Plan to set up archaeological museum yet to take off

The ambitious plan to set up an archaeological museum in Khammam to showcase and preserve the rich antiquities of the district is yet to take off.

The district encompasses megalithic sites in Khammam, an ancient Buddhist site at Nelakondapalli, and various other places of archaeological significance.

It is considered a treasure house of archaeological heritage. Excavations by the Archaeology Department at Nelakondapalli over three decades ago yielded invaluable antiquities such as red and black ware pottery, coins of Ikshvakus period and terracotta figurines.

The antiquities were reportedly shifted to various museums in the then undivided Andhra Pradesh in the absence of a museum in the district. A range of relics was discovered in an excavation carried out on the vast megalithic site situated on the sprawling SR&BGNR Government Degree and PG College here more than four years ago.

A few megalithic artefacts, including a dagger and an iron sickle, were preserved in the museum at University of Hyderabad in Hyderabad.

The students and faculty members of the history department of SR&BGNR College converted a storeroom into a makeshift museum by aesthetically designing the room to display and conserve the megalithic artefacts.

A team of Archaeology Department officials conducted a field survey at the megalithic site on the college campus as part of a plan to set up a museum a few years ago. However, it is yet to see the light of the day.