With due respects to Acharya Shankara, Adi Shankaracharya and more by similar names, I am curious to know the antiquity of Sringeri and Kudali on the banks of Tunga and Tungabhadra. Sringeri as i understand has least or poetic connection with Rishya Shrinshiga. It is traditional belief that Adi Shankaracharya from Keralam wanted to settle down for some time on banks of Tunga/ Tungabhadra. Whether he set up any Ashrama/ Matha here has no historical links to know.
Some say, the name Sringeri comes from one Sringara Bhatta, an accompaniment of Vidyaranya Swami, who is said to have removed his miserable Pretatva. Earlier to Vidyaranya, possibly Madhava Vidyaranya, who flourished in about 1450 CE, there was no established Shankara Pitha/ Matha, since it was presumably a Jain Center of learning. Earlier history of Advaita Matha here says, Swamis used to shift between Sringeri and Kudali.
Some even say, the Matha institution came only after 1450 in South India. There was a monument for Vidya Shankara Tirtha/Vidya Tirtha built on banks of Tunga by 1400. It has Samadhi of Vidyashankara Swami, with several Jain and Vaishnava figurines and architecture of those times. Tradition says the Sharadamba shrine adjasent to this structure was built several times, first with a golden image of Sharadamba, later Sandalwood image and now a bronze replica installed by around 1850.
