A volunteer’s chance sighting of a few artefacts during the All India Synchronised Asian Elephant Census in May this year led to the discovery of a Neolithic and Megalithic site in Bandipur National Park.
The discovery was made by S.G. Ramadas Reddy, Head of the History Department, Government First Grade College in Kuvempunagar, who followed up on the reports of A. Santosh, a guest faculty in the same college.
The sites were discovered very close to the existing Beladakuppe Mahadeshwara temple in the Hediyala range.
“We discovered a grinding stone at a short distance from the temple and walking further led to the discovery of a megalithic cist burial. However, these have been disturbed considerably,” he added. Besides, there was a stone axe, believed to belong to the Neolithic age, and all the artefacts are 3,000 years to 5,000 years, according to Dr. Reddy.
Some of the megalithic stone tools measure upto 15 cm, while the slab stones in the burial sites measure about 10 feet in length, 5 feet in breadth. These were surface explorations within a limited area close to the temple, as there is no entry into the forests, which is a notified tiger reserve.
However, the team did not discover any habitation site though it may be inside the forests where people cannot venture. He said there were similar sites close to Chikkabaragi forests and Benkahalli colony close inside Bandipur bordering Nanjangud taluk.
Similar artefacts and tools have been registered in the past at Molakalmuru, Ayarahalli in Mysuru besides in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, said Dr. Reddy.