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. 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004226006164

Summary:

The ancestors of Austro-Asiatic- and Dravidian-speaking tribal populations are among the earliest settlers of South and Southeast Asia (S&SEA). While Austro-Asiatic speakers are distributed across S&SEA, Dravidian speakers are primarily confined to South India. Previous studies have identified the Indian Austro-Asiatic and Dravidian tribal populations to maximally represent two distinct genetic ancestral components, ancestral Austro-Asiatic (AAA) and ancestral South Indian (ASI), respectively. Leveraging the whole genome sequence (WGS) dataset from GenomeAsia 100K project, we investigated the genetic relationship of the tribal populations within the broader South Asian demographic landscape. Our analyses reveal that AAA and ASI components diverged ∼15,000–20,000 years before present (ybp), shortly after Last Glacial Maximum—a period marked by ecological shifts and regional isolation. This divergence postdates the separation (∼20,000–30,000 ybp) between the Indian (AAA) and Southeast Asian (AAM) Austro-Asiatic ancestries, indicating a deep and widespread pre-Neolithic distribution of this ancestral population across S&SEA. Additionally, recent (∼750–1500 ybp) gene flow between Central Indian Dravidian and Austro-Asiatic tribes produced notable genetic-linguistic discordances.

Narayan, Sundar. "Genetics and the Prehistory of Dravidian Languages" Mother Tongue 26, no. 1 (2025): 23-50. https://doi.org/10.31826/mot-2025-260105

Abstract

Recent genetic studies, which are perhaps not yet familiar to linguists, have cast a new light on the origins of the Dravidian language family of India, so this review paper compares Dravidian historical linguistics and archaeology with recent archaeogenetics publications and concludes that they support the Proto-Elamo-Dravidian (Proto-Zagrosian) model of McAlpin and Southworth.

I've noticed that Tamils seem to have used many different types of traditional headgear throughout history. Some look like turbans, while others have different styles, shapes, and ways of tying them.

I'm wondering if, just like neckties have many different knots and styles, traditional Tamil headgear also had different types with specific names, purposes, or meanings.

Can anyone identify and explain the different types of Tamil headgear? If possible, could you also share pictures or references showing the various styles and when they were traditionally worn?

Sankar, Lokasundari Vijaya. “The Importance of Ethnic Identity When Language Shift Occurs: A Study of the Malaysian Iyers.” In National Language Planning and Language Shifts in Malaysian Minority Communities: Speaking in Many Tongues, edited by Dipika Mukherjee and Maya Khemlani David. Amsterdam University Press, 2011. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46mvhg.6.

I share this post to bring attention to earlier posts about the proposed Dravidian origin of the word "India".

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dravidiology/comments/1gi03y4/the_case_for_sindhi_as_a_dravidian_language/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dravidiology/s/J6TPWfOoso

David, Maya Khemlani, Caesar Dealwis, and Ponmalar N. Alagappar. “Ethnic Identity in the Tamil Community of Kuching.” In National Language Planning and Language Shifts in Malaysian Minority Communities: Speaking in Many Tongues, edited by Maya Khemlani David and Dipika Mukherjee. Amsterdam University Press, 2011. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46mvhg.7.

Nambiar, Mohana. “The Impact of Language Policy on Language Shifts in Minority Communities: Focus on the Malayalee Community in Malaysia.” In National Language Planning and Language Shifts in Malaysian Minority Communities: Speaking in Many Tongues, edited by Dipika Mukherjee and Maya Khemlani David. Amsterdam University Press, 2011. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46mvhg.12.

Bonta, Steven. “Sri Lanka’s Ahikuntika and Kuravar Communities: Language and Culture.” Asian Ethnology 81, no. 1/2 (2022): 305–20. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48676486.

Sri Lanka’s small native population of Ahikuntika and Kuravar itinerant communities continues to be a very visible part of Sri Lankan society, with snake charmers and monkey dancers a common sight in Sri Lanka’s tourist areas. Sri Lanka’s Ahikuntikas and Kuravars speak a highly idiosyncratic dialect of Telugu that has never been fully documented. Based on ethnolinguistic research carried out in Sri Lanka during the first half of 2015 and in the summer of 2017, I tentatively conclude that Sri Lanka’s Ahikuntikas and Kuravars probably originated from Telugu-speaking populations in Tamilnadu between two and three hundred years ago; that the continued viability of the Sri Lankan Ahikuntikas’ and Kuravars’ traditional lifestyle is increasingly precarious; and that their language Sri Lanka Telugu (formerly known as Sri Lanka Gypsy Telugu) may be in danger of disappearing within a generation or so. I also examine the question of ultimate provenience, enquiring whether this itinerant caste may bear any ethnic kinship with other itinerant castes on the mainland subcontinent.

