Telangana Invites Bids to Dig Up Ancient Star-Aligned Stones at Mudumal

Telangana plans to dig up and study a 3,500 to 4,000-year-old stone site that may have worked as an early telescope. The Telangana Department of Heritage invited bids for excavation work at the Mudumal Megalithic Menhirs site in Narayanpet district. The contract is worth ₹39.97 lakh and has a completion time of four months.

The Ancient Site

The site sits across 80 acres of land near the Krishna River, about four kilometres away from Mudumal village. India's February 2025 submission to UNESCO's Tentative List calls it a key archaeological landscape. It holds standing stones, burial stone circles, and rock carvings that show star groups. Some standing stones line up with where the Sun rises and sets on the longest and shortest days of the year.

Star Markings

A cuboid rock at the place has cup marks that look like the Great Bear star group, also known as Saptarishi. Another flat rock shows marks of the Great Bear, the Leo star group, and possibly a planet. UNESCO states these star markings are a major feature that show how old communities tracked the sky for travel and cultural rituals.

Context

Places like Mudumal help experts learn how early human groups understood time and space long before modern tools existed. Governments often use formal tenders and fixed budgets to hire trained experts for careful digging so old artifacts are not damaged.