KURNOOL: With the finding of an elephant tusk, horse and donkey bones, red bricks at the excavation site of Chennampalli Fort in Kurnool distirct, the mining department exited from the operations, said additional director of mines and geology Nataraj.
He told Deccan Chronicle on Thursday that the mining department entered the excavation at Chennampalli with the limited objective of collecting mineral samples, including fine earth and extrapolate the existence of mineral wealth in the region. “As the first nine days of excavation yielded objects like bones, tusks, bricks, we are convinced that the site has no prospect of yielding any mineral rich samples. Therefore we abandoned the search,” he added.
But, samples collected at the fort were of immense importance to the archaeological department which had been requested to assist and oversee the operations, said Kurnool district collector S. Satyanarayana.
He told mediapersons that the excavations would continue and there were no immediate plans to suspend operations.
Latest equipment would be used to study the samples unearthed. Carbon dating and other techniques would be used.
