dated between c. 3345 and 2953 BCE. These dates are disputed, as rice samples from an intact burial urn containing iron artefacts at the same site yielded significantly later dates of c. 1248 and 1155 BCE. Scholars have questioned the early dates due to stratigraphic disturbance, mixing of materials from different periods, and the selective emphasis on the earliest charcoal samples, noting that such a wide chronological range is archaeologically implausible.

Recent excavations at Mayiladumparai in