The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has now literally struck gold at Adichanallur, the largest well-preserved urn burial site in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu.
Strongly criticised by Tamil people, particularly politicians, for “abandoning” excavation at Keeladi, near Madurai, where a Sangam Age urban settlement had been discovered, the ASI recently began its excavations again at Adichanallur.
A couple of years after the controversy, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in 2020, announced in the Budget that Adichanallur would be one of the five iconic sites where the Centre would undertake large scale excavations to unearth a glorious past. And now, the ASI team has done that spectacularly.
