The buried and forgotten toil of Keeladi excavators

Veyilaa was new to digging tools such as trovels, auger and brushes when she walked into the archaeological excavation site in Keeladi four years ago, but today this daily-wager is not only familiar with the tools but can also use them deftly during excavations. She has also become an expert in separating the potsherds and other tiny particles buried in the soil.

The excavations, conducted in the Keeladi village in Tamil Nadu’s Sivaganga district since 2014, have helped rewrite the history of Tamils as well as the subcontinent. With evidence of an urban settlement of the Sangam era on the banks of river Vaigai, Keeladi has got a significant place on the historical map of India. While archaeologists who led the excavations have also become popular, a whole group of people have been pushed into oblivion. Veyilaa is a member of that same group which dug innumerable pits and stirred the sands on various sites in Keeladi bringing back to life the region’s buried history.

Despite being the first witnesses to the unearthing of history, these daily workers remain invisible in the historical framing of the site.

It was five months after the first lockdown was declared in 2020 that artist V Saranraj walked into a site in Keeladi where excavation was on. What he wanted was to document the site in the backdrop of the daily workers who contributed immensely to the excavation. The initial response from the organisers was bad, but Saranraj developed a good rapport with the workers, who came from the surrounding remote villages in Madurai. He took portraits of the workers and also captured the various stages of the excavation in Keeladi. Sanaraj also made a documentary about what a typical day of the workers on the site looked like.

Titled ‘Keeladi’, a collection of 10 portraits (printed using the old cyanotype process) of the workers, 50 photographs of various stages of excavations and a 20-minute-long documentary are being exhibited as part of the ongoing Chennai Photo Biennale (Edition III) called “Maps of Disquiet” at Roja Muthiah Research Library in Chennai. Documentation of archaeological sites is common, but what led Saranraj to follow the daily workers on the site is what makes the difference.

“I decided to document the life and struggles of the daily workers in Keeladi because they are not recognised anywhere else in any manner. The workers are doing a thankless job. They are unsung heroes of Keeladi,” says Saranraj, who lives in Karadipatti, a remote village in Madurai. “This is not only the case of Keeladi. No archaeological excavation has ever bothered to give any credit to the daily workers, who play a major role in the exercise,” he adds.

For the workers, a day on the site begins at 9 am, with opening and clearing of the pits, digging, checking and cleaning artefacts, documentation and sketching, and finally closing the pits by 5 pm. “The workers should reach the excavation site every morning at 8.30 am. In most cases, the women workers finish their household chores before rushing up to the site. They will quickly have the tiffin that they brought on the site itself. They will open the pits covered with tarpaulin sheets by 9 am,” says Saranraj, who works with a range of media such as photography, video, drawing and sculpture to express his ideas.

V Viji, who has been working as a daily wager since the 5th phase of the excavation in Keeladi, says the job is special. “It’s not like any other job that we do. We are excavating the materials that our ancestors used more than 2,500 years ago. It’s a great feeling when we collect ancient beads, potsherds and other materials from the site,” says Viji, who has dug many trenches and pits for the Keeladi excavation project. “I have found a sword, many potsherds and beads and bones of animals. While digging, we get a feel that we are doing something significant for society. I don’t know how to explain it in words,” he says.

It took more than six months for Saranraj to get used to the new surroundings. “The men will work in pits and trenches. They follow the instructions of the archaeologists properly when they do digging because it needs precision and neatness,” he says. Once the men come out after digging, women enter the pits and start stirring by small amounts of the soil that has been dug out by the men. The job includes stirring the sand in small amounts, discovering the ancient articles buried in the soil and collecting the broken pottery pieces.

After lunch, the workers take rest for an hour. Some wash the potsherds with water and dry them by placing them under the sun. The job here never ends. There is a documentation process for each and everything done on a particular day under the supervision of the officer.

“The workers also help the archaeologists in this process. A few women get into the pit and clear the soil with a brush. Then they assist the archaeologists in documentation by taking up the scales of various measures,” he says. After the documentation of the day’s activities, the workers will keep the articles and tools back in the tent. Each pit will be covered using a tarpaulin sheet. “When they leave after doing all these things, they would have worked at least 30-40 minutes extra than the time scheduled,” says Saranraj, who as an artist focuses on individuals who he has interacted with over a period of time.

He then uses materials and techniques that resonate with their situation to tell their story. Saranraj interacted with more than 200 workers at four archaeological sites in Keeladi as part of his documentation project.

In 2014, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) began its excavation at Keeladi village in Tamil Nadu’s Sivaganga district. The ASI did excavations in three seasons. The fourth and fifth seasons of excavations were taken up by the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology during 2017 and 2018. Seven phases of excavation have been completed so far. Apart from the officials of the archaeological department, most of the labour force consists of local village folk from Keeladi and its neighbouring areas.

Saranraj knows the life of a daily wager well as he grew up listening to the tales of hardships that his parents faced while working in a stone quarry unit in Madurai. But working in a stone quarry unit and being part of an archaeological excavation are two different things even though both meant physical labour. As he observed them closely, Saranraj realised one thing: Even though these people play a major role in the overall process of excavation, they are least paid for their services.

“The state archaeological department pays the lowest level of workers involved in the Keeladi excavation project a daily wage of Rs 420 for a male worker and Rs 380 for a female worker. Apart from this remuneration, they don’t get any other allowance. Even the cost of the tea they drink in the morning and in the evening is borne by them,” says Saranraj.

However, money is secondary for many who work here. “We need money, but this job gives a sense of satisfaction that is something beyond money. I have been working on the archaeological sites in Keeladi for the last four years. I am happy to be part of the world where my ancestors once lived,” says Veyilaa. Unlike other jobs, the workers on the archaeological sites experience surprises one after the other. “Even though we work under the hot sun, our level of curiosity is high because we don’t know when we will find a material used by our ancestors. Even though we don’t get any special recognition, we feel lucky to be part of this great excavation and history,” she says.

Saranraj says his works are as much a tribute to the workers as they are a commentary on the blind spots in the archaeological landscape. “I have taken more than 4,000 portraits of the workers and the sites. I have remade 10 portraits of the men and women working on site as cyanotype prints on fabric, to call attention to the sunlight which bears witness to both the subject and the image. These ten workers represent the whole working class,” says Saranraj.

Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that produces a cyan-blue print. It is printed using UV light, such as the sun, a light box or a UV lamp. “The scorching sun under which the labourers toil at the excavation site also becomes the medium through which their portraits come to be made using the cyanotype method,” he says.

Speaking on the 20-minute-video titled ‘Oli-Nizhal: Naduvil Nangal’, Saranraj says, “The workers come from Keeladi and its surrounding villages. I wanted to document a day in their life and the documentary was a result of it. It shows what each one does on the site from 9 am to 5 pm. I have also included shots from nearby paddy fields and coconut farms in the video to get a complete picture of the life of workers there.”

(The exhibition as part of the Chennai Photo Biennale (Edition III) is on till February 6, 2022.)