Vital find: The 3,000-year-old iron age Geoglyph circle discovered in Mudichu Thalapalli of Medchal-Malkajgiri district. Photo: Special Arrangement
A geoglyph in the form of a circle, said to be 3,000 years old, has been unearthed on the outskirts of Mudichu Thalapalli in the Medchal-Malkajgiri district of Telangana.
Etched on a low-lying granitoid hillock, the geoglyph spans 7.5 metres in diameter and has a perfect circular shape. Surrounding the circle is a 30-centimetre-wide rim, and within the circle are two triangles.
Archaeologist and CEO of Pleach India Foundation E. Sivanagireddy visited the spot on Sunday with a team and examined the geoglyph. They termed it a first-of-its-kind discovery in Telangana.
Seeking to determine the age of the geoglyph, Dr. Sivanagireddy reached out to professor Ravi Korisettar, a prehistoric rock art expert, who dated the geoglyph to the Iron Age, specifically around 1000 BCE. He suggested that this circle might have served as a model for megalithic communities in planning their circular burial sites.
Noting the archaeological significance of the geoglyph, which displays the artistic skills and etching techniques of Telangana’s Iron Age inhabitants, the team appealed to the residents of Moodu Chintalapalli village to protect the location.
Sanathana, a research associate at Pleach India Foundation, said the site could be developed into an archaeological tourism destination, comparable to the renowned Konkan petroglyph sites in the Ratnagiri zone of Maharashtra. The site is only 30-40 kilometres from Hyderabad and Secunderabad, making it easily accessible to tourists.
Prehistoric rock shelters found
Additionally, the team identified several grooves, which they believe to be from the Neolithic period, dating to 4000 BCE, located five metres away from the geoglyph.
Also, within one-kilometre radius of the geoglyph’s location, they discovered three prehistoric rock shelters adorned with depictions of bulls, deer, porcupines and human figures wearing masks. According to the team, these artworks date to Mesolithic and Megalithic periods.
