Hire Benakal
Hirebenakal or Hirébeṇakal or Hirébeṇakallu (ಹಿರೇಬೆಣಕಲ್ಲು in Kannada) is a megalithic site in the state of Karnataka, India. It is among the few megalithic sites in India that can be dated to the 800 BCE to 200 BCE period. The site is located in the Koppal district, some west of the town of Gangavati and some from Hospet city. It contains roughly 400 megalithic funerary monuments, that have been dated to the transition period between Neolithic period and the Iron Age. Known locally (in the Kannada language) as eḷu guḍḍagaḷu (or 'the seven hills'), their specific name is moryar guḍḍa (or 'the hill of the moryas"). Hirebenakal is reported to be the largest necropolis among the 2000 odd megalithic sites found in South India, most of them in the state of Karnataka. Since 1955, it has been under the management of the Dharwad circle of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). On May 19, 2021, it was proposed that Hirebenakal be made a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Geography The funerary monuments are located on a rocky range of seven hills. The site lies to the left of the Tungabhadra River. Covered with thorny bushes and slippery scattered boulders, the climb to the site is difficult, with no paths for a goat track. In addition, a rivulet has to be crossed. A perennial source of water has been found in the form of a lake and an old quarry site discovered nearby has been postulated to be the source for the materials used to build the Hirebenakal monuments. Hirebenakal village can be reached, via the state highway, from the towns of Gangavathi, Hospet and Koppal. The nearest railway station to the site is Gangavathi. History This site was built more than 2000 years ago, with many of its megalithic structures dated to between 800 BCE and 200 BCE. The Iron Age is estimated to have spanned more than 1000 years (from 1200 BCE to 200 CE) in this portion of India. The port-holed chamber in the western group of the Hirebenakal area has been compared to similar finds at Rajankolur. The first published reports on Hirebenakal were those in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1835, by Philip Meadows Taylor, who was under the service of the Nizam of Hyderabad. For over a century afterwards, no further systematic study of the site was conducted. Between 1944 and 1948, Sir Mortimer Wheeler undertook archaeological excavations; these were supplemented by Adiga Sundara and were published in 1975. In his publication, "The Early Chamber Tombs of South India: A Study of the Iron Age Megalithic Monuments of North Karnataka", Sundara's cataloguing describes details of 300 megalithic burial chambers at a site which was surrounded by thick forest. Andrew Bauer of the Department of Anthropology at Stanford University has carried out investigations in recent years and identified about 1000 different types of antiquaries within an area of about . His findings describe anthropomorphic funerary structures, menhirs, and circle-shaped stone fences. Bauer states in