Megalithic - Rau's IAS

What: A megalith is a large stone structure. Megalithic structures started getting made from Neolithic age onwards.
Duration: 6th century BC to 1st century AD. Site at Hallur gave date around 1000 BC while Paiyampalli around 4th century BC.
Important sites:
- Adichanallur (South Tamil Nadu): baked earthenware utensils, gold and bronze artefacts, mother goddess sculpture, several iron weapons and implements (mainly knives, short sword blades and hatchets) and a huge number of bones and skulls were discovered at this site.
- Brahmagiri excavation (place also has rock edict of Ashoka and shows the southernmost point of Mauryan empire and traces of cultures: Microlithic, Neolithic, Iron Age, Maurya and Chalukya-Hoysala).
Pottery: Black and red ware
Area: Although some trace of such culture is found across India but evidence intensify in the Deccan India (specially south of Godavari River)
Other evidence; Seraikala in Bihar, Deodhoora in Almora district and Khera near Fatehpur Sikri of Uttar Pradesh, Nagpur, Chanda and Bhandra districts of Madhya Pradesh, Dausa, near Jaipur in Rajasthan, Burzhom in Kashmir.

Features of Megalithic:

Location of dead is often marked with stone circles.
Burials generally are of size of a typical human or even smaller. Some of these sites had Urn burials, where ashes of the dead were kept in the terracotta urn.
In the deccan region, this age was characterised using iron (stone was replaced with iron in tools)
Agriculture: large scale cropping with tank irrigation (rice was staple food). However, presence of arrowheads, spears and javelins would indicate the supported hunting activities.
Animal husbandry: domestication of various animals such as poultry, sheep, goat, cow etc.
Murals: Hunting scenes are depicted at Marayur and Attala (in Kerala).

Rock Cut Caves,
Hood Stones and Hat Stones / Cap Stones
Menhirs (monolithic pillars planted vertically into the ground) Alignments and Avenues
Dolmenoid Cists
Cairn Circles
Stone Circles,
Pit Burials, and
Barrows