An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v2.c45.228

v2.c45.228

**Sanur** (12°33′; 79°55′), Dt Chingleput, with an extensive high ground about 18 hectares in area in Madurantakam Taluka, lying to the w. of Madras Trunk Road flanked by hills on the w., where in the course of explorations of megalithic sites in the region during 1944-8 a vast Megalithic field [4.17.9] was discovered. Five megaliths were excavated here—two of them (Megaliths 1 and 2) in 1950 and the rest (Megaliths 3, 4 and 15) in 1952—by N.R. Banerjee and his associates of the ASI. Superficially these may be classified into three broad types [4.17], viz. cairn circle—type C (Megaliths 4 and 5), dolmenoid cist—type D 2 (Megalith 3); and dolmenoid cist with flush capstone—type D 3 (Megaliths 1 and 2). Excavations revealed that Megaliths 1, 2 and 3 belonged to more or less the same type, while Megalith 4 was a variant. All of them yielded sarcophagi [12.9] ranging from one (Megaliths 3 and 4) to five (Megalith 1) and Black-and-red Ware pots [11.15.3] varying from 25 (Megalith 4) to more than 70 (Megalith 5). The dolmenoid cists in Megaliths 1, 2 and 3 showed an opening on the e. side of the cist chamber subsequently blocked by irregular stone bits. Megalith 5, seemingly a cairn circle, turned out on excavation to be a pit circle with a large store of pottery, iron and shell objects and skeletal material including skulls. Megalith 4 had an incipient cist chamber with no opening. All the monuments were surrounded by stone circles, their overall diameters ranging from 5·50 to 15·25 m. The pits were generally oblong, oriented e.-w., without the usual lime packing, shallow ramp or slab on the e. side, but the top edge was rivetted e.-w. by boulders embedded in the ancient humus. Structurally Megalith 2 was slightly later than Megalith 1. The process of interment was simple and the sequence was identical with that in other dolmenoid cists. Megalith 1, except for a few fragmentary bones, did not contain any skeletal remains while Megaliths 2 and 5 did. But for the absence of pottery in the sarcophagi in Megalith 2, both were similar to each other in other respects. Megaliths 3 and 4 had no skeletal relics at all though the grave goods comprised some 50 pots and three iron objects. In Megalith 4 bones, pottery and other objects were found crushed and damaged beyond identification. Apart from the sarcophagi which must have been positioned from the top, all other grave goods were inserted through the gap in the e. wall before it was securely blocked.