The Hindu : Front Page : Iron Age burial site discovered

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Wednesday, Sep 10, 2008
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Iron Age burial site discovered

K. Venkateshwarlu

HYDERABAD: The State Department of Archaeology and Museums has stumbled upon a significant Iron Age burial site at Kethepalli near Ramoji Film City, that could push back the historicity of Hyderabad and surrounding areas to 500 BC.

P. Chenna Reddy, Director of Archaeology and Museums, who led a team of archaeologists told The Hindu that they found the site studded with cairn circles recently. When excavated, there was a possibility of recovering skeletal remains, black and red ware and iron implements typifying the Iron Age, also referred to as megalithic burials.

“The discovery of such archaeological evidences shows that the history of the city and environs goes much beyond Kakatiya and Qutb Shahi periods,” Prof. Reddy said. The burial spot was on a five-acre patta land in Sy. No.124, in the possession of B. Mallaiah of the same village in Hayathnagar mandal of Ranga Reddy district, just off the Hyderabad- Vijaywada highway. On the face of it, the site was datable to 500 B.C, but unless systematic excavations were carried out, further details would not be known, he added.

Similar burials

In a way, the latest archaeological find adds to the discovery of similar burials at Moulali, Hashmathpet (Boewenpalli), Kothaguda and Hyderabad Central University campus near Lingampalli.

The burials at Moulali were excavated by the then Department of Archaeology of the Nizam’s Dominion in 1935 and the ones at Hashmathpet were opened and studied by the Birla Archaeological and Cultural Research Institute in 1978. Both the places yielded iron implements and pottery reflecting the material culture of the Iron Age people. After the Department of Archaeology and Museums revived opening of the burials at Hashmathpet and Hyderabad Central University campus during 2001 and 2002, valuable artefacts including iron implements, human bones and pottery were recovered.

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