The South Indian Neolithic and the Chalcolithic in Andhra
The focus in this section is on ‘south Indian neolithic culture’ which has a long research history and is dominated by the issue of neolithic ashmounds and the location of neolithic settlements on the flat-topped or castellated hills of the region. A major component of this region from the present point of view is the two Doabs: the Raichur Doab between the Krishna and the Tungabhadra and the Shorapur Doab between the Bhima and the Krishna. Sites occur to the east of the Tungabhadra too. An intriguing feature of the regional neolithic stratigraphy is the occurrence of highly patinated chopper–chopping tools, scrapers and prepared flakes of trap dyke material at the base of the sequence at sites like Sanganakallu where this is followed by a microlithic industry of quartz flakes, cores and lunates. The classic neolithic industry of polished stone tools features next in the sequence at Sanganakallu but not before a sterile dark-brown soil was formed at the site suggesting a time-gap between the neolithic and the earlier microlithic levels. The picture was not the same everywhere, and for a more recently studied sequence of the southern neolithic one may perhaps turn to Watgal, not far from the classic excavated sites of Piklihal and Maski in the Raichur Doab.
Period I or what has been called Occupation I at Watgal consists of a microlithic industry of predominantly blades and lunates based on chert and quartzite and an industry of highly patinated large flakes of basalt and dolerite. Nothing else is found. Period/Occupation IIA shows the microlithic industry which is based exclusively on chert. Dolerite flakes exist and suggest the preparation of polished stone implements. The pottery is handmade, with the possibility of some being produced on slow wheel. It is ill-fired (open kilns?) and basically coarse grey/red plain with sub-types like red-slipped, burnished grey, perforated base, finger-impressed rim, etc. These types continue throughout this and the later levels of the site and demonstrate ‘a strong cultural continuity’ till the end of the protohistoric period and perhaps later. Structurally, only storage pits have been found and one of them yielded areca nuts (Areca catechu). Marine shell beads occur and so does a burnished grey ware with post-firing painting in red ochre. Among the other finds one may mention potsherds ground at the edges, stylized animal figurines and a female figurine in terracotta, and one urn and six stone-covered extended burials. The earliest calibrated range of this level is 2913–2625 BC and the latest 2454–2281 BC The excavators’ date for it is c. 2700–2300 BC(calibrated). The calibrated date for Period/Occupation IIB is put by them between 2300 and 2000 BC. This contains more burials (both urn and stone-covered extended) but in association with pots as grave-goods, and more artefacts of all types: microliths, milling stones, marine shell beads, steatite (for the first time), stone and terracotta beads, a shell scoop/pendant, a very small iron fragment (intrusion from the later levels?) and both animal and female terracotta figurines. Earlier pottery types continue but with the addition of an insignificant amount of wheelmade pottery among which there is Jorwe pottery. Period/Occupation III is post-2000 BC (calibrated) and possesses a large number of big storage pits, three burials of the earlier types and ‘rammed earth’ features. Horse gram and ragi or finger millet, banded agate beads, a polished piece of moss agate, a few black-and-red ware sherds, carved steatite ear ornaments, six copper/bronze objects including twisted wire and a pendant, and three small iron fragments (intrusive?) are among the new cultural features of this period. The body of globular jars of the period is handmade while their rims are turned on wheels. Various animal and human (male and female) terracotta types are noteworthy and so is the presence of a terracotta slab with ‘a fired, red human motif in the regional rock art style’. Period/Occupation IV is post-1500 BC (calibrated), and the most important feature of this period is its association with megalithic stone chamber graves, one of which had its contents spread on four large stones oriented to the cardinal points and comprised an iron knife, a small fragment of gold-wrapped silver wire and a number of vessels of black-and-red ware, red-slipped ware and coarse red/grey plain ware. There are seven infant burials, both urn and extended. An iron blade is present in the occupational level. Beads include specimens made of lapis lazuli, dolerite and copper/bronze, along with a lesser number of specimens made of marine shell. Terracotta figurines continue to occur but in a lesser quantity.
If Watgal has provided a recent sequence of the south Indian neolithic stratigraphy, Budihal in the Shorapur doab has provided more of the general neolithic cultural picture. Four distinct habitation localities have been identified here, in addition to a 4.5 ha area of chert blade-manufacturing workshop from which finished products could be sent elsewhere in the region. Locality I covers c. 1.8 ha and includes a residential area and a separate ash deposit area covering 0.5 ha in the centre of the locality. Further, within the ash-bearing section there is a cattle-penning area on the east and a cow dung disposal area on the west. The residential structures had low walls of stone blocks set in mud mortar. This area also contained a platform for chert working and a storage place for pottery. Ten child burials (urn and extended) were also found here. The general range of cultural material included red/grey pottery, polished stone tool industry, microlithic industry, a small number of bone tools, and beads of shell, bone and semi-precious stones. Horse gram and fruit stones of wild ber, cherry and ‘emblic myrobalan’ have been found along with domestic cattle, sheep, goat and fowl. Fish, crabs and molluscs occur and the wild fauna comprise basically deer and tortoise. An important discovery of the Budihal excavations is that of a floor with several stone blocks, which was earmarked for butchering mainly cattle and to a lesser extent, sheep, goat, buffalo and deer. The calibrated BC range of Budihal is c. 2400–2100.
The chalcolithic phase after the model of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh occurs in Andhra at a large number of sites, among which Singanapalli and Ramapuram (both in the Kurnool area) are the important excavated ones. A profuse quantity of painted wheelmade pottery (usually black-on-red with channel-spouted bowls as a distinctive shape), microlithic industry, lime-plastered house-floors, beads of semi-precious stones, etc. constitute the average cultural features. The excavations are only briefly reported. The beginning of this phase, if the calibrated range of a date from Ramapuram (2455–2041 BC) is indicative, may be earlier than c. 2000 BC.
The Megalithic Complex
The area between the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and the tip of the southern peninsula constitutes the major zone of the burial style denoted by various types of megaliths. This burial style continued well into the historical period in its main distribution area and is characterized by a host of megalithic structures such as cairn-circles, dolmen, menhirs, etc. and their extensive variations and combinations. Till recently, megaliths were supposed—quite wrongly—to have formed an independent cultural entity in this region. However, it is now clear, especially after the excavations of sites like Watgal in Karnataka and Bhawar in Vidarbha, that it is nothing more than a burial style which emerged in the context of the neolithic–chalcolithic of its distribution area and formed part of its cultural milieu for a long time. Generally, it is associated with iron but there is also a possibility of its beginning in the pre-iron stage. At sites such as Hallur and Kumaranahalli, its first iron-associated phase falls around 1300 BC (calibrated).