Bannerghatta Dolmens – The Need For Studies And Protection

By Meera

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The dating of the dolmens of Bannerghatta is a bit hazy and they are said to belong to the early Neolithic period that is 4000 to 3000 BC. It is amazing how they have survived all these years on hills that are frequented by wildlife and humans and of course, stone thieves.  On a trail across the Doddibetta hill ranges, the existence of large herbivores and carnivores can be clearly seen.

A view of more dolmens on the northern part of the hill

One of my friends who is a historian says the Bannerghatta tombs are encased with smaller stones to form a mound of earth. However, due to many reasons like weathering and of course, stealing of stones by local people and plundering by miners, the ancient structures have withered away. Therefore, one is left to see only a semblance of the original tomb or burial mound in various stages of degradation.

Some dolmens are intact some have been looted by local people for building their houses

Since the Bannerghatta dolmens has not garnered the interest of the Archaeological Survey of India or even the State Archaeology department, no studies have been made to know when and how these dolmens were erected on these vast hill ranges amid dense forests. Your heart bleeds at the condition of the dolmens even as the people of this city have not taken any pride or interest to protect these ancient monuments.

Now why so many dolmens have been erected on one of these hills is a big mystery. On one side of the hill, near the viewing tower is one big dolmen while as one walks further, there is a set of seven or eight. Europe is said to have dolmens that are 7000 years old while the dolmens that are found across Karnataka are yet to be studied and documented and develop it as a tourist interest.

Two dolmens in another part

Walking across the hills that have now turned slippery, I imagined the reason for so many burial tombs at one high place. It may have been due to some important people of a ruling family who were all placed and buried together. Now why did they climb these hills amid the teeming wildlife to erect them is another mystery?

When one takes a closer look, the chambers are now hollow where maybe, people were buried, maybe not full length as they are not so big. Burial chambers in ancient times were usually filled with memorabilia of the dead and if this one big chamber was of a chieftain, it would have been filled with some artifacts and differed a bit from the smaller ones but who is to decipher as everything is all now dead and gone.

Dolmens stone pieces lying all over

As I peered around the structures and took a deep look at some long chambers, I am left wondering as at many places around the world, skeleton remains with some artifacts have been found. But here nothing has been found or recorded and it is difficult to either date them or even know the age or period when these burial tombs were installed or built by our ancient ancestors.

A view of the mined hills from Doddibetta

A parting shot from my friend and he says, “You should have come earlier, maybe 40-50 years back as these dolmens were still intact. However, villagers have plundered these ancient burial chambers for building their houses without realizing the importance or significance of these heritage structures. Nobody is bothered or interested whether they are 5000-6000 years old as everybody is interested in carrying away these granite stones for whatever purpose they need.