Question

9. In the Megalithic Cultures of South India,
a. people built large temples in honour of the
gods
b. the people built cities with well planned
drainage systems
c. the people lived in houses marked by
extremely large stones called megaliths
d. the people buried their dead and marked
these burial sites with extremely large stones
called megaliths​

Answer 1

Answer:Megalithic cultures in India (including North India) have been roughly

assigned to a prehistoric period or to a great antiquity by different scholars

like M.H. Krishna, R.S. Panchamukhi, G.S. Ghurye, Panchanan Mitra and

others. But their dating lacks the merit of being based on well observed

archaeological context. So, this dating is generally countered by the

archaeologists.

The problem of chronology of these cultures has evaded a clear

solution. R.E.M. Wheeler, for the first time, on the basis of excavations at

Brahmagiri provided a firm archaeological setting for megalithic cultures in

South India. Based on archaeological evidence, he places these cultures

between the 3rd c. B.C and the 1st c. A.D. But the limits prescribed by

Wheeler on the basis of Brahmagiri evidence are unconvincing. Megalithic

culture of South India had a much larger chronological span than what

Wheeler could visualise over five decades ago. Similarly, B.K. Thapar, on the

basis of his excavations at Maski, assigned the megalithic culture in South

India from circa 200 B.C to the middle of the 1st c. A.D with a reasonable

margin of a century on either side.

The problem in ascertaining the chronological span of the megalithic

cultures in South India lies in the fact that only a few radiocarbon dates are

so far available from megalithic habitations. The habitations site at Hallur

gave a 14C date of 1000 B.C for the earliest phase of these cultures.

Nagaraja Rao correlated this phase with the graves at Tadakanahalli, 4 kms.

away from this site. S.B. Deo gives two radiocarbon dates for the sites at

Naikund and Takalghat and places Vidarbha megaliths in circa 600 B.C. In

Tamilnadu, Paiyampalli recorded a 14C date of circa 4th c. B.C. A. Sundara,

on the basis of his explorations and excavations, pushed the date of the

megaliths in North Karnataka region as early as 1200 B.C

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