Tekkalakota
Tekkalakota Neolithic–Megalithic Hill · Tekkalakota Bellary Hill
Southern Neolithic 3000–1200 BCE → Megalithic–Iron 1000 BCE–100 CE·Southern Neolithic → Megalithic (Bellary)·🇮🇳 Karnataka, Ballari District, on Bellary–Sanganakallu granite ridge (Bellary Deccan Neolithic hill cluster with Sanganakallu and Hallur), India
About
About Tekkalakota
Neolithic–Megalithic double-phase granite hill settlement (c.3000 BCE–100 CE) on Ballari ridge — excavated 1963–64 by B.K. Thapar (ASI), Tekkalakota shows Southern Neolithic village (3000–1200 BCE) with burnished grey ware and copper chisels atop granite tors, then iron-bearing Megalithic cist burials and habitation (1000 BCE–100 CE) with iron swords and Sanganakallu ash mound overlap. The hill yields bruising groundstone factories (dolerite dykes used as axe quarries) linking Karnataka Neolithic to Ashmound belt's axe trade.
Why it mattersDoubly-stratified granite hill linking Southern Neolithic groundstone factory to Megalithic iron — axe trade proof.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why same tors reused for both Neolithic and Megalithic despite 200-year hiatus?
Theories
- 01Deccan Neolithic → Megalithic continuity model vs migration; Bellary as axe-source node
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.3000 BCE Southern Neolithic; Megalithic re-use c.1000 BCE
- Period
- Southern Neolithic 3000–1200 BCE → Megalithic–Iron 1000 BCE–100 CE
- Culture
- Southern Neolithic → Megalithic (Bellary)
- Builders
- Neolithic granite farmers → Megalithic iron chiefs
- Purpose
- Granite-tor habitation and dolerite axe-factory hill overlooking Ballari plain
- Abandoned
- c.100 CE after Satavahana Bellary incorporation
- Rediscovered
- 1963–64 Thapar ASI trench; Wheeler–Allchin 1950s Bellary surveys
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.3000–1200 BCE
Southern Neolithic burnished ware village with groundstone factory on dolerite dyke
c.1000 BCE–100 CE
Iron Megalithic cist burials and habitation re-use on same hill
1963–64
Thapar defines Tekkalakota as Neolithic–Megalithic hill type
On the ground
Structures & features
15.5500° N · 76.8800° E · 550 m · 2 mapped features
Neolithic Groundstone Factory on Dolerite Dyke
industrialDolerite axe-quarry and grinding slicks on tor ridge with burnished ware houses
15.5505° N · 76.8805° EMegalithic Cist Burial Cluster on Hill Saddle
cemeteryIron Age cist burials with port-hole slabs and iron swords on saddle
15.5495° N · 76.8795° E