Overview

• Researchers from Madurai Kamaraj University and Liverpool John Moores University completed 3D facial reconstructions of two ancient skulls, revealing South Indian features with traces of West Eurasian and Austro-Asiatic ancestry.
• Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin formally called on the Union government to publish the Archaeological Survey of India’s final Keezhadi excavation report.
• The ASI has withheld the 982-page Keezhadi report pending further carbon dating and stratigraphic validation of its proposed 6th century BCE timeline.
• The dispute over report publication and site dating has deepened centre-state tensions and highlighted contrasting narratives over Tamil cultural heritage.
• Ongoing DNA analyses of skeletal remains aim to map ancient migration routes and bolster scientific evidence for an advanced urban settlement along the Vaigai river.