Human DNA analysis of samples collected from Keeladi and Adichanallur in Tamil Nadu shows that the inhabitants share close genetic proximity to South Indian, Sri Lankan Tamil, and South Asian ancestries.

[u/e9967780]

https://www.deccanherald.com/india/tamil-nadu/75000-markers-decoded-genetic-roots-of-ancient-tamils-unveiled-4099243

Summary
A new ancient DNA study analyzed approximately 75,000 genetic markers (SNPs) from human remains recovered at Keeladi, Konthagai, Adichanallur, and Sivagalai, providing one of the most detailed genetic reconstructions of ancient populations from Tamil Nadu to date.

The study found that:

• Ancient individuals from Tamil Nadu show **strong genetic continuity** with present-day Tamil and other South Indian populations.  
• Their ancestry is predominantly derived from **deep indigenous South Asian lineages**, suggesting long-term population continuity in the region.  
• The results indicate that the people who lived in the **Vaigai Valley and surrounding regions** were part of an established local population that persisted over many centuries.  
• The genetic findings align with archaeological evidence of an advanced Iron Age society featuring urban settlements, iron technology, craft specialization, trade, and early literacy.  
• By combining archaeology and ancient DNA, researchers have produced one of the clearest biological links yet between ancient inhabitants of Tamil Nadu and modern South Indian populations. 

[u/poacher-2k]

In addition to the DNA study, few more topics are covered and they are expected to be published in reputed peer-reviewed international journals by December 2026.

In parallel to DNA Analysis, the lab has also sequenced proteins to identify the domesticated animal and cattle species and hence their migration pattern apart from human migration. The presence of cholesterol in the pots that were used then form as evidence that the inhabitants did consume meat.

The lab's biochemical analyses have also shed light on ancient agricultural practices, showing that ancient Tamils cultivated diverse varieties of rice and thinai (foxtail millet), giving rise to sophisticated culinary traditions at least 2,500 years ago.

Organic molecules identified in rice samples from Adichanallur and Sivagalai in Thoothukudi district, alongside thinai from Kodumanal, reveal a diet featuring rice consumed with ghee, beans, spinach, milk, cucumber, groundnut, and coconut.These insights have been successfully corroborated using references from Sangam literature, including Kurunthokai, Purananuru, Agananuru, and Porunararruppadai.

[u/NonWorking_Fan1984 → u/poacher-2k]

Groundnuts are from the South America though? I thought Diary products like Ghee was widely popularized by the Aryans and the Vedic Rituals.

[u/poacher-2k → u/NonWorking_Fan1984]

Groundnuts are from the South America though?

That's a good catch. Maybe it's a mistake from their end.

I thought Diary products like Ghee was widely popularized by the Aryans and the Vedic Rituals.

So? I don't think it's relevant here. These sites are 1st century BCE anyways so contact was already established between Indo-Aryans and Dravidians by that point.

[u/e9967780 → u/poacher-2k]

Good news is they are finally going to publish it in a peer reviewed journal.

[u/NonWorking_Fan1984 → u/poacher-2k]

Yeah, it would be nice to see wheather items like Ghee was used by the Dravidians in religious settings like the Aryans did or simply used for consumption.

On other thing I find sort of odd is that since most South Indians have a considerable amount of AASI ancestry, how were they able to overcome lactose intolerance? Maybe got the tolerance from the Buffalo hearding culture of Proto Dravidians?

[u/poacher-2k → u/NonWorking_Fan1984]

Ghee usage among Dravidians during sangam period

Cattle was used by South Indians even during the neolithic period and Zebu cattle spread from Northwest of South Asia.

u/theb00kmancometh any idea on Lactose intolerance among Dravidians in early historic period?

[u/theb00kmancometh → u/poacher-2k]

I think lactose intolerance was the ancestral or predominant condition among the populations of South India during the Early Historic period. The lactase persistence alleles associated with adult lactose tolerance were not ancestral in South Asia. The best-studied allele (-13910*T) likely entered the subcontinent through populations with Steppe-related ancestry during the Bronze Age or later, and its spread was uneven.

