HYDERABAD: Researchers of history and archaeology from the Potti Sriramulu Telugu University and Heritage Telangana have discovered an early historic site dating back to the Satavahana era in Telukunta village of Peddapalli district. The team led by Dr M A Srinivasan, Assistant Professor in the University, has found two layers of brick walls, pottery and tiles of Satavahana period during the surface exploration on Tuesday.
Dr Srinivasan told Express that the mound, locally called ‘Sammakka Saaralamma Gutta’, might unveil more brick structures and material which could be dated between 1st century BC to 1st Century AD, if proper excavations were carried out.
The mound measuring approximately 130 metre in diameter, is located beside a huge tank which could have been the water source for the habitation on the mound. At the base of the mound, 200 acres of land which is under cultivation, seems to have been the habitational site based on the surface study of the researchers.
2 layers of wall
“Two layers of brick wall was unearthed during the exploration, built by huge bricks of Satavahana times, measuring 52 x 26 x 8 cm in dimensions. Two layers of walls seemed to be running in parallel, which may unveil the existence of anapsidal stupa on the mound,” said Dr Srinivasan.
At the base of the mound, a layer of brick wall could also be seen. Apart from the brick structures, huge number of tiles were found strewn on the surface of the mound. Telukunta is located just 5 km away from another prominent historic site called Dhulikatta, where a Satavahana fort and a Buddhist Stupa are located.
In the 1980s, late Thakur Rajaram Singh for the first time identified Telukunta as an early historic site. Former director of State Archaeology Department Dr VV Krishna Sastry had mentioned Telukunta to Dongathurthi hill range as an iron smelting site in 1st Century BC. In the 1980s, a coin of Vishnukundi dynasty was also found at this village.