ONGOLE: Finally, a joint team of Forest, Archaeology, Police and Revenue department officials clarified that there are no signs of any illegal or secret hidden treasure excavation attempts in the Racharla Section of the Nallamala forest zone.
Officials found Megalithic-era earthen pot fragments and stone tools at the site and displayed the artefacts to the media at Cumbum Police Circle office on Thursday. Officials dismissed social media reports of hidden treasure excavation in the NSTR forest area as false and said only Megalithic-era artefacts were found at the excavation site in Bijinepally village of Ardhaveedu mandal.
“We thoroughly inspected the site where a JCB machine dug a trench and we found a few ancient clay and stone tools. It might be a burial ground of the earlier Stone Age or Megalithic period dated back to 2,500 years BC in which people used to bury their ancestors’ belongings in big earthen or clay pots. As the ancient people of that age did not know about gold or any other metals and jewellery, there might not be any possibility of hidden treasure at the site,” State Archaeology department Assistant Directors Venkata Rao and Dr Sk Jarina Begum explained. “As the said site has now been identified as a Megalithic era locality, we will continue further excavations there to find any other archaeologically important evidence. Since we have identified the site as archaeologically important, even the Forest department should take permission from the department for any digging activities there,” he added.
Markapuram DSP Nagaraju said police registered a case over the unauthorised excavation in the NSTR forest area. Forest officials clarified that workers digging a water storage pit for wild animals found only ancient artefacts, including earthen pot fragments and stone tools.