An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s17.31

v1.c9.s17.31

The megaliths in the Leh valley are quite different from those in the Kashmir valley. The grave is a cist or underground chamber built of dry (?) masonry wall of undressed stones, with steps leading into it. The chamber measures 1·8 × 2·28 m. In depth it is more than 1·8 m. The cist is covered with multiple rectangular undressed capstones, each measuring 2·28 m × 30 cm. The chamber contains fractional multiple burial. The cranial remains—as many as 20 skulls in one grave—are found placed on wooden shelves and belong to a dolichocephalic people. The attendant pots contained bones other than skulls. All the pots are handmade and their forms include: the jar with slight flaring rim; jar with slight flaring rim having flat loop handle/handles connecting the rim and the shoulder just below the rim; loop-handled bowl; and bowl without handle. Pots painted in red pigment and incised decorations, viz. spirals, ladders, zigzag bands, etc., are present though their frequency is negligible. Besides these the graves also contain a few bronze weapons similar to those used in the ritual devil dance of the Himalayan tribes, bead pendants, buttons, a spouted vessel, a bracelet and a seal bearing a cross and circlet design—all of bronze. In the absence of any datable material it is difficult to determine the age of these graves.