CHENNAI: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has requested retired superintending archaeologist PS Sriraman to write the report for the third phase of excavations in Keezhadi (end of May to September 2017) and ASI’s excavations in Kodumanal during 2017-2018, both headed by him.
ASI granting permission for Sriraman to write the Keezhadi the report came after the controversy that erupted in May when the organisation raised certain doubts and sought clarifications from archaeologist K Amarnath Ramakrishna on his 982-page report he submitted three years ago on the first two phases of excavations in Keezhadi.
Sriraman told TNIE that he had requested ASI to permit him to write these reports since he had supervised them and it was the excavator’s responsibility to give the report to the public. On whether any time frame has been given, Sriraman, who will write the reports from the ASI office in Chennai, said, “The ASI instructed me to complete as quickly as possible.”
“I am concentrating more on Kodumanal because it is an individual work - my work, while the third phase in Keezhadi is for a shorter period and it was a continuation of work done earlier,” Sriraman said.
The objects discovered by his team confirmed Kodumanal’s significance as a craft-production centre, approximately dating back to the 4th-3rd century CE.
The third phase took place amid huge controversy over the sudden transfer of Ramakrishna, who headed the first two phases and brought attention to the site with the findings. The Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology took over the excavations after the third phase.
During the third phase in Keezhadi, Sriraman had said that a key objective to trace the continuity of brick structures discovered in earlier two phases was not successful.