• It represents one of India's most expansive and impeccably preserved megalithic astronomical observatory sites.
• Time Period: Approximately 3500-4000 years old.
• Location: Near the banks of Krishna River in Telangana.
• Key Features
  • Considered largest megalithic burial site: In South India.
  • Depiction of Night Sky: Only site in South Asia featuring representations of night sky i.e. Tangible depictions of Ursa Major, Leo constellations etc.
  • Ancient Observatory: Menhirs (Upright Stones) are aligned with celestial events e.g. solstices, equinoxes etc.
  • Cultural Significance: Menhirs are considered sacred by local population, who refer to them as "Niluralla Thimmappa" (Thimmappa of the Standing Stones), with one particular menhir being worshipped as Goddess Yellamma.

What are Megaliths sites?

• Megaliths are large stone structures, often used as burial sites or commemorative memorials, dating back to prehistoric cultures e.g. Menhirs, Dolmen etc.
• Construction of this type of structures took place mainly in the Neolithic and continued into the Chalcolithic Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age.

Megalithic Culture in India (~ 1000BC to ~ 1^st century AD)

• The megalithic culture in South India was a full-fledged Iron Age culture.
• Megalithic culture is associated with burial sites and Black and Red ware (BRW) pottery.
  • Earliest Megalithic burials which yield first iron objects were found at Piklihal and Hallur at Brahmagiri in Karnataka.
• Types of Megalithic burials: Polylithic (Dolmen, Cairn, Cromlekh, Cist) and Monolithic (Menhir). (See infographic)
• Distribution: Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. 
  • More than 1400 Megalithic sites are known in Indian subcontinent, with 1116 of these in Peninsular India. 
• Subsistence: Initially understood as settlements of nomadic pastoralists.
  • However, evidence indicates that early Iron Age communities in far south lived on a combination of agriculture, hunting, fishing etc. suggesting sedentary living.
• Types of Pottery: Included Black and Red Ware (BRW), Red Ware, and Burnished Black Ware.