[INDOLOGY] The young guns of archaeology: Meet the team unearthing Tamil Nadu's past

[Satyanad KICHENASSAMY]

Like everyone else, I  am waiting for the investigators' report but it seems to me that 
(1) all agree that there are Tamil Brahmi inscriptions that could be as old as ca. 2300 BP, not BC. BP = before present, where present = 1950 by convention.
(2) the controversy is about whether one can push them 2 or 3 centuries further back.
(3) the existence of a literate culture (= one that uses writing) is consistent with the existence of a literature. This may have been a forerunner of Sangam literature. 
(4) all this is consistent with a sophisticated material culture and exchanges with the Mediterranean etc, well before the Pallavas, again, not controversial.

Best,
Satyanad Kichenassamy 



Le 29 décembre 2025 16:22:57 GMT+05:30, "Tieken, H.J.H. (Herman) via INDOLOGY" <indology at list.indology.info> a écrit :
>As a scholar (admittedly my scholarship in this matter is heavily disputed) who dates Tamil Caṅkam poetry not earlier than the post-Pallava Pāṇṭiyas I am naturally interested to see what archeologists make of Tamilnadu in the early pre-Pallava period. Unfortunately, all the information I have access to is formed by press releases of the type kindly provided by Palaniappan to this list. However, I don't know what to make of it. For instance, on the basis of Keeladi iron would have been introduced in Tamilnadu between 2953 and 3345 BC, but furtheron the material from that site is said to date back "more than 2000 years". How many more years? Earlier reports posted by Palaniappan on this list were about criticism of the dating of the archeological sites, but as coming from North India the arguments were treated as enemy fire.
>
>However, what I am for personal reasons in particular interested in is the claim in the introduction of the report that the excavations reflect a literate (sic) Tamil. civilisation, in which I read an argument to stick to the date of Caṅkam poetry between the 3rd c. BC and the 3rd c. AD. How is "literate" defined here?
>
>Herman
>
>
>Herman Tieken
>'s-Herenstraat 66
>3155 SL Maasland
>The Netherlands
>00 31 (0)10 7617502
>00 (0)6 14652798
>website: hermantieken.com<http://hermantieken.com/>
>
>The Aśoka Inscriptions: Analysing a corpus, New Delhi: Primus Books, 2023.
>https://primusbooks.com/ancient/the-asoka-inscriptions-analysing-a-corpus-by-herman-tieken/
>
>
>
>Classified as Internal | Intern
>________________________________
>Van: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> namens Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
>Verzonden: maandag 29 december 2025 07:39
>Aan: indology list <indology at list.indology.info>
>Onderwerp: [INDOLOGY] The young guns of archaeology: Meet the team unearthing Tamil Nadu's past
>
>
>Some Indologists may find this article interesting.
>
>
>
>https://www.theweek.in/theweek/specials/2025/12/27/the-young-guns-of-archaeology-meet-the-team-unearthing-tamil-nadus-past.html
>
>
>
>Regards,
>
>Palaniappan


**********************************************
Satyanad KICHENASSAMY
Professor of Mathematics
Laboratoire de Mathématiques de Reims  (CNRS, UMR9008)
    and GREI (EPHE-Paris and Sorbonne-Université)
Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne
F-51687 Reims Cedex 2
France
Web: https://www.normalesup.org/~kichenassamy
**********************************************
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