MEGALITHS OF HIREBENKAL
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| THE AMAZING MEGALITHIC SITE OF HIREBENKAL.
10 kms from Gangavati Talluk in Koppal district and about a 35 kms from Hosepet near Hirebenkal village in North Karnataka lies the most spectacular megaliths on a rocky hilltop. They are hundreds of them and they are the most amazing megalithic monuments in the country with no known parallels.
The site consists of several buried and semi-buried dolmens called cists and dolmenoid cists arranged in circles and cairns . Many dolmens here have remained intact and many have been destroyed. The dolmens are huge with three-sided chambers with or without portholes and are crowned with large flat capstones.
No burial remains now have been found as they may have been washed away in the rain. However implements like iron slags suggesting smelting of iron and potsherds from the pre-megalithic to the historical period have been unearthed.
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The monuments are dated between 800 to 200 BCE.
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| ONE HUGE THREE-SIDED CHAMBERED DOLMEN. photo courtesy ancient-tides.blogspot.com |
A stone kettledrum resting on a 10-meter high boulder has also been found at the site. If beaten with a stone or wooden hammer, the drum gives off a sound that can be distinctly heard 1 km away.
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Hirebenkal has also revealed Neolithic rock art. Atleast 10 rock art shelters containing paintings in red and ochre depicting people dancing, hunting people with weapons and people in processions have also been discovered. Paintings also reveal deer, peacocks, humped bulls, cows and even enigmatic geometrical designs.
The site is very difficult to reach with steep climb and thorny bushes all over. The locals call the hillock "elu guddagalu" or the seven hillocks.
©Subhahsis Das
Comments
What we have found is pottery, necessary in trade and transport, tools needed for mining, arrows heads for defense. Aligned and oriented sites needed for navigation.
The incidences of megalithic sites, very similar in design, and generally appearing along ancient trade routes and mining activities begs further research. Goods from bitumen, obsidian, jade, worked flint, pottery, and luxury items such as incense and spice have been transported throughout the prehistoric world. Perhaps they served as markers, boarders, and defense lines, weigh stations, processing centers, and housing for migrant workers .
It is too easy to view the present as a culmination of past events rather than a continuation....
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