Kupgal Petroglyphs

The Kupgal petroglyphs cover the black rocks of Kupgal hill, about 5 km north-east of Bellary. The hill, called Peacock Hill by the British and Hiregudda ('big hill') by locals, is the largest of a group of granite hills near the villages of Sanganakallu and Kupgal, and Neolithic people lived on its top roughly 4,000 to 3,300 years ago. First reported in 1892, the site was then lost to researchers until it was found again early in the 21st century.

Thousands of images, from the Neolithic to modern times, have been bruised or engraved into a dolerite dyke running along the hill, most densely where it crosses the upper northern peak. Many show long-horned humped cattle; others show human figures, some with bows and arrows or in chains. A few are in spots so awkward that the artists must have hung from an overhang to make them. Locals call certain formations the 'musical' rocks: hollows in them give out loud, gong-like notes when struck with boulders.