Megaliths: Ancient Stones & Their Mysteries (UPSC Exam Notes)

Megaliths

Megaliths are large stone structures built a long time ago, during the Stone and Bronze Ages. These big stones were set up by people in different ways, like in circles or standing alone, and can be found all over the world, including places like Europe, Asia, and Africa.

People in the past used them for different reasons, such as to remember important places, for ceremonies, or to mark where someone was buried. By looking at these stones, we can learn a lot about how people lived, what they believed, and how they worked together to build such big without modern tools.

A megalith is a large stone used alone or in conjunction with other stones to build a prehistoric structure or monument. The History of South India in the Iron Age is marked by the Megalithic burials and the Sangam literature. We can recreate the history of this era with the aid of these burial sites and the Sangam literature. The usage of megaliths was so widespread that it is sometimes called a Megalithic civilization.

Megaliths structure construction mainly began in the Neolithic and persisted into the Chalcolithic, Bronze, and Iron Ages. 

• The Megalithic civilization was widespread in Kashmir, the Deccan, and South and North East India. However, it is more prominent in the Post-Neolithic sites of South India. 
• Such sites contain various types of artefacts and archaeological evidence such as Human remains with pottery (Black and Red ware), tools, weapons of Iron and sometimes skeletons of horses, horse equipment, and ornaments (made of stone and gold). These help in the reconstruction of the history of the time.