MUSEUM: The museum pays homage to the forefather of Indian history.

 The museum pays homage to the forefather of Indian history

Robert Bruce Foote, a pioneer of both south Indian geology and Indian prehistory, has a new museum in Ballari, Karnataka, dedicated to his legacy.

Robert Bruce Foote unearthed the first Palaeolithic stone tool—a hand axe—in Pallavaram, near Chennai, in 1863, marking a watershed moment in Indian archaeology. Notwithstanding, in 1884, the geologist discovered the Belum caves in Andhra Pradesh, the Indian subcontinent's second largest cave system. Foote amassed a large collection of relics during his tenure, based on his 40 years of geological and archaeological excavations in western and southern India. And now, in Ballari, Karnataka, a museum devoted to his many findings has opened.

The Robert Bruce Foote Sanganakallu Archaeological Museum is not only a monument to the geologist's many accomplishments, but it also examines the historical significance of Ballari. For example, in the 1970s, the faculty of Karnatak University, Dharwad's department of history and archaeology was the first to discover an Asoka Maurya rock edict in Nittur in the Siruguppa Taluk of Ballari District, highlighting that it cited Devanampiya and Asoka together.

The museum initiative, directed by ICHR Senior Academic Fellow Ravi Korisettar, has also resulted in the suspension of damaging quarrying in the area. This resulted in the indiscriminate destruction of archaeological sites, particularly the Neolithic ash mounds at Budikanuma Pass, close to the Ballari Thermal Power Station. "Even though the museum opened in February 2020, all outreach and events were halted due to the covid-19 induced lockdown. As a result, we're reopening it this year. "An archaeological landscape is being constructed, as well as a website and catalogue," explains Korisettar.

A succession of firsts marked Foote's career. He was effective in locating prehistoric sites in the districts of Ballari, Vijayanagara, Anantapur, Kurnool, Kadapa, and Chitturu in southwest Andhra Pradesh and mid-eastern Karnataka. The Madras Government Museum published his reports, records, articles, and monographs in two volumes. For geologists and archaeologists alike, Foote is a fascinating character. He is regarded as a pioneer in both south Indian geology and Indian prehistory, having served to define the scope of both fields. 

The two-story museum now houses and displays a diverse collection of cultural artifacts from the Palaeolithic, Neolithic, and Iron Age periods. Ravi Korisettar provided the photo. 

Foote was the founder-director of the Geological Department of the ancient princely state of Gaekwad in Gujarat, as well as the Mysore Geological Department, according to Korisettar, all of which were under the patronage of the two Maharajas. He discovered the Palaeolithic axe in Pallavaram around this time, and he was the first to use the 'Three Age approach' to organize his ancient finds into a culture-historical sequence. "He was the pioneer to investigate the Sanganakallu Neolithic Iron Age site; he was the first to discover the Early Stone Age sites in and around the Ballari-Chitradurga region; he was also pioneer to link ash mounds with Neolithic culture and assert that these were heaps of burned cow dung," Korisettar writes in his museum paper.

Not only that, but he recognized the archaeological potential of the coastal red sand dunes in Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli region, paving the path for future archaeologists to learn more about them. Foote also described the Pleistocene animal species of the Billasurgam limestone cave in the Kurnool area of Andhra Pradesh. "His discoveries in south India mark a watershed event," argues Korisettar, "from which numerous branches of the twin areas of prehistory and geology emerged."

Between 1863 and 1896, he uncovered around 450 prehistoric sites. Foote discovered more than 160 sites in the Rayalaseema region, dating from the Palaeolithic to the Iron Age. He made extensive catalogues of his collections after retirement, which are presently housed in the Madras Government Museum in Chennai. They remain essential sources of information on prehistoric places, their character, and variation to this day. Archaeologists have successfully retraced his movements for several generations. This resulted, the decision that naming the museum in Ballari after Foote would be a worthy and monumental tribute to this great servant of India," he says.

The two-story museum now houses and displays a diverse collection of cultural artifacts from the Palaeolithic, Neolithic, and Iron Age periods. The goal is to educate youngsters about the important discoveries while also inspiring the future generation of archaeologists by allowing them access to the artifacts discovered during the region's digs. The museum's ground floor is divided into three sections: African origins of humanity, prehistory of the Indian subcontinent, prehistory of Kalyana Karnataka, and geological resources exploited by Neolithic people in the Rayalaseema region. Professional from Cambridge University in England and Texas A&M University in the United States have donated replicas of human predecessors spanning back 35 lakh years to the museum, which are displayed around a sunken area.

One of the coveted treasures in the first-floor gallery is a sarcophagus burial pot, which attests to the advent of the ruling class in the Early Iron Age of south India. This multi-legged, boat-shaped burial urn with a lid was discovered on the Bellary-Hospet road near the Kudatini ash mound. "Such specimens are uncommon," says Korisettar, "and are known from early Iron Age contexts in south India." Because this area was thought to be the largest Neolithic stone axe manufacturing site, a comparable setting has been built outside the museum to give visitors a sense of the time period. "A regular guy is expected to carry with him the story of human biological and cultural evolution after a visit to the museum," he continues.