A megalithic burial site dating back to 500 BC was detected near Devandlapalli village in Rayavaram panchayat of Tsundupalle mandal in Kadapa district.
A study of megalithic culture in Kadapa district was initiated by Robert Bruce Foote and he reported the first megalithic habitation site in 1914 at Yellanur village, which was published in The Foote Collection of Indian Pre-Historic and Proto-historic antiquities catalogue raisonne by Madras Government Press.
Treasure hunting
In archaeological explorations conducted by Associate Professor G. Sambasiva Reddy, Assistant Professor of History and Archaeology and Assistant Profesor of Geology K. Raghu Babu of Yogi Vemana University, a complex of 20 megalithic monuments were noticed and some of them were dolmens and remaining were dolmen encircles with slabs the left over monuments, dolmenoids-cists encircles with slabs.
All the monuments were disturbed by treasure hunters, every burial encountered with pottery pieces normally black and red ware, red ware etc. were noticed. Significantly, two of the dolmens on north-western orthostat bearing on the inner surface depicting tortoise, leaf-like structures, human with weapon and sun like diagrams with red ochre and white pigments were noticed. Another dolmen depicted two elephants alongside each other and elephant human figures drawn in white pigment. Chronologically the megalithic assigned in Rayalaseema region to 500 BC based on C14 (Carbon) dating method.
The exploration team appealed to District Collector V. Anil Kumar, officials of the State Archaeology and Hyderabad circle of Archaeological Survey of India to protect the megalithic monumental complex in Kadapa district for future generations.
