An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c10.s1.10

v1.c10.s1.10

The excavations at BRAHMAGIRI (Wheeler, 1947-8, pp. 200-2) provided for the first time evidence based on stratigraphical overlaps for dating the Neolithic [4.6] and the Megalithic [4.17] cultures, where these were followed by the so-called Andhra culture which could be dated to the 1st century A.D. on the evidence of the known denarii along with Sātavāhana coins and the Rouletted Ware [11.21] which provided the *terminus ad quem* for this culture. Taking into consideration the stratified accumulation of occupation deposits and the number of Megalithic tombs in the area and historical evidence, it was conjectured that the megaliths at BRAHMAGIRI represented ‘some two centuries’, thereby covering the period of *c.* 200 B.C. (or a little later) to A.D. 50. It was in the 3rd or 2nd century B.C. that ‘there was a sudden extension northwards into the Deccan of a formidable iron-using, Megalithic building folk from peninsular India’ (Wheeler, 1947-8, p. 201). In view of the fact that at BRAHMAGIRI the cultures were ‘interlocked by significant overlaps’ and on the basis of thickness of the deposits, the Brahmagiri Stone Axe culture was dated between the 1st millennium B.C. and 2nd century B.C. (Wheeler, 1947, p. 202). The evidence from Dts Bellary and Anantapur suggest ‘that the Neolithic culture lasted for a considerable time, preceding the introduction of metals into the c. Deccan at the beginning of the 1st millennium b.c.’ (Subbarao, 1958, p. 81).