Megalithic Culture

• Megaliths refer to large stone structures that were constructed either as burial sites or as commemorative sites.
• The burial sites are the sites with actual burial remains, such as dolmenoid cists (box-shaped stone burial chambers), cairn circles (stone circles with defined peripheries), and capstones (distinctive mushroom-shaped burial chambers found mainly in Kerala).
• Commemorative megaliths include memorial sites.
• In India, archaeologists trace the majority of the megaliths to the Iron Age (1500 BC to 500 BC), though some sites precede the Iron Age, extending up to 2000 BC.
• Megaliths are spread across the Indian subcontinent.
• The majority of megalithic sites are found in Peninsular India, concentrated in the states of Maharashtra (mainly in Vidarbha), Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana.

Rock-cut cave

• Natural caves were the earliest caves used by local inhabitants.
• Most of the rock-cut structures were closely associated with various religions and religious activities.
• As manifested by archaeological evidence, the Mesolithic period (c. 6000 BC) marked the first use and modifications of the early caves.
• The overhanging rocks embellished with petroglyphs or the rock-cut designs that were created by carving, chiselling and abrading part of rock surfaces forms the early instances of such rock caves.
• The Bhimbetka rock shelters inside the tiger reserve ‘Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary’ exemplifies the settlement of human life in these rock shelters during the Stone Age in India.
• In the beginning, remarkable Buddhist and Jain rock-cut structures were excavated by the Buddhist monks for prayer and residence purposes. The best example of this is Chaityas (prayer halls) and Viharas (monasteries).