2 Munn, Ancient Mines and Megaliths in Hyderabad 



The stone circles are frequently found around the base of 

 the "dome-shaped" protrusions of granitoid gneiss, which 

 form such a noticeable feature of the Deccan Plateau, and 

 apparently from all time have been held in reverence. 



In all probability the cists, as Dr. Hunt observes, origin- 

 ally contained no filling — the silt which they now contain, the 

 " Pandre-mutti " referred to by Colonel Meadows Taylor, 

 being, no doubt, the result of infiltration of mud during 

 successive monsoons. They are sometimes divided longi- 

 tudinally into separate compartments, each containing a bodv. 



Personally I have never come across any instances of 

 burial such as Colonel Meadows Taylor found at Jewurgi, 

 which led him to infer that human sacrifices were sometimes 

 practised. 



The manufacture of iron in the Deccan seems to have 

 immediately superseded the Stone Age, the general use of 

 high-class bronze and copper articles, some of which were 

 found at Jaggayapet, in a grave, mixed with the bones of a 

 horse, seem to be the product of a later age. The iron imple- 

 ments so far recorded, are spear heads, swords, sickles, iron 

 stands for pots, and lamps. A careful analysis of some of 

 these articles might afford an explanation why some imple- 

 ments have remained so wonderfully preserved, whereas others 

 have become entirely unrecognizable through oxidation, 

 though buried in the same grave. 



In plotting the attached map I have classified all dolmens 

 (whether circled, or free standing cromlechs or kistvaens) 

 together, and used a separate symbol for cairns, whether with 

 single, double, or triple circles. Even with the knowledge at 

 present at our disposal, my map, I think, shows how closely 

 they are associated with the sites of ancient mines. 



There is little doubt that the plough is fast removing all 

 these remains, and this perhaps explains why we generally 

 find them on unculturable land. 



No further discoveries of dolmens in the Raichur or 

 Shorapur Districts have been recorded, though I am able to 

 plot various localities where I have noticed stone circles, but 

 which yet remain to be examined. 



In 1904 I found a large group of dolmens of the open 

 cromlech type at Chintrala in the South-East of the State, 

 near the banks of the Kristna River, clustered around some 

 old copper workings which I was examining. I reported 

 them to the late Mr. Bruce Foote, and opening one, to find 

 pottery and ashes, I took no further steps ; and the group 

 remains to-day untouched. 



