Sanganakallu () is an ancient archaeological site from the Neolithic period (circa 3000 BC). It is approximately 8 km from
Bellary
Bellary, officially Ballari, in the eponymous Bellary district, is a city in the state of Karnataka, India.
History
Bellary was a part of Rayalaseema (Ceded Districts) which was part of Madras Presidency till 1 November 1956.
The Ball ...
in eastern
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
.
It is a group of hills south of a horseshoe shaped valley, with Kupgal to the north.
It is one of the earliest settlements in
South India
South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...
, spread over 1,000 acres.
There is a layer of red-brown
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
ized soil spread over Sanganakallu and Kupgal that can be dated back to 9000 BC.
The site is considered to be a
neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
factory site due to the surface excavation revealing large numbers of pottery, stone axes, and other
stone tool
A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone Ag ...
s.
The site was first majorly excavated in 1946, by Bendapudi Subbarao, on Sannarasamma hill.
Subbarao divided their culture into 3 phases:
* Pre-
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...
, the phase when Sanganakallu was first settled, had little pottery, and the people made crude
microlith
A microlith is a small Rock (geology), stone tool usually made of flint or chert and typically a centimetre or so in length and half a centimetre wide. They were made by humans from around 35,000 to 3,000 years ago, across Europe, Africa, Asia an ...
s.
*
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...
, the phase when pottery was handmade and stone axes were mass produced.
*
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
, the phase when pottery and tools became more sophisticated.
Sanganakallu was excavated again in 1964.
Tools
The earliest tools excavated were hundreds of
patinated
Patina ( or ) is a thin layer that variously forms on the surface of copper, brass, bronze and similar metals and metal alloys (tarnish produced by oxidation or other chemical processes) or certain stones and wooden furniture (sheen produced ...
flakes made of
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
, and
quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
flakes.
In the later Mesolithic phase is when tool making became more abundant.
Stone axes,
hammer stones,
chisel
A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge (such that wood chisels have lent part of their name to a particular grind) of blade on its end, for carving or cutting a hard material such as wood, stone, or metal by hand, stru ...
s, picks, slick-stones, and
sling stones were excavated.
The axes were found in many different shapes. There were oval shaped, triangular shaped, or rectangular shaped axes and some were axes were rounded and some were thin.
The sheer number of
microlith
A microlith is a small Rock (geology), stone tool usually made of flint or chert and typically a centimetre or so in length and half a centimetre wide. They were made by humans from around 35,000 to 3,000 years ago, across Europe, Africa, Asia an ...
s is the reason Sanganakallu is considered a factory site.
Pottery
The first pottery started showing up in Mesolithic phase. The pottery was usually dull brown or black, and hand-made out of coarse clay.
Pale-gray pots made of fine clay mixed with
lime
Lime commonly refers to:
* Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit
* Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide
* Lime (color), a color between yellow and green
Lime may also refer to:
Botany ...
and
mica
Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into extremely thin elastic plates. This characteristic is described as perfect basal cleavage. Mica is ...
were also excavated.
The pottery from the later
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
period were more fine, thin, and polished.
They were all burnt and wheel turned.
The ornamental pottery was decorated in a finger groove pattern and a few shards were found painted purple.
A few pots were perforated and the significance of that is not yet known.
1964 excavation
In this excavation, a one room Neolithic circular house was excavated.
The wall was made with bamboo and clay and the floor was covered in potholes.
There was a hearth in the center of the house, and there is evidence of it being burned.
Other than the house structure, a few
terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, a ...
figurines in the shape of birds or bulls were also found as well as more
stone tool
A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone Ag ...
s and pottery.
Animal remains were also collected, the majority of which were cow bones.
Earliest agriculturists
The people who settled at Sanganakallu were early agriculturists, who cultivated small
millet
Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets al ...
s and
pulses
In medicine, a pulse represents the tactile arterial palpation of the cardiac cycle (heartbeat) by trained fingertips. The pulse may be palpated in any place that allows an artery to be compressed near the surface of the body, such as at the nec ...
.
They kept sheep, cattle, and had separate areas for dumping dung (
ash mounds).
It is hypothesized these ash mounds were for burning cow dung possibly in a ritual manner.
See also
*
Brahmagiri archaeological site
Brahmagiri is an archaeological site located in the Chitradurga district of the state of Karnataka, India. Legend has it that this is the site where sage Gautama Maharishi (also spelt Gauthama Maharshi) and his wife Ahalya lived. He was one amon ...
*
Kupgal petroglyphs
The Kupgal petroglyphs are works of rock art found at Kupgal in Bellary district of Karnataka, India. Thousands of petroglyphs have been found at Kupgal, which date to the neolithic or even the old stone age. The site, which includes examples ...
*
Hirebenkal
Hirebenakal or Hirébeṇakal or Hirébeṇakallu (ಹಿರೇಬೆಣಕಲ್ಲು in Kannada) is a megalithic site in the state of Karnataka, India. It is among the few megalithic sites in India that can be dated to the 800 BCE to 200 B ...
*
Sidlaphadi
''Sidlaphadi'' near Badami in Karnataka, is a natural rock bridge and prehistoric rock shelter. It is located at about four km. in the middle of a shrub jungle near the historic town of Badami. A bridle and kutcha path through sandstone hills ...
*
Khyad
*
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
*
South Asian Stone Age
The South Asian Stone Age covers the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods in South Asia. Evidence for the most ancient ''Homo sapiens'' in South Asia has been found in the cave sites of Cudappah of India, Batadombalena and Belilena in ...
*
Kupgal petroglyphs
The Kupgal petroglyphs are works of rock art found at Kupgal in Bellary district of Karnataka, India. Thousands of petroglyphs have been found at Kupgal, which date to the neolithic or even the old stone age. The site, which includes examples ...
*
Sonda
*
Byse
*
Anegundi
Anegundi previously called Kishkindha is a village in the Gangavathi taluk, Koppal district in the Indian state of Karnataka, It is older than Hampi, situated on the northern bank of the Tungabhadra River. Huchappayana matha temple (with bla ...
See also
*
Archaeology in India
Archaeology in India is mainly done under the supervision of Archaeological Survey of India.
History
12th century Indian scholar Kalhana's writings involved recording of local traditions, examining manuscripts, inscriptions, coins and archite ...
*
Timeline of Indian history
This is a timeline of Indian history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in India and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of India. See also the list of governor ...
*
List of Indus Valley Civilisation sites
*
List of archaeological sites by country#India
*
List of archaeological sites by continent and age
This list of archaeological sites is sorted by continent and then by the age of the site. For one sorted by country, see the list of archaeological sites by country.
Asia
Palaeolithic
Lower
* Azykh, Azerbaijan
* Barda Balka, Iraq
* Berekhat ...
*
World Heritage Sites by country#India
References
{{Authority control
Archaeological sites in Karnataka
Megalithic monuments in India
Neolithic settlements