Narmeta is a village in Naganur Mandal in the Siddipet district. The archaeological officials have found a massive capstone from a menhir at Narmeta village. A capstone in the shape of a human body was excavated at Narmeta village, This is the largest capstone ever discovered by the department in the last 100 years. The excavation was carried out near an ancient human burial site and is said to be at least 2,750 years old.
The capstone found in the village is the world’s largest capstone found so far from a menhir. The excavation remains found at Narmeta sets back the region’s history to 3,500 years. Apart from the capstone, beads made of bones which are used as ornaments, and two conches were found.
The excavation remains have revealed that the Siddipet district may set back the history of the region to at least 3,500 years as the excavation site belongs to the Megalithic period.
Burial site
The Department of Archaeology and Museums has taken up excavation at two burial sites – a Menhir and a Cairn burial were selected for excavation. The sites were named Meg-I and Meg-II.
The excavation at Meg-I was carried out with the quadrangular method. The Menhir burial was employed with double circles of boulders. The diameter of the Meg-I excavation site is 14 meters and it has 24 boulders forming the inner circle and six boulders in the outer circle.
Meg-I was deployed with a Menhir planted on the northern side, which measures 2.9 meters in height and 95 cm in width. A capstone found at this site measures 6m long, 4m wide, and 65cm deep.
At the Meg-II excavation site, beads made of bones and used as ornaments were found at the burial site. Similarly, four fire stands and two conches were also found during the excavation. Officials have estimated that it could be a funeral ground for people belonging to that age. The officials believe this would help throw some light on the culture of that period and to study more about them.
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Cultural phase
The officials of the Archaeology Department have stated that the remains found in the Megalithic excavations are marked by a tomb, built of massive stones either dressed or undressed. The tombs built in the southern part represent a distinctive cultural phase that succeeded the primitive Neolithic culture. The Megalithic period also known as the Iron Age is dated between 1,000 BC and the second century AD.
Interesting artifacts
The Assistant Director of the Archaeology Department, P. Nagaraju mentioned in an interview with The Hindu that “The Meg-II is located on the northern side of Meg-I and has a diameter of 10m. There are no boulders at this site. At a depth of 1.3 meters, we found an oval shape pit with loose soil. We were able to collect redware pots, pointed-shape iron arrowheads, and conches”.
Not only in Narmeta, but many excavations have also revealed many interesting things about history at different places. Niraj Rai, a senior scientist from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) has mentioned that “The excavation that took place at Pullur banda indicates that it belongs to 500 BC and people might have migrated from northwest of India. Eleswaram in the Nalgonda district dates back to 1,200 years and we believe that this site may belong to 1,500 BC. However, the actual date can be ascertained only after carbon-dating”.
Visalatchy, the official of the archaeology department has mentioned that “This capstone is 6.7 meters in length. Usually, they are half or one-third of their size. Only one stone was used for the entire body and another one to cover the head”.
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