https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Brahmagiri_archaeological_siteBrahmagiri archaeological site - Revision history2026-07-31T20:04:00ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Brahmagiri_archaeological_site&diff=450843&oldid=prevBrigitteHosking at 13:11, 27 February 20262026-02-27T13:11:25Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Archaeological site in Karnataka, India}}<br />
{{For|other places with the same name|Brahmagiri (disambiguation){{!}}Brahmagiri}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2018}}<br />
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'''Brahmagiri''' is an [[archaeological site]] located in the [[Chitradurga district]] of the state of [[Karnataka]], [[India]].<ref name="asi">{{cite web|url=http://asi.nic.in/asi_exca_imp_karnataka.asp|work=Archaeological survey of India|title=Excavations - Important - Karnataka|access-date=2008-03-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517075246/http://asi.nic.in/asi_exca_imp_karnataka.asp#|archive-date=17 May 2008|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Legend has it that this is the site where sage [[Gautama Maharishi]] (also spelt Gauthama Maharshi) and his wife [[Ahalya]] lived. He was one among seven noted Hindu saints (Saptharshi mandalam). This site was first explored by [[Benjamin L. Rice]] in 1891, who discovered rock [[Edicts of Ashoka|edicts]] of Emperor [[Ashoka]] here. These rock edicts indicated that the locality was termed as ''Isila'' and denoted the southernmost extent of the [[Mauryan empire]].<ref name="asi"/><ref name="ama">Amalananda Ghosh (1990), p82</ref> The Brahmagiri site is a granite outcrop elevated about 180 m. above the surrounding plains and measures around 500 m east-west and 100 m north-south.<ref name="pnp">[[Peter N. Peregrine]], [[Melvin Ember]], Human Relations Area Files Inc. (2001), p367</ref> It is well known for the large number of [[megalithic]] monuments that have been found here.<ref name="gap">Kenneth A. R. Kennedy (2000), p267</ref> The earliest settlement found here has been dated to at least the 2nd millennium BC.<ref name="bc">Barbara Ann Kipfer (2000), p78</ref><br />
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==Excavation history==<br />
In 1947, [[Mortimer Wheeler]] further excavated the site on behalf of the [[Archaeological Survey of India]].<ref name="ama"/> The region was excavated again in 1956 by Seshadri and by Amalananda Ghosh in 1965 and 1978.<ref name="ama"/><br />
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==Architectural significance==<br />
Excavation has revealed medieval stone temples, pottery, [[terracota]] beads and figurines, semiprecious stones and [[megalithic]] structures.<ref name="ama"/> There have been traces of cultures: [[Microlithic culture|Microlithic]], [[Neolithic]], [[Iron Age]], [[Maurya]] and [[Chalukya]]-[[Hoysala]]. Amlanandan Ghosh named the microlithic culture as ''Roppa culture'' after the Roppa village within which the microlithic trench was located.<ref name="ama"/> He also found out that the neoliths found in this region were evidence of the occupation of this region by farming-herding communities in the pre-megalithic period.<ref name="gap"/><br />
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In 1947, Mortimer Wheeler did further excavations at Brahmagiri, found ten domestic structures and classified them as belonging to a sequence of three cultural periods: Period I - Neolithic or Neolithic-[[Chalcolithic]], Period II - [[Megalithic]] and Period III - an early historical culture.<ref name="asi"/><ref name="dic">Ian Shaw, Robert Jameson (1999), p122</ref> Brahmagiri was identified to contain a mortuary of 300 tombs with burials made in rectangular [[cist]]s, ''cist-circles'' (stones surrounding granite cists) and pit-circles. The cists also included artefacts like vessels with graffiti, stone beads and iron and copper tools.<ref name="dic"/><br />
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===Period I (Neolithic)===<br />
Wheeler dated this period to belong within the range 1st millennium B.C. to 2nd century B.C. The objects found in this period included a large number of polished stone axes made of [[dolerite]], microliths like crescents, gravers and blades made of [[jasper]], [[agate]] [[carnelian]] and [[opal]], and ornaments worn by humans like bronze rings and beads of [[magnesite]], [[agate]] and [[exoskeleton|shell]].<ref name="ama"/> Handmade vessels made of coarse grey fabric and with shapes like globular vase, shallow bowl and spouted bowl were also found. The infants who died in this period, had their body folded and were buried in urns while the adults were buried in pits in an extended way.<ref name="ama"/><br />
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===Period II (Megalithic)===<br />
