HYDERABAD: A 4,000-year-old prehistoric rock belonging to the Neolithic age was found with a bull bruised on it atop a hillock in the Moosapet mandal headquarters of Mahbubnagar district on Sunday. When Archaeologist and Buddhavanam consultant E Sivanagireddy were exploring the Ramaswamy Gutta temple, he found remnants of temple architecture belonging to the Rashtrakuta, Kalyan Chalukya and Vijayanagara periods.
While examining the brick-built superstructure over Ramalingeshwara temple, he found the rock bruising of a bull along with a few figurines of men and animals below it, which were demarcated using neo-stone implements. The rock bruising which was created 400 ft above the ground level, was having a dull appearance due to its exposure to sun and rain for thousands of years.
According to Reddy, Neolithic humans preferred living at higher altitudes to stay away from carnivores and used to grow rainfed crops in small patches of soil on the hillocks. As they had plenty of leisure time while living on the hillocks, they used to bring out their artisanship by creating art on the rocks, by hitting the stone repeatedly with their stone axes and other implements until finally making the impression of the animal on the rocks.
In the past, megalithic burials and neolithic celts (axes) were discovered from the hillocks near Thatikonda village in Moosapet mandal. The entire landscape of the mandal is adorned by rocky hills which are located between the Bangalore national highway and Raichur road. He requested the villagers to preserve the rock bruising for posterity, as it is an archaeologically significant site.