History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c14.24

v1.c14.24

According to an old chronicle the origin of these ruins is very obscure. The oldest inhabitants do not possess any information about them and there is no tradition in the locality as to their origin. Such Cyclopean ruins can be associated only with the Gabr-bands in dried river courses of Biluchistan such as those in the Hāab valley.² Traces of this ancient civilisation also exist in Yap, Lele of Kusaie in the Caroline group and other islands. Summing up Perry states :—"This Survey establishes the fact that in the past the population of Oceania erected stone buildings, carved stone images, and practised irrigation or terraced cultivation or both. The megalith-building population is not reported in every group of Oceania . . . . . On the whole the civilisation of Oceania, judging from the crafts of stone-working and irrigation, has suffered a considerable decline, so that the present-day communities live alongside remains beyond their capacity to construct."¹