An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s6.t5.5

v1.c9.s6.t5.5

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