Kunti Betta is a hillock near Pandavapura Taluk head quarters in Mandya District. It is a mine of ancient archaeological site of importance for the researchers. Situated at about 2882 ft above the sea level it has the evidences of Megalithic culture. Stone hut of the Stone Age man was discovered at this place, which is a rare and a unique discovery in the subcontinent.
Dr. S.G. Ramadasa Reddy, HoD of History and NSS officer of Govt. First Grade College, Kuvempunagar, Mysore, along with Prof. B.S. Manjunatha, D. Banumaih’s College, Mysore and NSS volunteers, conducted field survey of Kunti Betta and were successful in tracing the rare stone hut of Stone Age man.
At the outset, the stone hut appears triangular in shape and seem to be constructed by the ancient man. It appears that they must have cut stone rocks and inclined in a triangular shape with a supporting heavy rock at the back, and stone slabs fixed to the floor. The door of the hut is of 5.7 ft width and 6.5 ft height. The inside dimension is 8 ft wide, 6.5 ft width in the middle and 8.2 ft width at the back. Considering all these details, one may come to the conclusion, that the ancient man must have used this stone hut for living purpose.
Similar stone huts have been discovered in various parts of the world but is the first of its kind in India. For instance American Research and Preservation Department has discovered four stone huts in Colorado. There is a marked similarity between them and the stone hut discovered at Kunti Betta.
Similar stone hut has been found at Terra Amite in Mount boron in nice in France. This is the first discovery of the stone hut of the old Paleolithic man. Upper Paleolithic man hut was found in Israel’s Bahalo II.
Huts made out of the bones of the mammoth animals, were also discovered at Chi Chu Bu in Japan, Sub Sahara of South Africa and South Russia. The hut at Ukraine is a mammoth animal bone hut in the shape of a room of 8 ft space. Similar hut is also found at Kostenski Bershevo in Malt and Berlet sites near Masco.
Kunti Betta with all such rare evidences of ancient culture and civilisation richly deserves to be taken note of by the concerned departments so as to shed new light on the history of Ancient India by excavation, research and conservation.
[e-mail:ramadasareddysg@yahoo.in]
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / August 26th, 2014