Wheeler dated this period to belong within the range 2nd century B.C. to the middle of 1st century A. D. It was found that the humans who inhabited Brahmagiri during this period used iron for agricultural tools like sickles and for weapons like spears, swords and arrowheads.<ref name="ama"/> Pottery of this period were made in shapes like hemi-spherical deep bowl, funnel shaped lid, shallow dish and three-legged pots among others. The vessels appear in three kinds of fabrics: polished black and red ware, all-black ware, and bright and coarse dull-red ware.<ref name="ama"/> The burials in this period were done in stone cists or excavated pits which were surrounded by boulders arranged in the shape of a circle or concentric circles. The cists also contained funeral pots and objects like iron implements and beads.<ref name="ama"/><br />
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===Period III===<br />
Wheeler dated this period to belong within the range 2nd century B.C. to the middle of 1st century A. D. In this period, sophisticated pottery was made using fast wheels. The vessels were made in shapes like shallow dish, cups and vases, coated in a russet colour and painted with geometrical designs in white colour. Ornaments found included bangles of shell, clay, bones, glass and gold, and beads of magnesite, agate, carnelian and terracotta.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}<br />
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Recent archaeological studies in Brahmagiri identified multiple natural rock shelter inhabited by the humans and left with rock art panels assigned to the period of Iron Age.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Arjun |first1=R |date=1 September 2018 |title=Archaeological Investigations at the Brahmagiri rock shelter: Prospecting for its context in South India late prehistory and early history |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2016.12.003 |journal=Archaeological Research in Asia |language=en |volume=15 |pages=1–12 |doi=10.1016/j.ara.2016.12.003 |issn=2352-2267|url-access=subscription }}</ref> New archaeological features such as cupules are also discovered on megaliths and granite boulders.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Arjun |first1=R. |title=New approaches towards measuring cupule volume for empirical analysis: an experimental study from Brahmagiri, Southern India |journal=Current Science |date=2017 |volume=113 |issue=12 |pages=2335–2341 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/26493544 |issn=0011-3891}}</ref><br />
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==Other megalithic sites in Karnataka==<br />
* [[Morera Thatte]]<br />
* [[Sidlaphadi]] <br />
* [[Sanganakallu]] <br />
* [[Kupgal petroglyphs]]<br />
* [[Hirebenkal]]<br />
* [[Khyad]]<br />
* [[Kupgal petroglyphs]]<br />
* [[Sodhe#Prehistoric rock art|Sonda]]<br />
* [[Byse, Shimoga#History|Byse]]<br />
* [[Anegundi]]<br />
* [[South Asian Stone Age]]<br />
* [[Archaeology in India]]<br />
* [[Timeline of Indian history]]<br />
* [[List of Indus Valley Civilisation sites]]<br />
* {{section link|List of archaeological sites by country|India}}<br />
* List of archaeological sites by continent and age<br />
* {{section link|World Heritage Sites by country|India}}<br />
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==Notes==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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==References==<br />
{{Portal|India}}<br />
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*Arjun. R (1 September 2018. "Archaeological Investigations at the Brhamagiri rock shelter: Prospecting for its context in South India late prehistory and early history". Archaeological Research in Asia. 15: 1-12. [[Doi (identifier)|doi]]:10.1016/j.ara.2016.12.003. [[ISSN (identifier)|ISSN]] 2352-2267.<br />
*{{cite book |last= Ghosh|first= Amalananda|title= An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology|orig-year=1990|year= 1990|publisher= BRILL|isbn=90-04-09262-5}}<br />
*{{cite book |last= Kennedy|first= Kenneth A. R.|title= God-Apes and Fossil Men: Paleoanthropology of South Asia|orig-year=2000|year= 2000|publisher= University of Michigan Press|isbn=0-472-11013-6}}<br />
*{{cite book |author=Peter N. Peregrine |author-link=Peter N. Peregrine |author2=Melvin Ember |author3=Human Relations Area Files Inc.|title= Encyclopedia of Prehistory|orig-year=2001|year= 2001|publisher= Springer|isbn=0-306-46262-1}}<br />
*{{cite book |last=Kipfer|first=Barbara Ann|title= Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology|orig-year=2000|year= 2000|publisher= Springer|isbn=0-306-46158-7}}<br />
*{{cite book |author1=Ian Shaw |author2=Robert Jameson |title=A Dictionary of Archaeology|orig-year=1999|year= 1999|publisher= Blackwell Publishing|isbn=0-631-23583-3}}<br />
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{{Prehistoric technology}}<br />
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[[Category:Archaeological sites in Karnataka]]<br />
[[Category:Megalithic monuments in India]]<br />
[[Category:Neolithic settlements]]<br />
[[Category:Former populated places in India]]</div>BrigitteHosking