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DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS

  • 26 June, 2020

  • 2 Min Read

Cairn Circles

Cairn Circles

A megalith is a large prehistoric stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. Cairn-circles are the prehistoric stone row which is a linear arrangement of parallel megalithic standing stones.

Recently, the State Department of Archaeology, Chennai has identified 250 cairn circles from the Kodumanal excavation site in Tamil Nadu. This is for the first time that 10 pots and bowls were discovered from the site, instead of the usual 3 or 4 pots, placed outside three-chambered burial cists and inside the cairn circle.

More numbers and bigger size of boulders suggests that the grave could be of a village head or the head of the community. Findings from the site also include an animal skull, beads, and copper smelting units, the mud walls of a workshop, potteries, and Tamil Brahmi script.

Other types of megaliths are

  1. Dolmenoid cists - Box-shaped stone burial chambers,
  2. Capstones - Distinctive mushroom-shaped burial chambers (found mainly in Kerala)

Kodumanal

  • Kodumanal is a village located in the Erode district in Tamil Nadu. The place is an important archaeological site.
  • It is located on the northern banks of the Noyyal River, a tributary of the Cauvery. The earlier excavations of Kodumanal revealed that multi-ethnic groups lived in the village.
  • It also revealed that the site served as a trade-cum-industrial centre from 5th century BCE to 1st century BCE.

Source: Web


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