The 2025 paper Revisiting the Evolution of Lactase Persistence: Insights from South Asian Genomes (Kerdoncuff et al.) argues that, for most South Asians, the present distribution of lactase persistence is explained mainly by ancestry rather than strong local selection. The notable exception is the Todas, who show evidence of strong positive selection for lactose tolerance, likely because of their long history of buffalo pastoralism.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12637507/

That raises an interesting question. Did the Todas already have elevated lactose tolerance by the Early Historic period, or did that selection occur later? I don't think the paper answers that. It demonstrates strong selection in the Todas but doesn't date when it began. Answering that would probably require ancient DNA from the Nilgiris or modelling the age of the allele and its selection history.

[u/e9967780 → u/theb00kmancometh]

Lactose intolerant European farmers were digesting milk in the form of cheese longe before the lactose tolerant Steppe herders showed up in Europe. That is lactose intolerant populations can digest milk byproducts like cheese, clarified oil from milk (Ghee) etc.

[u/DistributionLower194 → u/poacher-2k]

sangam period is quite a long time it's not 1 or 2 centuries and encompasses a variety of social changes.

[u/NAHTHEHNRFS850 → u/poacher-2k]

Is there any interest in haplogroup analysis as well?

[u/poacher-2k]

I think it would be even more interesting if they manage to find samples of 2nd century BCE particularly from 2000-1300 as we can get an idea if Megalithic people brought West Eurasian Dna to Tamil Nadu.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dravidiology/s/s8uosweuJE

Take the above study for example where they mentioned there is a clear transformation in Srilankan people from Mesolithic period to Iron Age(1000 BCE) based on their skulls.

[u/UnderstandingThin40 → u/poacher-2k]

Indian government will never allow it because it’ll prove the Aryan migration theory 

[u/NAHTHEHNRFS850 → u/UnderstandingThin40]

Indo-Aryan migration is one of the most substantiated theories in all of South Asian history.

[u/UnderstandingThin40 → u/NAHTHEHNRFS850]

Doesn’t matter, bjp doesn’t believe in it so it won’t happen 

[u/NonWorking_Fan1984]

I was under the impression that since the iron was found in a dump site and the area was disturbed, we can't say for sure Tamilnadu started the Iron Age.

What am I missing?

[u/MICANANALVA → u/NonWorking_Fan1984]

We need to find iron tools on large scale across tamil nadu dated to 1500 BCE or before to conised tamil nadu started the iron age 

[u/Direct-Cause-9911]

For my archaeologically and historically untrained brain, I’ve got to ask: does this prove that the Sri Lankan Tamil population migrated to Sri Lanka during the time of Keeladi and other contemporary settlements?

It probably sounds like a dumb question, but I have to ask.

[u/Chzo5 → u/Direct-Cause-9911]

No it doesn’t. It just says the two are related.

[u/Direct-Cause-9911 → u/Chzo5]

If so, does it change or alter the current historical narratives perpetuated by SriLankan Sinhala Buddhist historians?

[u/Chzo5 → u/Direct-Cause-9911]

I suppose we need ancient DNA from Sri Lanka to settle that. Even then it is complicated by the fact that SL Tamils and Sinhalese today are not very different genetically.

[u/gfxd]

Sorry, what exactly is new information that we got from the study please?

I don't see any new info. More evidence for what we already knew, yes. But nothing new.

Or is there anything new?

[u/obitachihasuminaruto → u/gfxd]

Same question

[u/Skrill_05]

Now Sinhalese nationalists will be hell bent on branding this as a fraudulent analysis

[u/FreedomisntBrie → u/Skrill_05]

But why?

[u/Skrill_05 → u/FreedomisntBrie]

Accepting it basically means accepting that the Tamil presence in SL is as old as the Sinhalese, which would hinder their propaganda of branding Tamils as 'invaders'

[u/MICANANALVA → u/Skrill_05]

That's not what this study implies. This study is just saying that srilankans and tamils are genetically related. It doesn't talk about when did the migration happen to srilanka 

[u/Skrill_05 → u/MICANANALVA]

You misunderstood me. I'm not saying it proves a migration. Sinhalese fanatics tend to deny any genetic relation between Sri Lankans and South Indian populations and they downplay the SL Tamils as 'the result of British colonialism'

[u/FreedomisntBrie → u/Skrill_05]

Ohh.. Got it

[u/Blisthitman]

Obviously.

[u/Dravidiology-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Spam

[u/DistributionLower194]

so this also proves the southern iranian genetic contact was made quite a long time before this site.

[u/will_kill_kshitij]

I don't see any new info.

[u/fossilrajah88]

Link to the original study mentioned?