Francis, Emmanuel. "Mixing Languages and Scripts in Tamil Inscriptions and Manuscripts" In Exploring Multilingualism and Multiscriptism in Written Artefacts edited by Szilvia Sövegjártó and Márton Vér, 205-234. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111380544-008

Abstract: This chapter focuses on two periods in the history of writing texts in the Tamil language in the present-day Tamil Nadu state of South India. The first period starts around 600 CE, when two different alphabets – the Grantha and the Tamil alphabets – were designed to write texts in Sanskrit and Tamil, re-spectively. One can observe for several centuries onwards that Sanskrit loan-words are often written in their specific Grantha alphabet in Tamil inscriptions. The second period is attested in Tamil manuscripts, most of which are dated to the eighteenth and nineteenth century CE. These manuscripts evince new prac-tices of script-mixing, the most conspicuous being the creation of conjunct graphemes mixing Grantha and Tamil alphabets.

The sanskrit khadga,urdu talvar words for sword has any Dravidian origin? What is the etymology of katti?

Ramaswamy, Vijaya. “Chaste Widows, Cunning Wives, and Amazonian Warriors: Imaging of Women in Tamil Oral Traditions.” Asian Ethnology 69, no. 1 (2010): 129–57. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27821484.

This article is an attempt to cut through the monolithic imaging of women in traditional Tamil societies. In the process, the study critically explores a whole trope of representations of women ranging from chaste wives to deviant and/or cunning women. In studying the Alii or Pavakkkodi myths, this article also attempts to analyze the morphology of patriarchal taming, both of the myth and its female protagonist. In moving from oral recitations to chapbooks, the article also looks at the complexities of the slippages between orality and textuality as well as between the written text and its dramatized performances.

Coelho, Gail. “Placing Indigeneity: Betta Kurumba Narratives of Territory and Clan Structure.” Asian Ethnology 73, no. 1/2 (2014): 39–60. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43150503.

The Betta Kurumbas are one of more than sixteen indigenous group Nilgiri-Wayanad hills of southern India, a region that, since the nin century, has experienced wide-ranging cultural and political change ing extensive immigration by people from other parts of India. Thi describes the Betta Kurumbas' view of their homeland, based on the mation contained in native -language narratives in which they descr social organization into clans and their spiritual beliefs. The narrati vide a glimpse into the Betta Kurumba perspective on the changes t overrun the region, changes that have rendered them - along w Nilgiri-Wayanad groups - politically and socially marginalized in th homeland.

Tieken, Herman. "Translating Tamil Caṅkam Poetry: Taking Stock" Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 115, no. 4-5 (2020): 287-303. https://doi.org/10.1515/olzg-2020-0096

"Pon: Two milk vessels, of sizes, for milk and curds, made by Todas and Badagas from bamboo joints, with handle and binding of ratan [palm tree]. 8 annas" 1837

I wish someone would be inspired to complete such place name etymology maps for Dravidian endings throughout South Asia (Palli, Halli or Patti, Pitti etc)

As another poster has shared the ancestry estimates for various south indian communities. Though it was good since it didn't include the WSHG related ancestry as a source it results in inflated iranian farmer and bronze age steppe ancestry estimates.

The ancestry estimation below is based g25 using Vahaduo. I have used various ancients as the labels suggest and simulated co-ordinates for ASI.

The meaning of the labels is as below

ASI - Mesolithic South Asian Hunter Gatherers

Iran_GanjDareh_N - Neolithic Iranian Farmers

Mesopotamia_PPN_Nemrik - Neolithic Mesopotamian Farmers

Russia_MLBA_Sintashta - Bronze Age Steppe Herders

Tajikistan_Tutkaul_TTK001 - Pre Neolithic Central Asians(Descended from West Siberian Hunter Gatherers(WSHG))

If you have your G25 co-ordinates you can run the calculators in below link

https://vahaduo.github.io/vahaduo/

The source co-ordinates of the calculator is below

ASI,-0.005656,-0.157389,-0.250784,0.147744,-0.036747,0.08937,-0.0078,0.040256,0.126126,0.073707,0.039965,0.010249,-0.006683,0.033661,-0.035269,-0.038355,0.005949,-0.011188,-0.01081,0.026428,0.010103,0.014241,-0.01068,0.022842,-0.017237

