“Museums are better than textbooks”: archaeologist Ravi Korisettar

In December 1884, Robert Bruce Foote, a British geologist and archaeologist, started gathering specimens at Kupgal or Peacock Hill, a couple of miles from Bellary (now Ballari) as a part of his work on the Geological Survey of India (GSI). In his notes later printed by the Madras Authorities Museum, Foote would write that this hill “proved to be an important Neolithic settlement within the nation, and essentially the most prolific in instruments of every kind and in all levels of manufacture, for it was the scale of the most important Neolithic manufacturing trade ever encountered in any a part of India. In his detailed catalog of specimens had been celts (a prehistoric stone or metallic software), adzes, hammers, hammer axes, scrapers, choppers, chisels, basalt shards, scrapers, grinders maize, millstones (a stone used for processing grains and seeds), and quite a lot of pottery objects.

Foote has traveled southern India on horseback for over 40 years gathering antiquities that make clear the area’s prehistory. By the point he started to pay shut consideration to Kupgal, he was already a pioneer within the prehistory of the subcontinent and his discovery of a Paleolithic or early Stone Age hand-axe at Pallavaram ( which is now a part of Chennai) in 1863 revolutionized the research of archeology in India.

Practically 140 years after Foote recognized Kupgal or Sanganakallu as it’s now referred to as, the 1,000-acre Neolithic website continues to stay a captivating archaeological website. When this author ascended Kupgal, the ascent was through a levee of dolerite boulders and petroglyphs made by bruising slightly than using pigments. There have been horned humpbacked bulls, a crane-like hen, and even ithyphallic human faces, intercourse scenes, and dancing figures. Among the many most notable was a whole human to climb over the precipice of a rock.

Foote’s legacy, fortified by his work at Rayalaseema and the finds at Sanganakallu itself, has now been immortalized by a museum often called the Robert Bruce Foote Sanganakallu Archaeological Museum (RBFSAM) at Ballari. Inaugurated in February 2020, the two-story construction is the brainchild of archaeologist Ravi Korisettar, who led excavations at Sanganakallu for a few years.

The bottom ground tells the story of human evolution and incorporates sections on the African roots of mankind, the prehistory of the subcontinent, the prehistory of Kalyana Karnataka (seven districts in northeastern Karnataka) and geological sources exploited by Neolithic communities within the Rayalaseema area. Primitive stone instruments utilized by these early communities are on show. The spotlight of the bottom ground exhibit are 14 replicas of our hominid ancestors donated to the museum, which incorporates the reconstructed cranium of “Lucy”, the earliest recognized ancestor of mankind relationship from round 3.2 million years outdated.

The primary ground, named after B. Subbarao, the primary excavator of Sanganakallu, options infographics and artefacts from the positioning, with data panels reconstructing the Neolithic and Iron Age durations between 2200 and 700 BCE. time. A well-liked exhibit is the reconstructed sarcophagus burial pot, described by Korisettar as a “many-legged boat-shaped burial urn” marking the rise of a posh society. It was found close to the Kudatini ashmound (mounds of intentionally heaped cattle dung, the primary monuments constructed by our Neolithic ancestors) about 20 km from Ballari. This discovering is important as a result of it was the interval, mentioned Korisettar, when “southern India noticed the emergence of irrigated agriculture, the large-scale manufacturing of fabric items for commerce and change amongst a community of Early Iron Age settlements, marking the start of urbanization”. from 1400 BCE.

In response to Korisettar, there are two broad classes of Neolithic websites within the area: Neolithic villages and ashmounds, with Sanganakallu the most important Neolithic settlement within the Iron Age, the interval from 3000 BCE to round 100 CE. Later excavations at Sanganakallu and different websites within the area have additionally supplied proof of the food plan of the inhabitants of those Neolithic settlements. For instance, Korisettar wrote that the horse gram happens within the earliest samples, on the lowest ranges at Sanganakallu.

Throughout his work, Korisettar was shocked to see large-scale granite quarries on the website. This destruction of a pure surroundings that had the potential to make clear our first ancestors prompted him to consider methods to save lots of the positioning for future generations. With this intention, Korisettar and his group started to doc the archaeological panorama whereas approaching the authorities to cease the exploitation. The general public consciousness program has resulted in some optimistic developments. An underutilized constructing was recognized for the museum with budgetary assist from successive Ballari District Chiefs who supported Korisettar’s imaginative and prescient. They’ve additionally ensured that funds are raised by the company social duty initiatives of firms akin to Jindal Metal Works, Nationwide Mineral Improvement Company and Minera Metal. Ballari residents Santosh Martin and Ahiraj Mattihalli additionally helped Korisettar obtain his dream.

Mattihalli, former journalist of The Hindu, mentioned: “Prof. Korisettar feared {that a} substantial quantity of Neolithic-era proof at Sanganakallu can be destroyed by large-scale quarrying. He realized that the positioning wanted to be protected. Within the 2021-22 finances, Rs. 5 crore has been allotted for the museum and website by the Ministry of Tourism. ”

The specimens within the museum have been painstakingly collected by Korisettar over many years. Korisettar mentioned, “Museums are higher than textbooks. My solely purpose is for the frequent man to be taught the previous in as easy a language as potential. I additionally need college students, lecturers and educated commoners to go to the museum. To this finish, it has entered into collaborations with instructional establishments within the area.

The knot

• In December 1884, Robert Bruce Foote, a British geologist, started gathering specimens at Kupgal, a couple of miles from Bellary, as a part of his work on the Geological Survey of India.

• Foote has traveled southern India on horseback for over 40 years gathering antiquities that make clear the area’s prehistory.

• Practically 140 years after Foote recognized Sanganakallu, as it’s now referred to as, the 1,000-acre Neolithic website continues to stay a captivating archaeological website.

• Foote’s legacy, fortified by his work at Rayalaseema and the discoveries of Sanganakallu itself, has now been immortalized by a museum at Ballari.

• The museum’s specimens have been painstakingly collected by archaeologist Ravi Korisettar over many years.