Glossary

Alignment A series of menhirs arranged in lines on some definite system.

Avenue Two or more alignments approximately parallel with one another.

Chamber burials A box-grave (normally rectangular on plan) built of stone-slabs/boulders containing skeletal remains and burial goods of the interned person(s). It may be with/without a passage and porthole, and is normally enclosed on surface by cairn/boulder circle(s).

Dolmen A single slab of stone supported by several orthostatic boulders/slabs built on the surface of the ground in such a way as to enclose a space or chamber beneath the capstone. It may or may not be wholly or partially covered by a barrow or cairn.

A dolmen may be with or without a porthole.

Hat stone (Topi-kal) Urn burial capped by a slab and marked on the surface by a topi-kal. The topi-kal rests upon four quandrantal clinostatic stones joining up together at the base into a square, and dressed so as to give the shape of a truncated paraboloid to the entire monument. The topi-kal or the hat stone rests on the truncated surface. legged and unlegged urn burials Baked earthenware/ terracotta urn/sarcophagus (placed within a pit with/without a ramp) containing skeletal remains and burial goods of the interned person(s). It may be enclosed on the surface by an earthen mound/cairn/boulder circle(s).

Menhir Simplest of all the megalithic monuments, consisting of a single monolith set up, as a rule, at or near a burial/memorial/ commemorative spot. The monolith may be small or gigantic in height with its base fixed into the earth. It may be either sepulchral, memorial, or commemorative.

Pit burials A pit (circular/oblong/oval/rectangular on plan) containing skeletal remains and burial goods of the interned person(s). It may be with/without a ramp/capstone(s), and is normally enclosed on surface by an earthen mound/cairn/boulder circle(s).

Rock-cut chamber burials Chamber (single or multiple) cut out of the lateritic rock containing skeletal remains and burial goods of the interned person(s).

Sarcophagus A cist, often with legs or feet, made of baked earthenware or terracotta containing skeletal remains and burial goods of the interned person(s).

Umbrella stone (kudai-kal) Passage urn burial capped by a slab and marked on the surface by a Kudai-kal (Umbrella stone). The Umbrella stone is a dome-shaped dressed lateritic stone resting with its flat face directly on the ground.

The Megalithic culture of South Asia is mainly represented by burials of many varieties. Although some of these burial monuments are not strictly ‘megalithic’ (i. e., ‘built of large stones’) in their nature, the usage of the term Megalithic can be justified because of its antiquity and continued popular use. However, the term denotes in the present context a socio-religious expression of burying the deceased in a grave (which may or may not have lithic appendage) accompanied by certain specific cultural traits of the period under reference. The use of iron coincides with the cultural period and forms an adjunct of Megalithic culture.