Adichanallur Archaeological Site to Become a Premier Destination With On-Site Museum

Budget 2020 is the talk of the town today as it was presented in the parliament today, February 1. Many announcements were welcomed and criticized by many. But one of the surprising budget announcements is about its unprecedented importance on cultural development. Five archeological sites in India, which include only one in South India, Adichanallur, are to be made premier destinations with museums.

Today, Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance minister, surprised all by many aspects in the Budget 2020. One of it was the announcement of the five archeological sites to be turned into Premier Tourist Destination with museums which include

Adichanallur,  the oldest excavation site in India:

Out of the five sites, only one is from south India, and that is Adichanallur. It was the first place for an Indian excavation conducted as per records and also during 1902 and 1903. Then it took another 100 years for excavations here in 2004, for which the results are still not announced even after 15 years. Many things found there dated back to 1800 BC or nearly 3800 years old found by carbon-dating methods.

Reports from Thoothukudi yesterday, January 31, said that Sivanandam, the deputy director of the archeological department, visited Adichanallur. A team of ten people cleaned the excavation site. The team lead by Sivanantham and the Adichanallur field officer Baskaran inspected the 114 acres of area and selected a place of size 500 x 500 m to excavate by using a ground drilling radar. They inspected the drilling up to seven feet yesterday.

Many Tamil people across the world wanted a museum and further excavation in Keeladi in Madurai. In recent times, both the central and state governments conducted an excavation and found a lot of things belonging to the 500 BC. All are from the Sangam period, which was 2500 years ago. There were many theories that even Adichanallur and Keeladi are interrelated with each other. But leaving Keeladi where most of the work is now complete and needs further excavation to bring the long back Tamil pride is not in the list of the one announced in Budget 2020.