Hallur Ingólfsson
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Hallur is an archaeological site located in the
Haveri district Haveri is a district in the state of Karnataka, India. As of 2011, it had a population of 1,597,668, out of which 20.78% were urban residents. The district headquarters is Haveri. Ranebennur is the biggest city in Haveri district with populatio ...
(which was carved out of
Dharwad district Dharwad or Dharawada is an administrative district of the state of Karnataka in southern India. The administrative headquarters of the district is the city of Dharwad, also known as Dharwar. Dharwad is located 425 km northwest of Bangalo ...
), in the
Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...
of
Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...
.Kenneth A. R. Kennedy (2000), p272 Hallur, one of
South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...
's earliest
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
sites,Robert Bradnock (2000), p499 lies in a semi-arid region with scrub vegetation, located on the banks of the river
Tungabhadra The Tungabhadra River () starts and flows through the state of Karnataka, India, for most of its course, then through Andhra Pradesh where it ultimately joins the Krishna River near Murvakonda. The Tungabhadra derives its name from two strea ...
. The site is a small mound about 6.4 m high. Peter Neal Peregrine,
Melvin Ember Melvin Lawrence Ember (January 13, 1933 – September 27, 2009) was an American cultural anthropologist and cross-cultural researcher with wide-ranging interests who combined an active research career with writing for nonprofessionals. Biograp ...
, Human Relations Area Files Inc. (2001), p368
The site was first discovered by Nagaraja Rao in 1962, and excavated in 1965. Further sampling was carried out in the late 1990s for the recovery of archaeobotanical evidence and new high precision radiocarbon dates Fuller, D.Q., Korisettar, R., Vankatasubbaiah, P.C., Jones, M.K. (2004). Early plant domestications in southern India: some preliminary archaeobotanical results. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 13(2), 115-129Fuller, D.Q, Boivin, N. & Korisettar, R. (2007). Dating the Neolithic of South India: new radiometric evidence for key economic, social and ritual transformations. Antiquity81(313), 755-778.


Findings

The excavations at Hallur by Nagaraja Rao revealed two periods of occupation, Period I:
Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
-
Chalcolithic The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...
and Period II: An overlapping period between Neolithic-Chalcolithic and early
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
.V. N. Misra, Peter Bellwood (1985) p470 Period I consisted of two sub-phases of human occupation dating between 2000 and 1200 BCE The transition to the Iron Age took place between 1200 and 1000 BCE. The original interpretation after the 1960s excavations was that Period II represented a new set of humans who arrived at this site with
iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
arrowheads, daggers and knives. Pottery in this period was generally black-and-red ware with lines and patterns in white drawn over them. More recent scholarship, however, argues for the indigenous cultural development from the Neolithic to the Iron Age and population continuity The iron found in this site was subjected to
radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for Chronological dating, determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of carbon-14, radiocarbon, a radioactive Isotop ...
by
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is a leading research Institute under the Department of Atomic Energy of the Government of India. It is a public deemed university located at Navy Nagar, Colaba in Mumbai. It also has a centres in ...
and it was found that these iron objects belonged to about 1000 BCE This chronology has been supported by more recent AMS dating. This was contrary to the British archaeologist D. H. Gordon's theory that iron was not used in India prior to 250 BCE Further excavations by archaeozoologist K. R. Alur in 1971 led to the discovery of horse bones ('' Equus caballus Linn''), which were dated to a period before the presumed Aryan migration. This discovery created a controversy since it countervened the common belief that horses were introduced into the southern parts of India only by the
Aryans ''Aryan'' (), or ''Arya'' (borrowed from Sanskrit ''ārya''),Oxford English Dictionary Online 2024, s.v. ''Aryan'' (adj. & n.); ''Arya'' (n.)''.'' is a term originating from the ethno-cultural self-designation of the Indo-Iranians. It stood i ...
.Edwin Bryant (2001), p170 Archaeobotanical findings at Hallur indicated that the Neolithic staples consisted of browntop millet ('' Brachiaria ramosa''), bristly foxtail ('' Setaria verticillata''),
mungbean The mung bean or green gram (''Vigna radiata'') is a plant species in the Fabaceae, legume family.Brief Introduction of Mung Bean. Vigna Radiata Extract Green Mung Bean Extract Powder Phaseolus aureus Roxb Vigna radiata L R Wilczek. MDidea-E ...
,
black gram The black gram or urad bean (''Vigna mungo'') is a bean grown in South Asia. Like its relative the mung bean, it has been reclassified from the genus ''Phaseolus'' to ''Vigna''. The product sold as black gram is usually the whole urad bean, wher ...
, and
horsegram ''Macrotyloma uniflorum'' (horsegram, also known as horse gram, kulthi bean, gahat, hurali, or Madras gram) is a legume native to tropical southern Asia, known for its distinct taste and texture, widely used legume in many cuisines. It is also kno ...
. This site also produced some of the earliest evidence for crops of African origin in South India, including both hyacinth bean and
pearl millet Pearl millet (''Cenchrus americanus'', commonly known as the synonym ''Pennisetum glaucum'') is the most widely grown type of millet. It has been grown in Africa and the Indian subcontinent since prehistoric times. The center of diversity, and ...
. In the later Iron Age period
finger millet Finger millet (''Eleusine coracana'') is an Annual plant, annual herbaceous plant widely grown as a cereal crop in the arid and Semi-arid climate, semiarid areas in Africa and Asia. It is a tetraploid and Self-pollination, self-pollinating speci ...
, kodo
millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...
, and
rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...
M. L. K. Murty (2003), p92 Ornaments made of
carnelian Carnelian (also spelled cornelian) is a brownish-red mineral commonly used as a semiprecious stone. Similar to carnelian is sard, which is generally harder and darker; the difference is not rigidly defined, and the two names are often used int ...
,
ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...
,
gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
and
antler Antlers are extensions of an animal's skull found in members of the Cervidae (deer) Family (biology), family. Antlers are a single structure composed of bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue, skin, nerves, and blood vessels. They are generally fo ...
were also found. Apart from the bones of the horse; bones of cattle, sheep, goat and dog were found. The housing structures found here consisted of circular floors, composed of schist chips and mud pounded hard to make a hard surface. The walls made of bamboo and mud, provided support to a conical thatched roof. One of the houses was found to have a circular fireplace containing ash and charcoal. The region below the floors was a burial chamber consisting of urns used for child burials.Niharranjan Ray, Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya (2000), p206 Chalcolithic blade tools of black
quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock that was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tecton ...
, small copper axes and fish hooks were also found. The transition to the
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
period is marked by the presence of megaliths and iron implements.


Notes


References

* * * * * * * {{Portal, India History of Karnataka Former populated places in India Archaeological sites in Karnataka