Megalithic Burials


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Megalithic Burials

Megalithic burials: Some burial sites of the late chalcolithic age and early Iron Age were found marked with megaliths. Certain communities adopted this system of burying the dead. In this, the dead were buried in large stone graves called megalithe. It has been found in tekkalakola and brahmagiri in the Deccan and in Nagarjunkonda in Andhra Pradesh and Adichanallur in Tamil Nadu.

There are various types of megalithic burials. Some are marked with a single stone while some have a number of stones arranged in a pattern. In one form of burial, a burial chamber made of rectangular stone slabs was built inside the pit. A chamber could be used for many burials that is why, we often find several skeletons in a single big chamber. Several object including expensive gold jewels, pottery, tools and weapons have been found as grave good. The quality of good exhibit the financial status of the person buried.

The megalithic burial sites are associated with the spread of the use of iron .Iron tools were used to cut and work the megaliths. The habitations found near these burial grounds are scanty,suggesting that the megaliths were put up by nomadic groups of people as a kind of marker in case they ever wanted to return to this site.

The graves contain several iron implements and weapons .They also contain the bones of a number of animals like the cow ,goat ,sheep ,dog ,horse ,pigs ,birds, crocodile, fish, etc. A variety of pots have also been found in some graves.

Almost all the Chalcolithic sites in central and western India went into a decline between 1500 and 500 BCE. There was a great reduction in rainfaill during this period .Settled agriculture  started again here only after 500 BCE. The people led nomadic lives during this period.

 
 
 


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