The “Megalithic” Iron Age Culture in South India – Some General Remarks

Abstract

The scope of the paper is to give an up-to-date account of general features of a unique cultural phenomenon which is the South Indian Iron Age. The distribution, chronology, material culture, funerary customs, including the typology of megaliths, and socio-economical issues are outlined. The studies on the material culture of South Indian Iron Age communities revealed its huge complexity. This cultural phenomenon, which had originated around 1000 BC, probably in the northern regions of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, and spread across the vast space of Indian subcontinent, amazes by its simultaneous diversity and uniformity.