Two boulders with cupules discovered in Canacona

Keri: Heritage enthusiasts came across two boulders with cupules in a tributary of Galgibaga river at Marli, Canacona. They were found in the seasonal nullah of Betalakadlo Vhal.
Marli, a hamlet of Poiguinim in Canacona, shares borders with the jungle of Maingini of Karwar in Karnataka. The two boulders with 45 and 21 cupules were found in the Maingini jungle.
Narayan Puno Gaonkar, 76, a tribal from Marli, said, “I have been seeing these cupules since the age of 15. My elders would call these cup marks as the ‘gulyo’. They said the cupules were created by the Pandavas from the epic Mahabharata to play games when they visited this forest.”
Somnath Gaonkar, a youth who participated in the expedition, said, “As per local belief, there was an unusual stone sculpture of Betal, which is why the nullah was called Betalakadlo Vhal. The sculpture, however, is not traceable now. The forest that surrounds these cupules has been protected by the locals.”
“These cupules are invariably circular. Most of them are shallow and a few are deep,” said Devendra Tavadkar, a geography teacher who visited the area.
In Goa, this is the first time that on the meta basalt boulders, cupules in such big numbers have been found. Recently, after visiting the rock art site of the Soccoro plateau in Bardez and the Surla plateau in Bicholim, archaeologists confirmed that cupules found there show the Mancala board game. However, cupules found in Marli need further archaeological study and investigations.