Hallur
Hallur
Hallur |
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Hallur is an archaeological site located in the Haveri district (which was carved out of Dharwad district), in the Indian state of Karnataka.[1] It is a semi-arid region with scrub vegetation, located on the banks of the river Tungabhadra. The region is a low mound about 6.4 m deep.[2] The site was first discovered by Nagaraja Rao in 1962, and excavated in 1965. Further excavations by archaeozoologist K. R. Alur in 1971, led to the discovery of horse bones, which were dated to belong to a period before the presumed Aryan invasion. This discovery created a controversy since it was against the belief that horses were introduced into the southern parts of India only as a result of the Aryan invasion. [3]
Findings
The excavations at Hallur by Nagaraja Rao revealed two periods of occupation, Period I: Neolithic-Chalcolithic and Period II: An overlapping period between Neolithic-Chalcolithic and early Iron Age.[4] In Period II, it was found that a new set of humans had arrived at this site with iron arrowheads, daggers and knives. Their pottery was generally black-and-red ware with lines and patterns in white drawn over them.[4] The iron found in this site was subjected to radiocarbon dating by Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and it was found that these iron objects belonged to about 1000 B.C. This was contrary to the existing theory that iron was not used in India prior to 250 B.C.[4] Arcaeobotanical findings at Hallur indicated that finger millet, kodo millet, rice, black gram, green gram and hyacinth beans were cultivated here.[5]
Notes
References
- Kennedy, Kenneth A. R. (2000) [2000]. God-Apes and Fossil Men: Paleoanthropology of South Asia. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0472110136.
- Bryant, Edwin (2001) [2001]. The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195137779.
- Peter Neal Peregrine, Melvin Ember, Human Relations Area Files Inc. (2001) [2001]. Encyclopedia of Prehistory. Springer. ISBN 0306462621.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - V. N. Misra, Peter Bellwood (1985) [1985]. Recent Advances in Indo-Pacific Prehistory. BRILL. ISBN 9004075127.