Why Maski, a sleepy village in north Karnataka, has much to offer archaeologically
The Durgada Gudda hill is what stands out in Maski — a seemingly nondescript north Karnataka village. Located some 450 kilometres from Bangalore, Maski’s claim to fame lies in a minor rock edict of Ashoka where the Mauryan emperor’s name was mentioned for the first time (in most edicts and inscriptions he used the title “Devanampiya Piyadasi”, instead of his name).
Historically speaking, though, Maski deserves more attention.
This sleepy village in Raichur district’s Lingasugur taluka may hold the key to the archaeological sequence of South India’s history — from around 3000 BC to about AD 1600 or from the Neolithic to the medieval period. Away from the debates on whether or not the Indus Valley civilisation people were genetically closer to today’s South Indians, two archaeologists, Andrew M Bauer and Peter Johansen, are conducting their research at Maski to find more about the history of South India, particularly its social life during the Iron Age. Their study is also critical because it is after a gap of 50 years that Maski is being explored as a multi-component archaeological site.
As historian Irfan Habib points out in his book Prehistory, the sole Neolithic culture that was probably entirely indigenous in its origins was that of South India and the Neolithic zone coincided largely with modern Karnataka. Bauer and Johansen say that in India it is exceedingly difficult to reconstruct the Neolithic age. That perhaps explains why archaeological research at Maski has been largely absent since 1954 when BK Thapar excavated the area.
Bauer teaches at the Stanford University and Johansen at the McGill University; together, they have been working on Maski’s past for a decade now. Their research presents the first-ever radiocarbon analysis from the megalithic burials in the area. They say that Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) dates of charcoal sampled from the exposed occupational strata on the Durgada Gudda hill indicate that it was extensively occupied.
Evaluation of such samples from the exposed megalithic burials just south of the hill — similar to those found by Thapar in the 1950s — indicate that burial practises attributed to the Iron age predate the period. Their study also suggests that megalithic burial practices became more labour-intensive during the Iron Age, creating new forms of social affiliations during that period. Bauer and Johansen add that a survey in a 64 sq km area has helped expand their understanding of late prehistoric social life, and also land use and craft production during the South Indian Iron age and early historic period.
“Our research presents preliminary patterns for Neolithic (3000-1200 BC), Iron Age (1200-300 BC), early historic (300 BC-AD 500), and medieval (AD 500-1600) materials in the region — i.e. all the major archaeological periods of South India. There may be breaks in sequence but there’s a consistency of place, from early age burials to a medieval urban wall,” they add.
Maski, incidentally, was also the site of a crucial battle for supremacy in South India in which Rajendra I, the Chola king, defeated the Chalukyan king Jayasimha II.
The World Heritage Site of Hampi is barely 120 km away, attracting thousands of tourists and history buffs on a daily basis. Yet, there’s almost nil curiosity regarding Maski.
The two archaeologists say that there’s no perfect answer to this lack of interest. “Compared to Vijayanagar (Hampi), Maski is not monumental. The Ashokan edict, though, is well-maintained, there’s a cage around it and a guard stationed for its protection. Other than that, Maski is of interest for the hard core archaeology students,” says Bauer.
Johansen adds that the site’s real visibility in terms of archaeology is only for those who are well trained. Fortunately for them, the land here exists the way it did a long time ago, he says. “Our research and survey delves into various issues such as distribution of settlement, metal production activities, agro-pastoral land use, the hydrological requirement, and mortuary interments. Perhaps the nearest to Maski in terms of significance is Brahmagiri, also in Karnataka, that has a similar occupational history,” Johansen says.
“Iron Age societies in peninsular India were not nomadic. There’s enough evidence of crops being grown. Since the material for those tools came from trap dykes, the sites and settlements of these people were situated in the neighbourhood of dykes,” says Bauer.
While for Bauer, the next step in research is to find whether these people grew cotton or sorghum, Johansen is looking at the origins of iron smelting and production in the area. “People usually get excited about the origins of technology. I am trying to find more about how people used to organise technology; were they smelters or smiths,” he says.
As far as the medieval period is concerned, coins belonging to the Tughlaq dynasty have also been found here. “There was also a museum set up here during the Nizam’s rule. Its artefacts were redistributed after Independence. The museum at Basavakalyan has some on display,” says Bauer. “Maski’s occupational history may be attributed to its proximity to imperial capitals. There are also evidences of ancient conch and shell bangles in Maski, indicating that there may have been some trade or other connection with areas close to the sea,” Johansen adds.
As they gear up for the next round of research at Maski, Bauer and Johansen are excited about finding something new this time. “We humbly stand on the work of archaeologists like Thapar who started the exploration process and we are also grateful to the local administration and Karnataka’s archaeological department for their cooperation. But above all what drives us is this search for the past. We look forward to turning another page in the history of the Deccan,” they say.