CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday announced that the State government will carry out excavations at archaeological sites across Tamil Nadu. The excavations will take place at seven places this year and the findings would underline the antiquity, culture, and values of Tamil society, the CM said.
The places are Keezhadi and its surrounding areas (Konthagai, Agaram, Manalur) in Sivaganga district (Phase VIII), Sivakalai in Thoothukudi district (Phase-III), Gangaikondacholapuram in Ariyalur district (Phase III), Mayiladumparai in Krishnagiri district (Phase-II), Vembakottai in Virudhunagar district, Thulukkarpatti in Tirunelveli district and Perumpalai in Dharmapuri district (Phase I).
The excavations will start from the first week of February and end in September. The State government has sanctioned Rs 5 crore for the survey, excavations, and other works, an official release here said and added that the survey and excavations would help establish that the history of the Indian subcontinent begins from the landscape of Tamil Nadu.
The Chief Minister also said that the archaeology department has proposed to conduct a reconnaissance survey in the sea off the coast of Korkai in Thoothukudi district, in association with the Indian Maritime University and National Institute of Ocean Technology.
The survey will be undertaken near the estuary where the river Tamirabarani flows into the sea. The excavations already carried out at Keezhadi and other places in Tamil Nadu have shown that Tamil culture is older by several more centuries than previously thought, he said.