Dolmen on Vakkandurga hill

In the beginning of 2010s I started exploring the remotely situated historical sites in the northeastern districts. I frequented Bagalkot and Koppal since they were close to Dharwad and then went further towards Raichur, Kalburgi and Yadgir. All these being the so called 'backward' districts have sites which were kind of untouched. The places felt as thought time had frozen, that feeling was stronger in unrecognized or unprotected prehistoric sites. It was a kind of time travel experience. On Nov 6, 2011 I happened to visit five small forts namely Belur, Vakkandurga, Chikanal, Gudur, and Kelur. All these places are situated in barren hills, even the surrounding plains were barren, probably they were uncultivable. However, these hills had their own beauty, there was peace, serenity.

More than a decade later, while researching dolmen sites, I happened to remember seeing a dolmen like stone arrangement on Vakkandurga hillock. The hillock is mix of sandstone formation and loose dirt. The hill top is a collection of several flat patches & slopes upon which rampart walls have been raised to make a small fort.  Most hill fort sites were naturally secure places and inhabited in the prehistoric times.

Vakkandurga too has those characteristics like its elevation and close proximity to a natural source of water. So I'm assuming this hill was inhabited for a long time and during that period they constructed this stone shelter also called a dolmen. The inside of the shelter is large enough to hold five or six adults with a fireplace in the center or a side. So this structure could've been a prehistoric house, or it could be a place to bury the dead. It would be interesting to know what an archaeologist thinks about this structure.

On the northern edge is this rock shelter with an unhindered view of the valley and the neighboring hill. Further to the right in the valley is a relatively recently made waterbody. Rainwater flowing down the slopes, flows into the pond via this valley. If we go back a few millennium, I can imagine a stream flowing through this valley round the year. The scene of two guys sitting in the shelter is something which might have happened a million times in the past.

Seeing the photos and reading the blog post published in Feb 2012 on Vakkandurga has evoked thoughts of revisiting the place and explore the surrounding hills.

A heads-up: an article on the dolmen sites in Karnataka visited/seen by me will be published shortly.

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