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Around 22 gold items valued at ₹60-70 lakh were accidentally discovered while digging the ground to lay the foundation for the expansion of a house in Lakkundi, a village renowned for its architectural heritage in Karnataka.
The find was made during routine construction work, turning the site into an unexpected discovery of buried valuations. However, the discovered jewellery is “not treasure”, a senior Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) official told news agency PTI on Sunday.
The Superintending Archaeologist, ASI of Dharwad circle, Ramesh Mulimani, visited the spot for inspection, a day after a copper pot containing the gold was discovered in the region.
Schoolboy spots the gold
According to the police, an eighth-standard boy was the first one to spot the ornaments in a copper pot. He later informed the senior members of the village, who informed the higher authorities.
“The boy honestly told the senior members of the village. Soon after getting information, the officers and evaluators from various departments reached the spot. There were 22 items kept in the pot, which have been taken into possession,” Gadag SP Rohan Jagadeesh had told reporters on Saturday.
Why does the find not qualify as ‘treasure’?
Mulimani explained that the gold does not qualify as treasure because many ornaments were found in a broken condition. The jewellery pieces were found in the kitchen area of the house.
According to the official, it is a common practice in the past, where ancestors used to hide ornaments by burying them beside the kitchen stove area, as they had no treasury. “This was a practice in the past and what has been found now also seems to be the same thing,” Mulimani said.
“It needs to be ascertained the age of the ornaments. Many are broken. If coins were found, we could have assessed to which period they belonged,” the senior official told PTI.
Discovered gold in safe custody
Following the discovery, the gold was moved from the construction site and transferred to another location, where it has been placed in safe custody at the treasury for security and further verification.
The government has taken possession of the 470 grams of gold, which consists of various forms of ornaments, including necklaces, bangles and earrings, PTI said in the news report.
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