India, May 28 -- Keeladi (Keezhadi), located just outside the more than 2,000-year-old great city of Madurai, has been accepted as a Sangam-era settlement. The Sangam period is widely believed to be the six centuries between 3rd BCE and 3rd CE.

The findings of the excavations at Keeladi, an urban settlement, dated to at least the 4th century BCE have been mired in controversy. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and its own senior officer, Ramakrishna Amarnath, are at loggerheads over whether there is sufficient evidence showing that Keeladi was thriving as a settlement 2800 years ago.

Amarnath in his 2023 report relied on Carbon dating, stratigraphy and other standard dating methods to show that Keeladi -- and therefore the Sangam...