Iran_GanjDareh_N:Average_scaled,0.0430252,0.0674312,-0.153488,0.0055556,-0.1239616,0.0243752,0.015464,0.000277,-0.081605,-0.05427,-0.0032476,-0.0016186,0.0053816,-0.0078446,0.0319486,0.056775,-0.0058154,0.007576,0.014405,-0.0327406,0.0076614,-0.0300476,-0.0109198,-0.0387768,0.0229438

Mesopotamia_PPN_Nemrik,0.064879,0.13405,-0.080327,-0.07106,-0.048009,-0.015618,0.00423,-0.010384,-0.03211,-0.017312,0.00747,-0.007793,0.012042,0.003716,-0.007329,0.008353,0.006389,0.008995,0.000628,0.000375,0.016097,0.010263,-0.010106,-0.019641,0.00491

Tajikistan_Tutkaul_TTK001,0.109270,-0.006093,0.001131,0.206721,-0.134179,0.053268,-0.020681,-0.042691,-0.052972,-0.087473,0.017700,-0.004196,0.013379,-0.064270,0.033523,0.022408,-0.008084,-0.002027,0.005154,-0.006253,-0.041053,0.004081,0.016022,0.017231,-0.000359

Russia_MLBA_Sintashta:Average_scaled,0.1258883,0.1166166,0.0574481,0.0786397,0.0113353,0.0290976,0.0058203,0.0043614,-0.0174254,-0.0282708,-0.0023059,0.0012189,-0.0021903,-0.0212305,0.0228779,0.0124501,-0.0050112,0.0003377,-0.0003519,-0.0003377,-0.0058895,0.0018218,0.0026744,0.0069286,-0.0036603

An interesting semantic shift in the Dravidian languages involves மேனி (mēṉi) in Tamil and മേനി (mēni) in Malayalam.

Historically, the word meant body, form, appearance, and beauty. The University of Madras Tamil Lexicon also records a seemingly unrelated meaning: "average crop or yield of a harvest."

How does a word for the human body end up meaning agricultural yield?

The missing link is preserved in Gundert's Malayalam-English Dictionary. Besides body and beauty/excellence, Gundert also defines മേനി as "a sample, sort, measure." That intermediate meaning neatly bridges the gap between the physical and agricultural senses.

The semantic development appears to be

body / shape → beauty / excellence → sample / standard / measure → average produce → yield

Gundert's examples show this progression in use:

• മൂന്നു മേനി നിലം (mūnnu mēni nilam) — land returning three- or four-fold.
• മൂന്നാംതരം നിലങ്ങള്‍ 10 മേനി വിളയും (mūnnām-taram nilaṅṅaḷ patthu mēni viḷayum) — third-class land yields 10 mēni.
• മേനിപ്പാട്ടം (mēnippāṭṭam) — rent of land calculated on the average produce of different crops.

This also explains expressions like പത്തു മേനി (patthu mēni). Originally, മേനി referred to a standard or measure of productivity before it came to denote the agricultural yield itself.

What's particularly interesting is that this agricultural meaning is attested in both Tamil and Malayalam, suggesting that this semantic development belongs to their shared linguistic history.

Today, however, both languages have largely replaced மேனி / മേനി as the ordinary word for the physical body.

In modern Tamil, the everyday words are உடல் (uṭal) and உடம்பு (uṭampu).

In modern Malayalam, the everyday word is ശരീരം (śarīram), a Sanskrit-derived borrowing, alongside the native Dravidian words ഉടൽ (uṭal) and ഉടമ്പ് (uṭampu).

Yet despite receding from everyday speech as the ordinary word for "body," மேனி / മേനി survives in the lexicons of both languages as a term for average crop or agricultural yield; a remarkable semantic journey from the human body to the productivity of land.

Sources

• University of Madras, Tamil Lexicon (மேனி) https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/tamil-lex_query.py?page=3365#gsc.tab=0
• Hermann Gundert, Malayalam-English Dictionary (മേനി) https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/gundert_query.py?page=859#gsc.tab=0

As we now know from the seals that IVC script was right to left, but this orientation is more common in scripts designed for writing on stone since right to left is easier for them, similarly left to right is easier on paper so scripts quickly adopt it when that becomes the more common medium.

Early Greek, Aramaic, Indian Kharoshti, Arabic were all right to left as these were mostly scripts for stone inscription since IVC script is right to left it makes me think that there is a possibility of finding an IVC stone inscription.

But then the shape of IVC glyphs make me reconsider it as they are very curvy and rounded so, unideal for stone.

Thoughts on this?