Iron Age in the Peninsular and Southern India (original) (raw)
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The eastern part of Maharashtra or more specifically, Vidarbha is rich in terms of archeological vestiges relating to various times. Of these, megalithic structures constitute a specific category identified as “Vidarbha Megaliths”. Number of megalithic burial sites have been explored and excavated since independence in central part of Vidarbha especially in Nagpur district. However, in comparison, eastern part of Vidarbha region significantly lags behind when it comes to the number of documented megalithic sites. Nevertheless, it must be admitted here that this was purely on account of less exploration in the area concerned. Therefore, not much information regarding megalithic culture of eastern Vidarbha was hitherto known. Present author undertook systematic explorations in this region particularly upper Wainganga valley and brought to light new megalithic sites. These newly found megaliths of the upper Wainganga valley are typologically different from rest of the Vidarbha. In light of aforesaid revelations, a study of typological features of the megaliths of upper Wainganga valley becomes an imperative exercise.This paper discusses in detail, the nature, type and variations in inner architecture of megaliths documented during the course of explorations and also draw from results of excavations at Malli as well since the latter is the only excavated megalithic site in upper Wainganga valley. Besides analytical insights from the author based upon the results of study, comparative study of megaliths of upper Wainganga valley and rest of the Vidarbha is also dealt with in this article in order to offer fruitful correlations
Megalithic Remains in the Middle Mahanadi Valley Region of Odisha, India
Heritage, 2018
Last three decades of systematic archaeological investigations conducted in the middle Mahanadi valley region of Odisha brought to light different aspects of human behaviour right from the Palaeolithic down to the early medieval period. One of such important aspects is the Megalithic tradition. The evidence for Megalithism in the present study area is recorded from both archaeological and ethnographic context. However, in comparison to the ethnographic data very few information is available on Megaliths in different archaeological literatures. Therefore, the authors carried out explorations during last three field seasons in the middle Mahanadi valley and the present paper outlines the results of the preliminary investigations.
Megalithic Architecture of South India,
inThe Archaeology of Burials: Examples from Indian Subcontinent Volume -I, 2020
The paper makes some observations on the architecture of megaliths in South India
Megalithic Studies in Nagpur Division: Contributions of Colonial Period
Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology , 2015
The region of Vidarbha, eastern Maharashtra, India has a very rich archaeological legacy from prehistoric to medieval period. The British officials who were stationed near or around Nagpur Division endeavored to look into the archaeological problems of the region. The megalithic monuments attracted the British the most. In this pursuit they explored, excavated, documented many sites and analyzed the data. This paper attempts to overview these efforts and contributions (especially megalithic studies) made by British officials and others during colonial times in the Nagpur province/Vidarbha region. In the absence of any organized archaeological body/institute, the contribution of these individuals, irrespective of their official holdings, is immense as far as Vidarbha Megalithic studies are concerned.
Cult of the Dead: Evidence from the South Indian Megaliths
South India has prolific presence of megalithic monuments. We see rich variety in typology of the megaliths. The megalithic culture is usually dated between 2000 BC and 300 BC in India. The monument construction, the mode of burial, the burial offerings and the ethnographic data, suggest their veneration of the dead. There is ample evidence suggesting link between the megalithic monuments and the celestial bodies like the Sun, moon and the stars. We also notice some of the earliest stone statues in association with the megaliths.
Situating megalithic burials in the Iron Age-Early Historic landscape of southern India
Antiquity, 2013
The megalithic burials of southern India—a wonderfully varied set of monuments—have long needed a chronology and a context. Broadly contemporary with the Roman and Sasanian empires, these dolmens, cairns and cists have continually raised contradictions with their material contents. The authors attack the problem using luminescence applied to pottery at the site of Siruthavoor in north-east Tamilnadu. Although sharing material culture, this first pilot project gave dates ranging from 300 BC to AD 600, so exposing the problem and perhaps, in OSL, its long-term solution.