Andhra Pradesh - Kurnool   

‘Early man roamed Tunga river basin’

KURNOOL: Tungabhadra river basin was home for one of the oldest civilisations of the world, M.L.K. Murthy, former Director of Centre for Folk Culture Studies, University of Hyderabad, has said.

Delivering the keynote address at the national seminar on Tungabhadra Valley civilisation, sponsored by Sri Raghavendra Mutt and Potti Sriramulu Telugu University at Mantralayam in Kurnool district on Saturday, Mr Murthy said the early man roamed the area 2.5 lakh years ago finding a place for Tungabhadra basin on the world map of oldest sites of human settlements.

He said archaeologists gathered crucial evidence of upper Palaeolithic man living at Billa Sargam, Muchatla and Chintamanu Gavi near Bethamcharla in Kurnool district 17,000 years ago.

The Neolithic sites (dated between 8,000 and 4,000 years) were also found.

The traces of fire place, consumption of animals, the remains of barking deer, four-horned antelope, spotted dear, Nilgai, rhinoceros and elephant indicated that the area was environmentally rich. There were no traces of present day drought prone areas.

Prof Murthy said archaeologists collected excellent data of early farming village settlements of Neolithic age between 3,000 and 1,000 BC in Tungabhadra basin.

According to material evidence, the communities cultivated a wide range of millets, rice, horsegram, blackgram, redgram and some other crops. Iron age sites were found at Sathanikota.

P. Channa Reddy, Director of Archaeology and Museums, called for immediate steps to preserve the sites of early human settlements for further excavations and study.

He said the government had sanctioned Rs. 1.9 crore for development of Museum at Kurnool and Rs. 25 lakh for Museum at Alampur.

K.C. Kalkura said the Tungabhadra river basin was one of the wealthiest areas from time immemorial.

Even now high value crops like coffee, arceanut, betel leaves are grown in Western Ghats of Karnataka State where the Tungabhadra originated.

In Andhra Pradesh, the Kurnool Sona is grown only under Tungabhadra canal systems which occupy the second place in the world after Basmati. He called for patenting Kurnool Sona rice.

Vice Chancellor of Telugu University Bhumaiah who formally inaugurated the seminar appreciated the wing for organising a national level workshop on a river, which would help look at the river from different angles.

Convener R. Chandrasekhara Reddy, Pavamanachar of Raghavendra Swamy Mutt, Ramakrishna Rao, Mutt Manager, K. Raghavendrachar, principal of Guru Sarvabhauma Vidyapeeth and others spoke. A total of 70 scholars proposed to present the papers.

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‘Early man roamed Tunga river basin’

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