Description
December 2025
Since its discovery in 2016, the Keeladi excavation has become one of India’s most contested digs – hailed by some as proof of an urban civilisation in South India, and dismissed by others as political mythmaking.
Journalist Sowmiya Ashok traces archaeologist K. Amarnath Ramakrishna’s serendipitous discovery of the ancient settlement and the storm it set off. Her journey takes her from the earliest Iron Age sites in Tamil Nadu to Rakhigarhi in Haryana and the lost port of Muziris in Kerala. Along the way, she chats with archaeologists while sweating under the Tamil sun, clings to rickety platforms at a roaring jallikattu stadium, and even faces the unnerving prospect of licking ancient bones in pursuit of the truth.
Blending humour with sharp insight, The Dig reveals how battles over science and politics continue to shape our understanding of India’s past.
‘The Dig is a brilliant survey of some of India's most contentious historical questions. Lucidly crafted, and objectively narrated, Sowmiya Ashok leaves us richer in knowledge, while posing questions about ourselves and our ancestors both.’
Manu S. Pillai, author of Gods, Guns and Missionaries
‘Sowmiya Ashok takes the reader companionably through a mesmerizing journey from the country’s deepest past to its complicated, compromised present. Part travelogue and part nail-biting whodunnit, [The Dig] offers insights into some of the most politically and emotionally charged questions of the 21st century – who we are and where we came from.’
Ira Mukhoty, author of The Lion and the Lily
Highlights:
The in-depth, extensive ground report of the discovery of Keeladi, the ancient settlement which is Tamil Nadu’s most significant—and most controversial—archaeological find.
- The author has extensively interviewed Amarnath Ramakrishna, the archaeologist whose report on Keeladi is the centre of the present controversy.
- The Dig explores the North vs South battle going on in India currently, and how it is constantly fuelled by new archaeological finds.
- The book also covers other crucial archaeological sites: Rakhigarhi in Haryana, the search for Mahabharata sites in Delhi, Iron Age sites in Tamil Nadu and the possible location of Muziris in Kerala.
- Narrated in a humorous, breezy style, making information understandable and fun.
Product details
- Publisher : Hachette India (23 December 2025)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 320 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9357317503
- ISBN-13 : 9789357317504
- Item Weight : 300 g
- Dimensions : 20 x 12 x 2 cm
About the author:
Sowmiya Ashok has been a journalist for fourteen years, and has worked for prominent national dailies like The Hindu and The Indian Express, covering politics and the environment. She has a Master’s in Politics and Global Affairs Journalism from the Columbia Journalism School and has reported from India, the US, China, and Taiwan. She lives in Chennai.
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