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The Archaeological Survey of India on Thursday denied allegations that it was uninterested in publishing the reports about the Keeladi excavation in Tamil Nadu.
“That the ASI is uninterested in publication of Keeladi report is a figment of imagination which aims purposefully to paint the department in bad colours,” the department said in a statement.
The Archaeological Survey of India’s statement came following reports earlier in May that the department had directed archaeologist Amarnath Ramakrishna to resubmit his report on the Keeladi excavations after making corrections suggested by two experts.
Ramakrishna, who led the discovery of the Sangam-era site near Madurai, had submitted more than two years ago the report detailing the first two phases of the excavation.
The Indian Express had reported on Sunday that Ramakrishna had refused to revise the report, defending the findings and methodology that was used in documenting details about the archaeological site.
The Archaeological Survey of India said on Thursday that the letter from the director (excavations and explorations) “is a routine matter, which the director regularly writes to the excavators for carrying out changes in the report or otherwise”.
“Great emphasis is given to this aspect [publishing reports about excavated sites], since much time, energy and money is spent on every excavation work and the basic purpose of the excavation work otherwise, remains unfulfilled,” the department said.
It added: “In a set process, after the submission of the reports by the excavators, those are then sent to various subject experts, who are requested to vet the reports for publication. Various alterations, as suggested by the subject experts, are carried out by the excavators and resubmitted finally for publication.”
The procedure was adopted in case of the Keeladi too, the Archaeological Survey of India said.
“Accordingly, the excavator of the Keeladi has been communicated the suggestions of the experts for making necessary correction in the draft report submitted by him, but he did not carry out the correction till date,” the statement said.
The department said that the “story being circulated in a part of the media is misleading, untrue and is being absolutely and vehemently denied”.
All reports need proper vetting, editing, proof reading and designing before it is sent for publication, it added.
Keeladi has been at the centre of a political debate in recent years.
Ramakrishna, who led the two excavation phases at Keeladi between 2014 and 2016, had unearthed more than 5,500 artefacts pointing to an urban civilisation in Tamil Nadu during the Sangam era. The Sangam era is the period between 3rd century before common era to the 3rd century common era in southern India.
In 2017, the Archaeological Survey of India transferred Ramakrishna to Assam. Political parties had described this move as “unusual” at the time, The New Indian Express reported.
The discovery had attracted widespread attention and Ramakrishna’s transfer was viewed as an attempt to downplay the excavation’s significance, according to The Hindu.
Also read: Debating whether Tamil Nadu’s Keeladi is Harappan or pre-Harappan is pointless, says archaeologist
This article first appeared on Scroll.in
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