When North India went through the Chalcolithic period, it was the phase of Iron Age culture in South India. The Iron Age predated the Sangam Age; however the later part of Iron Age culture moved in tandem with the Sangam age and is referred to as the Megalithic culture in the Deccan and South India. The Megalithic people of South India practised a mixed economy based on agro-pastoral production. A combination of specialized strategies, i.e., agriculture and cattle pastoralism was adopted at societal scale of production. A wide variety of shapes in different fabrics and the technical efficiency evidenced in the preparation of ceramics hint probably at a professional class of potters and pottery making as one of the important economic activities. However, hunting-gathering practices are also evidenced by archaeological tool remains and paintings of that period. Thus, a marked division between ‘nomadism’ and ‘sedentism’ cannot be made in South Indian case. Rather it had reached a transitory phase from where settled life style and societies emerged.

Megaliths and megalithic cultures are universal phenomena with evidences expanding from West Asia to North Africa and from India to Southeast Asia. Gordon Childe1 wrote a paper in 1948 comparing the megaliths of South India with those of Western Asia, North Africa and Western Europe. In some cases, there are further evidences of close cultural contacts and affinities as in the case of the megalithic cultures of South India and Southeast Asia. Carnelian beads of similar types have been unearthed from the graves in both the regions thereby approving their affinity. The present study, however, concentrates on the study of megalithic culture in South India and takes into account the nature of the culture that was prevalent during the period termed as the ‘Iron Age Culture’ in South India. When North India went through the Chalcolithic period, it was the phase of Iron age culture in South India. The chalcolithic settlements in South India are invariably found in continuation of the neolithic settlements. The Iron age culture predated the Sangam age; however, the later part of iron culture moved in tandem with the Sangam age. In the Indian subcontinent, they also occur in the north-west and the Vindhyan and Aravalli ranges (Figure 1). The practice of making megaliths continues as a living characteristic among certain tribal communities of India such as the Khasis of Assam and the Mundas of Chotanagpur.2 Menhirs, for instance, are still erected by the Khasi women to ‘memorialize’ her husband.

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