Shivamogga – New Stone Age

By Meera

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Shivamogga is considered to be the Gateway to Malnad with its vast forests, waterfalls, and heavy monsoons. But the verdant district hides a very ancient past when humans were still learning to develop stone tools and implements. Now how many of you know that this district has more than 25 stone age settlements.

 

Tool from new stone age era

The State Archaeological Museums and Heritage Department, Shivamogga has been very active and found many tools and implements from the New Stone Age era across the district. These findings have denoted that human settlements flourished in this district thousands and thousands of years ago.

 
I have already written about the finding of a Menhir in Bhadravati but adding to this, this taluk is also home to 10 “Stone Age '' settlements. And Assistant Director, R Shejeshwara further informed me that the recent discovery of one more settlement reveals its significance and importance in the study of human habitation in this part of the state.

 

The place where it was found

A Neolithic Stone Age tool was discovered at Kasaba Kallahalli village and this has been a very exciting time for them. This was found nearby a stone hill which revealed how people 2500 years ago - based their settlements near water sources and hills. This was basically to protect themselves from adverse weather conditions as also to take up farming and maybe, shun a nomadic life.

 

The rocky hill now called Kochina Kalluhalla in Bhadravati has been identified by experts as an important place inhabited by Stone Age people. Presently, the quarry that is near the ancient site is closed and so that probably saved the ancient settlement. 

   

Today, one cannot see these stone-age settlements in this semi-Malnad area as they have been buried and lost with areca nut plantations and farms flourishing here. According to the museum authorities, this stone-age tool was discovered in one of their surveys but with active support from the local people.

 

The place where it was found

The tool was found at the basal level in the sugarcane plantations of Venkatesha, a farmer. Further, local people informed the officials that a few years ago, apart from this, they had also found pottery shards and a hand axe at Basavamati village. But now these stone-age tools have gone missing as they were dumped elsewhere – an unknown place. This happened due to their lack of knowledge about such rare new stone age findings in their midst.

 

So, only one new stone age tool is to be seen now which is a black dyke stone. The Stone Axe is 17 cm long and 6 cm wide and has a sharp cutting edge. During those days, it was used for digging and slicing tuber potatoes and also for cutting down trees.

 

Shejeshwara informs that during the Neolithic Stone Age period, humans made polished stone tools, pots with wheels, grilled earthen pots for storing grains, meat, and other drinks, crafted baskets, animal husbandry, early tillage so that they could endure their life as nomads. And, the period of this human settlement is based on the discovered stone tool.

 

The earliest known ancient rock formations date back to 2500 BC to 1800 BC and they have been found at 27 places in Shivamogga district so far. The 10 Stone Age settlements in Bhadravati include Anaveri, Asokanagara, Nagasamudara, Bhagavatara, Bhagavati Gonibidu and BR Project base. So, if you are thinking that you can take a trip to these places, forget it as modern humans have wiped the footprints and continue to flourish in these bygone settlements.

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