An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s17.88

v1.c9.s17.88

(2) Unchambered burials are simple in their architectural features, consisting of an oval, circular or cylindrical pit, sometimes containing a large urn or sarcophagus with or without lithic appendage at the top or overlain by heavy rubble packing that may be bound by a circle of boulders on the surface. Accordingly the monuments are described as pit burial, pit circle, sarcophagus circle, round barrow and urn burial. Megaliths of this class are variously found over the widest area of the region. The menhirs, consisting of a single thick slab of enormous size set up in an upright position over a pit burial or beside a cist burial, occur in the middle w. Ghats and s.-e. areas of the region.