An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s6.t5: 4.6.8 S.-e. Deccan
An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s6.t5
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4.6.8 S.-e. Deccan
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The genesis of the Neolithic culture of the Deccan and s. India is still obscure; even to differentiate the purely Neolithic tradition from that of the Chalcolithic [4.14.7] is not easy. However on the one of the pits was found the skeleton of an adult male placed inside after the pit had been in use for some time. The general practice however was to bury the dead in a cemetery. The lower stratum of the cemetery at Site 68, yielding an extended inhumation burial, accompanied by burnished grey ware pots, is contemporaneous with this phase. The skull of the adult male from the lower level of the cemetery is mesocranic with a cephalic index of 79·89 (Gupta *et al*., 1975).
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Fig. 14. Nagarjunakonda, Site 45: microliths
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Fig. 15. Nagarjunakonda, Site 68: human burials
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Phase III of NAGARJUNAKONDA shows a preponderance of the burnished grey ware, a variety of Neolithic tools like axes, adzes, shoe-last celts, celts with elongated external form, long weeding hoes, picks with single or double working ends, chisels, axe-cum-hammers, side choppers on flake and fabricators, apart from crystal microliths, mostly blades and lunates, quartzite flakes, disc beads of paste, shell or steatite. Neither painted pottery nor long blades were in vogue. The large quantity of animal bones, remains of rectangular house plans, pits, some of them being used as semisubterranean dwellings [14.13], pit-hearths and burials in a cemetery indicate that the people occupied the site for a fairly long period. Here also several pits, with cultural deposits, were found packed with boulders. In one of the pits of Site 46 were found two neoliths neatly placed side by side along with a miniature spouted vessel [6.28]. Another pit yielded the interment of a headless animal accompanied by intact pots and a disc bead found affixed on the collar-bone. All this indicates an observance of certain rites and rituals.
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The last Neolithic phase, dated to *c*. 1500 B.C., appears to have been influenced by the Chalcolithic cultures of c. India [4.14.5]. This is confirmed by the discovery of a tiny indeterminate piece of copper from one of the pits of Site 46. Two different modes of disposal of the dead were noticed in the upper stratum of a cemetery (Site 68): some of the burials followed primary extended inhumation, while in certain cases, including two joint burials, in which one is male and other female, the mode of disposal of the dead was post-excarnation earth burial. Infants were buried in urns at the habitation site. In one of the joint burials the male skull is dolichocranic (index 73·58). The Neolithic people of Nagarjunakonda taken as a whole were long-headed, tall in stature, robust and wide-nosed. In head form, barring the female skull (index 79.89), the people
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**Fig. 16.** Nagarjunakonda, Site 46A: section and plan of pit no. 11 were quite similar to those of LANGHNAJ, NEVASA and TEKKALAKOTTA (Sarkar, 1972).
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Almost contemporary with or slightly earlier than Phase II of NAGARJUNAKONDA are some of the Neolithic sites of c. India, where Chalcolithic elements in the form of painted pottery and long blades are found as distinctive trends. On the basis of the ¹⁴C dates sites like UTNUR (Allchin, 1960), PALAVOY and KODEKAL may be dated from 2335 to 1885 B.C. (Paddayya, 1973). The lowest level of PALAVOY (Romi Reddy, 1968), an ash mound in Dt Anantpur, has produced long blades and bone tools, along with painted pottery, dull red ware and blotchy grey ware. UTNUR in Dt Mahbubnagar is also an ash mound revealing painted pottery, burnished grey ware, neoliths and blades. Ascribable to 2160 B.C. on the basis of uncalibrated ¹⁴C determination, the settlement of UTNUR yielded a large quantity of animal bones, besides cattle pens. Thus while the people here knew stock breading and the use of pottery, Chalcolithic elements might have been just diffused traits not affecting the basic economic pattern. Ecological factors of all the Neolithic sites, where Chalcolithic elements, including the use of copper or bronze, have been discerned, are far away from flood-plain and were hence not conducive to the development of a real food-producing economy.
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Fig. 17. Nagarjunakonda, neoliths: 1, 2, 3, Site 45; 7–11, Site 46; 4, 5, Site 46A; 6, Site 47
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Gupta, P., Basu, A., & Dutta, P.C., 1970, *Ancient Human Remains*, Calcutta. Narasimhaiah, B., 1976, “Neolithic & Megalithic Cultures in Tamil Nadu”, unpublished thesis, Poona. Paddayya, K., 1973, *Investigations in the Neolithic Cultures of the Shorapur Doab, s. India*, Leiden. Rami Reddy, V., 1968, “Pre-& Protohistory of s.-w. Andhra Pradesh”, unpublished thesis, Poona. Rao, H.M., & Nagaraju, S., 1974, *Excavation at Hemmige*, Mysore. Sarkar, H., 1975, in R. Subrahmanyam *et at*., ed., *Nagarjunakonda 1954-60*, Mem. ASI, 75, New Delhi. Sarkar, S.S. 1973, *Ancient Races of the Deccan*, New Delhi. For sites see respective entries in vol. II.—H. SARKAR.