: Two of the largest megalithic burial sites dating back to 2500 BCE to 500BCE, discovered and excavated in Rudramkota and Rayanapeta villages of West and East Godavari districts, are likely to be submerged in the Polavaram irrigation project.The sites, which were discovered recently (excavation work was completed in 2018) lie in the Polavaram canal submergence area. According to sources in the archaeology department, hundreds of these burial mounds are likely to be submerged.N Mallikarjuna Rao, deputy director, archaeology and chief archaeologist involved in the project said that a sum of 4.5 crore was allocated for the excavation and relocation work being carried out by the state irrigation department. However, when asked if all the burial mounds could be saved, Mallikarjuna Rao told TOI, “No, that is unlikely, perhaps only a fraction can be salvaged while the remaining will be lost forever.”Rao said, “Some of the mounds have already been relocated and have been kept at the Rallabandi Subba Rao Archaeological Museum in Rajahmundry and Eluru Museum, which is yet to be opened to the public.”Departmental sources said hat over 74 burial mounds have been excavated in the Rudramkota site in Velerupata mandal of West Godavari district and 18 more have been excavated at the Rayanapeta site in Yetapata mandal of East Godavari district.Talking about the discovery of the site Rao said, “The discovery was made in 2017 and excavations have been going on since June 2017.” He added that some of the samples are being sent for carbon and radioactive dating, which will be done by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai.R Srinivasa Rao, additional director, archaeology department, Visakhapatnam, who was one of the main excavators involved in the project said, “If there is a possibility of salvaging both the sites, they could well be described as the largest such twin-find ever in India. The Rudramakota site alone would qualify as the single largest burial site.”Rani Sharma of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach), Vizag Chapter, who recently presented a paper at the AP History Congress in Srikakulam on salvage excavations, said, “ Earlier when mega irrigation projects such as Nagarjuna Sagar were taken up, salvage excavations were undertaken after a comprehensive survey was conducted to identify heritage sites. That is how, the entire Buddhist site, which was to be submerged was salvaged when Nagarjuna Sagar was built. Unfortunately in the case of Polavaram such a comprehensive survey wa not done and now we stand to lose these sites, which shed crucial light on our ancient past, will be lost for ever.”

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