Stone circles of Junapani

The stone circles of Junapani are megalithic burial sites about 10 km north-west of Nagpur, beside the highway to Katol. Around 300 circles have been noted in the area and about 150 studied, and the Archaeological Survey of India protects them as monuments of national importance. The burials are dated between roughly 1000 BC and 300 AD.

J. H. Rivett-Carnac first dug here in 1879 and found iron daggers, axes, hoes, horse bits and bracelets along with black-and-red pottery. Excavations in the early 1960s, involving B. K. Thapar, opened three circles, two of which held human remains, and the skeleton of an animal of the horse family was also found; a copper bell with an iron tongue turned up in another circle. The circles are a few metres across, and some include stones with small cup marks set in fixed directions. Studies backed by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research suggest these may mark the rising and setting of certain stars and the changing seasons, including the monsoon.