathikaram, one of the five great epics in Tamil.
Pride and politics
However, the latest push by the DMK government to assert Tamil pride and establish its historical links can be traced back to two developments: the various moves to ban Jallikattu, the traditional bull-taming sport of Tamil Nadu, and, the 2017 cessation of excavations at the Keeladi site by the Archeological Survey of India, which comes under the Union government.
Speaking to ThePrint, an archaeological site officer, who used to work at Keeladi, said that the anger against the Union government over the ban on Jallikattu and the subsequent abandonment of Keeladi excavations drew the attention of people in Tamil Nadu as well as politicians.
“That was the turning point and archaeological findings and the politics of the state converged,” said the site officer.
As a result, archaeologists, including Jagadheesan, argue that the DMK is merely capitalising on this new-found interest in archaeological studies.
“There is no doubt Keeladi is an excellent finding that reveals there was a proper civilisation, where the artefacts revealed that it belonged to the 6th century BCE. It also proves that Tamil-Brahmi (a variant of the ancient Brahmi script) was prior to the Ashoka-Brahmi.” The first and best-known inscriptions of the ancient writing system are found on the edicts attributed to Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan Empire (3rd century BCE). “This was also proved by the paddy grains found in Porunthal graveyard near Palani in Dindigul district as early as 2011. But, nobody spoke about it because there was not any political light on the archaeological studies.”
Supported by the Central Institute of Classical Tamil and the Archaeological Survey of India, the Porunthal excavation was conducted by Professor Rajan in 2009. It revealed that the rice paddy samples collected from an engraved pot dated back to 450 BCE (5th century BCE).
Another archaeology department official who worked in the Keeladi site emphasised to ThePrint that the work of the department has never been political and it had been taking place even during the government of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
“The Keeladi excavation and a brochure about the findings were released during the AIADMK government. However, the chief minister did not take it up, and it was released by then AIADMK minister Mafoi Pandiarajan,” the official said.
It was the bureaucracy, the officer said, that kept the ball rolling irrespective of the party in power.
“When ASI stopped excavations, the state government did not show interest. But, it was the civil servants who pushed for it and again started excavations and sent the samples to laboratories in several countries to prove that a civilisation existed in Keeladi, which is 2,600 years old,” the official said.
An archaeology student, who worked at the Keeladi site between 2019 and 2020 also told ThePrint, that the people who are part of the excavations are extremely cautious and not politically motivated.
“While working on the site, I smelled some odd scent and I casually asked people working there. But, senior officials told me not to spell anything until I confirm it through my own eyes. So, while excavating and recognising things, the whole team was so careful and none of them on the ground had political leanings,” the student said.
On the other hand, a senior official with the TNSDA said that, while there was no politics over the findings of the excavations, there was a Centre-state fight when it came to the excavations themselves.
“Keeladi excavation was abandoned by the Union government-controlled ASI in 2017 and the state pursued it later on. In Tuticorin district, the Union government built its first onsite archaeological museum in Adichanallur after 145 years of excavation and now the state government is also building an onsite archaeological museum at Sivakalai in Tuticorin district,” the senior official cited as examples.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)