Table of Contents
Why in News
A geoglyph in the form of a circle said to be 3,000 years old has been recently unearthed on the outskirts of Mudichu Thalapalli in the Medchal-Malkajgiri district of Telangana.
Important Points
⦁ It is a large design or motif (generally longer than 4 metres) produced on the ground and typically formed by clastic rocks or similarly durable elements of the landscape, such as stones, stone fragments, gravel, or earth.
⦁ A geoglyph is created by arranging or moving objects within a landscape.
⦁ There are two types of geoglyphs, namely positive and negative geoglyphs.
⦁ Positive geoglyph: It is formed by the arrangement and alignment of materials on the ground in a manner akin topetroforms (which are simply outlines created using boulders).
⦁ Negative geoglyph: It is formed by removing part of the natural ground surface to create differently coloured or textured ground in a manner akin to petroglyphs.
⦁ There is another variation of a geoglyph that involves seeding plants in a special design. The design usually takes years to see since it depends on the plants growing. This type of geoglyph is called an arbour glyph.
⦁ Another type of geoglyph often referred to as ‘chalk giants’ are those carved into hillsides, exposing the bedrock beneath.
Geoglyphs in History:
⦁ From ancient times, the most widely known geoglyphs are the Nazca Lines of Peru, which have been a mystery to this day.
⦁ Other geoglyphs from the past include the Megaliths in the Urals, the Uffington White Horse, the Long Man of Wilmington, and many others.
Features of the geoglyph unearthed from Telangana:
⦁ Etched on a low-lying granitoid hillock, the geoglyph spans 5 metres in diameter and has a perfect circular shape.
⦁ Surrounding the circle is a 30-centimetre-wide rim, and within the circle are two triangles.
⦁ It is dated to the Iron Age, specifically around 1000 BCE.
⦁ It is suggested that this circle might have served as a model for megalithic communities in planning their circular burial sites.
Key facts about Nazca Lines:
⦁ The lines are a group of massive geoglyphs in southern Peru’s Nazca Desert.
⦁ Experts estimate that they were designed anywhere in the period from 500 BCE to 500 CE.
⦁ Some of the lines are straight, while others depict designs of animals and plants.
⦁ All the lines have a combined length of more than 808 miles, while they cover an area of around 19 square miles.
⦁ An individual design has a width of between 0.2 and 0.7 miles.
⦁ All the designs were made by removing the top layer of soil. The depth of a line is anywhere between four and six inches.
⦁ Some of the shapes are visible from a height of as much as 1,500 feet.
⦁ The preservation of the lines over the years can be attributed to the dry and windless climate of the region.
