An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s6.t5.4

v1.c9.s6.t5.4

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.