An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s6.t6.4

v1.c9.s6.t6.4

The initial residential settlements involved the selection of a flat area invariably rectangular, either on the top, sides or tail of the hills, levelling and construction of platforms and plugging of crevices with boulders to prevent erosion to make it habitable. The neighbouring rock-shelters served as temporary halting places, e.g. at PIKLIHAL. After the clearance and levelling up of the ground a circular hut was built on a series of bamboo posts with a conical roof of perishable material like grass, analogies existing in the huts of the present-day Boyas of Tekkalakotta. The floors were first levelled flat with boulders and ashy earth. Walls were of wattle and split-bamboo screen plastered with mud. Subsequently the floors had a course of regular spreading of rubble or stone chips levelled with a thin layer of ashy earth or sometimes plastered with lime or mud. The practice of plastering bamboo-screen walls and the nature of the roofs however remained unaltered, as seen at SANGANAKALLU, TEKKALAKOTTA and HALLUR. The house also had a hearth in a corner, sometimes a makeshift arrangement of juxtaposed stones.