Live cannon balls unearthed in Hyderabad: Explosive belongs to Nizam era

By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad, Aug 17: As many as 1127 live cannon balls, at least 150
years old, have been unearthed from a government school at Bollarum
here on Monday during excavation of soil for construction of a new
building complex.

Some of the iron cannon balls contain seals and weigh as much as 12
kgs each. The cannon balls date to the Nizam era and were probably
manufactured at the gun foundry at Basheerbagh in the city.

According to Dr Channa Reddy, director of archaeology and museums,
of the 1127 cannon balls unearthed so far, 320 weigh 12 kgs each while
807 are small and weigh 1.5 kgs each. They measure between four to
eight cm in diametre. "Probably the area once served as a store room
for the army of the Nizam," he said.

However, local ward member Jai Prakash is of the view that the
Britishers kept these cannon balls as a stock for their Thopkhana.They
were later handed over to Indian Army for disposal. He put their age at
70 to 80 years.

The land is said to be donated by the defence personnel to the State
during 1950.