[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989) › v1.c19.s3.1 # An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c19.s3.1 An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c19.s3.1 - **Language:** English ### [v1.c19.s3.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c19.s3.1) Ash mounds are huge imposing mounds of scoriaceous, slaggy ash of irregular plan, usually located within or in the vicinity of an ancient site with Neolithic, Megalithic or early historical remains or only those of the first two. They have been noticed in the region of the Krishna-Tungabhadra valleys comprising parts of Dts Belgaum, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Raichur, Bellary, Mahbubnagar and Anantapur. Local legends associate them variously with the burning of Bali, Hiḍambāsura or other personages of the \*Rāmāyaṇa\* and the \*Mahābhārata\*. Newbold was the first to excavate one such mound at KUPGAL to ascertain the nature, antiquity and causes of the formation of the mounds and observed that they were probably due to funerary burnings. Subsequently Foote (1872-84), Fawcett and Knox, Sewell (1899), Longhurst (1916), Modi (1927), Munn (1928-36) and Yazdani (1936) investigated them and variously opined that they were due to the burning of cow-dung on a large scale at a high temperature in the Neolithic period, to funerary holocaust of probably the Vijayanagara period, to Iranian burial activities indicating, by the way, contacts between s. India and Iran, or to gold- or iron-smelting activities. - [Previous: v1.c19.s2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c19.s2.3) - [Next: v1.c19.s3.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c19.s3.2) - [Up: v1.c19.s3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c19.s3) ## Linked texts (3) - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Vālmīkirāmāyaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.ramayana.valmiki) — Vālmīki, Sanskrit - [Kupgal](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.kupgal) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c19.s3.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c19.s3.1) · Pramāṇa