Overview

• The ASI formally tasked P.S. Sriraman, who led the brief 2017 excavations at Keeladi with no major discoveries, to prepare and submit the official Phase 3 report.
• He has also been asked to draft the excavation report for Kodumanal, covering the 2017–18 season he supervised.
• Archaeologist K. Amarnath Ramakrishna’s 982-page report on Keeladi Phases 1–2 remains on hold after the ASI demanded revisions to its proposed chronology.
• Tamil Nadu’s archaeology department is already gearing up for an 11th phase of digs amid the ongoing authorship dispute.
• Keeladi’s artefacts continue to challenge conventional views of early South Indian urbanisation and highlight enduring heritage governance clashes.