Rewind to the Stone Age

Heritage

The Biligirirangana Hill shrine is situated at the point where the Western and Eastern hill ranges meet. The hill is at the southern tip of Karnataka, home to a wide variety of flora and fauna, from wild bees to bisons, tigers, deer and elephants.

The hills, peaks and the dense forest here are home to ancient secrets. There are pre-historic stone burial sites here. It is said that pre-historic man lived in Chamarajanagar, Yellandur and Kollegal taluk. Excavations conducted between 1867 and 1917 bring this fact to light.

There are many pre-historic structures in the forest that lead to the BR hills en route to Yellandur. These stone structures document the life and times of the early man. Experts have divided the stone age history of South India into two categories. The first period is the Old Stone Age. Pre-historic man of that group used implements made of stone, because he had no knowledge of earthen pots and metals. The practice was to arrange stones and boulders one atop the other and use it for shelter.

Early man of the New Stone Age period used sharp stones as weapons. He also shaped clay into earthen pots.  The early man had no knowledge of pottery, according to researchers.

The burial sites of early man hold a mirror unto the kind of life he lived in pre-historic times. Archaelogists and historians have noted that there were two types of burial sites, found in today’s Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

The first kind was where burial sites have big-sized stones or boulders placed together, while the other type of burial site has square-shaped or rectangular stone slabs placed in a parallel manner, with another slab placed horizontally atop the vertical slabs. Next to the burial site, can be spotted pieces of pottery, or stone and iron tools.

Part of the Soliga belief system

The areas where Soligas live, including hamlets called Purani Podu, Mutthugada Podu, K. Gudi, Kanneri Colony still have pre-historic burial sites. Tribals of the region have a tradition of identifying the boundaries of the forest, based on their own beliefs. They are also known to worship the burial sites.

There are stone burial sites in places inside the Soliga area, which go by the names of Kombarana Kola, Henekere, Kundanimatta, Gantedibba and Gottigere. There are nearly 200 stone structures near Mutthugada Gadde Podu (hamlet). Near Ganallimatta, the number of stone structures shoot up to nearly one thousand.

The stone implements, pieces of pottery and other evidence of a pre-historic past discovered here during the excavations conducted in the past have been safeguarded in the Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana Kendra premises.

The stone structures found in the region are said to belong to 1,500 BC, which means they reflect a way of life that is nearly 3,500 years old. Several stone structures still found in the midst of the thick forest here need to be conserved by the Department of Archaeology.