and Maski in the Raichur Doab. If Watgal has provided a recent sequence of
the south Indian Neolith stratigraphy, Budihal in the Shorapur Doab has
provided more of the general Neolithic cultural picture.
A full-fledged Chalcolithic complex occurs in Andhra. Among a large
number of sites discovered in the Kurnool area, Singanapalli is a single
culture site yielding a profuse quantity of painted pottery, stone blades, etc.
The Andhra Neolithic element is no doubt part of the same complex in Tamil
Nadu and Karnataka, the latter region standing in more close relationship
with Maharashtra from where the Jorwe ware came to this region and
persisted till a much later period.
MEGALITHIC BURIALS
The area between the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and the tip of the
southern peninsula constitutes the major zone of the burial style denoted
by various types of megaliths. This burial style continued well into the
historical period in its main distribution area and is characterised by a host
of megalithic structures such as cairn-circles, dolmen, menhirs, etc. and
their extensive variations and combinations.
Till recently, megaliths were wrongly supposed to have formed an
independent cultural entity in this region. However, it is now clear that it
is nothing more than a burial style which emerged in the context of the
Neolithic-Chalcolithic of its distribution area and formed part of its
cultural milieu for a long time.
Generally, it is associated with iron but there is also a possibility of its
beginning in the pre-iron stage.
At sites such as Hallur and Kumaranahalli, its first iron associated phase
falls around 1300 BC.
Eastern India
Extending over Bengal, Orissa and Assam, physio-graphically eastern India
is not a homogeneous unit. Neolithic celts have been picked up from the
surface from almost the entire area except for the alluvial valleys and deltas.