Mudumal

Mahbubnagar

Korea

Telangana

Visalakshi

Dubhe

Pulla Rao

Rao

Hyderabad Central University

Andhra Pradesh

What scholars say about discovery

Stephen

Princeton University

Yoshida

In a very significant discovery, historians and archaeologists have claimed to have discovered “undoubtedly the earliest astronomical observatory from India or even south Asia” dating back to 5000 BC.The site invillage in Telangana’s backwarddistrict is being described as the only megalithic site from India, where a depiction of star constellation has been identified.No other site in India has so many menhirs concentrated at one place, claim the historians and archaeologists. A team of archaeologists from, involving professors from a university, will be visiting the site in December to ascertain the veracity of the discovery, according to officials ofArchaeology Department.State archaeology directorinspected the site on Saturday and directed the officials to fence off the area which has been unprotected so far.Visalakshi will also submit a report to the government early this week highlighting the need to protect the site. The officials also feel the need to acquire some private land for protection of the site and to make it a tourist site.A cup-mark depiction of Ursa Major was noticed on a vertically planted squarish stone with a slanting face. About 30 cup-marks were arranged in a pattern similar to the appearance of Ursa Major in the sky. Not only the prominent seven stars, but also the peripheral groups of stars are depicted in a faithful way. An imaginary line drawn through the top two stars – Merak and- point to pole star or the North Star.The two cup-marks representing Merak and Dubhe are aligned almost exactly on north-south axis. In the days when magnetic compass was not available, people used to fix a point to identify north.Mudumal contains about 80 big menhirs as tall as 12 to 14 feet, and about 2000 alignment stones of about 1-2 feet high.These menhirs, alignments and stone circles are spread out in about 80 acres of land. The central portion contains the maximum concentration of Menhirs, explained Dr K, who has been researching the site for over 11 years. Dris a history professor at the. He was heading theDepartment of Archeology and Museums earlier.Nearly, half of the Menhirs in the central portion have fallen, but still remain in situ. Just on the eastern periphery of this concentration, there is a stone circle arranged with menhirs alternating with three or four circle stones.One of the northern stone is worshipped as ‘Thimmappa’ a male villege deity. Another shorter menhir in black stone close by is worshipped as ‘Ellamma’, a female deity, Rao told Mirror.The other menhirs scattered in the fields and exhibiting archaeo-astronomical features need protection from further damage, says Dr. Pulla Rao.The ‘Sky Map’ depicting the Ursa Major constellation is noticed on a stone found amidst the stone circles located about half a kilometer south west of the central area.Dear KP, What an exciting discovery! In a preliminary way, I would certainly agree with you that it seems likely that the rock with cup marks found in association with astronomically aligned megaliths probably depicts important stars/constellationsWith great interest I read through your paper: Archeoastronomical meaning of megalithic cupules. We sometimes find cup-marks depicted on the surfaces of rocks in the form of Ursa Major,Draco and dipper and so on. It is sure that megalithic people were aware of the regular movements of constellations as well as the celestial body and made most of them in determining their life season. In another word, they were much more cleverer and wiser than we imagine today. We are requested to exchange our results of finds and do proceed to make efforts to solve enigmas of human cultures and especially those in prehistoric ageschairman of Japan Petrograph Society