India's Village of the Dead!

G’Day ATS,

I came across this amazing site today and immediately new it was right up ATS’s alley! My only regret is that I lived in Southern India for six years, I went to school not far from this place (well for India!), and I've NEVER BEEN to or heard of it before!

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/e5c44ab68a7d.png[/atsimg]

The photo above is from a place called Hire Benakal in the Southern Indian State of Karnataka.

On a gentle slope are scores of dolmens (megalithic tombs) resembling houses of cards—if playing cards were slabs of granite 10 feet tall and weighed 10 tons or more. The monuments were built over more than 1,000 years spanning the southern Indian Iron Age (1200-500 B.C.) and Early Historic (500 B.C.-A.D. 500) periods, and there are more than 1,000 of them across nearly 50 acres, from modest rock enclosures to mausoleum-like tombs.

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Information on this place is very hard to come by, demonstrated by the fact that there is no Wiki page on it! However I’ve managed to scrape together what information there is and present it to you here.

The dolmens are impressive, and show remarkable Iron Age ingenuity reminiscent of other European examples.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/cd089d0cd04f.png[/atsimg]

While it is known where the granite to make them came from:

There, hundreds of megaliths are found near a broad, shallow water basin that likely began as a ‘‘natural’’ rock pool and was subsequently expanded by quarrying activities for the construction of monuments

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/36b695a67f34.png[/atsimg]Picture of one of the rock pools formed from quarrying the walls and roofs of the dolmens

It isn't known HOW they were made. Some of the granite slabs are carved, there are even suggestions that they represent people.

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While others are as much as ten feet high:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c904131e2438.png[/atsimg]

The largest, as seen in the following photo, are over ten tonnes and tend to be grouped in the middle. Archaeologist theorise that this tells us about the social structure of the iron age people who made these dolmens. Those of higher status being interred in larger monuments. I say interred, as this is the generally accepted hypothesis for the construction of these structures, although no human remains have been found as yet!

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/203d3bc776af.png[/atsimg]

I wish there was more to give you ATS, follow the link below for a few more images (I didn't want to just steal all Mr Singh's Pics!). I went to about page 10 of the Google search and found basically nothing!!

Hope you found this new and interesting, all the best, Kiwi!

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f285fcd38bd1.png[/atsimg]

SOURCES

India's Village of the Dead - Text and photographs by Samir S. Pate

PHOTO GALEERY, Archaeology

Toward a Political Ecology in Early South India: PDF

very nice report, never seen these monuments before.

It honestly looks like Bedrock from the Flintstones. I wonder if the person who came up with the designs didn't visit there....

Originally posted by wylekat
It honestly looks like Bedrock from the Flintstones. I wonder if the person who came up with the designs didn't visit there....

Duuuh! I never saw that, amazing!!! You may just be right!

Originally posted by icepack
very nice report, never seen these monuments before.

Nor me my friend, I'm glad you found it interesting, as did I! :up;

Honestly, Kiwi, you can find the most interesting subjects to present.
While it would be interesting to know their age and purpose, it's well enough just to see them. It does resemble a community of some sort, and I don't get the impression they were burial grounds.

Maybe a shopping mall or marketplace.

How much money would it take for you to sleep under one of those for a night?

I guess if they've been around for hundreds of years (thousands?) and haven't fallen down yet, they'll probably be safe for a while longer, but still.

If you chose the wrong hut, you get squished like a grape.

Originally posted by ladyinwaiting
It does resemble a community of some sort, and I don't get the impression they were burial grounds.

That's also the impression that I got!! But I guess it goes hand in hand with European examples of stone structured burial chambers and dolmens.

As for the shopping mall, Love it

reply to post by kiwifoot


Thank you for sharing this. It is truly remarkable what our earlier generations managed to accomplish. S+F

Great thread, amazing indeed.

I wonder how a layout would look compared to the stars of that time.

The remind me a bit of the formations we have here in he Netherlands.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/da9768d30249.jpg[/atsimg]

Originally posted by Grey Magic


The remind me a bit of the formations we have here in he Netherlands.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/da9768d30249.jpg[/atsimg]

Holy crap, that is huge, very impressive, how on earth did they do that??

Originally posted by harrytuttle
How much money would it take for you to sleep under one of those for a night?

I guess if they've been around for hundreds of years (thousands?) and haven't fallen down yet, they'll probably be safe for a while longer, but still.

If you chose the wrong hut, you get squished like a grape.

Now harry, would you sleep under that on?

Originally posted by Sheol

You're welcome mate, my pleasure!

Nice post. I'm from South India too. I havent seen this place. Nice find. S&F

Starred & Flagged!!

I am from India. In fact, from kerala, which is neighbouring Karnataka, in which Hire Benekal is situated.

I didnt know about this one till now!! (slams my head against a post!!)

There are quite a lot of Dolmens all over India.

Some are in my own State, Kerala.

(Also called Muniyaras), These dolmenoid cists belong to the Megalithic age. These dolmenoids were burial chambers made of four stones placed on edge and covered by a fifth stone called the cap stone. Some of these Dolmenoids contain several burial chambers, while others have a quadrangle scooped out in laterite and lined on the sides with granite slabs. These are also covered with cap stones. Dozens of Dolmens around the area of old Siva temple (Thenkasinathan Temple) at Kovilkadavu on the banks of the River Pambar, and rock paintings on the south-western slope of the plateau overlooking the river have attracted visitors. Apart from the dolmens of Stone Age, several dolmens of Iron Age exist in this region especially on the left side of river Pambar as is evident from the usage of neatly dressed granite slabs for the dolmens. At least one of them has a perfectly circular hole of 28 cm diameter inside the underground chamber. This region has several types of dolmens. Large number of them are overground with about 70–90 cm height. Another type has a height 140–170 cm. There is an overground dolmen with double length up to 350 cm. Fragments of burial urns are also available in the region near the dolmens. This indicate that the dolmens with 70–90 cm height was used for burial of the remains of people of high social status. Burial urns were used for the burial of the remains of commoners. The dolmens with raised roof might have been used for habitation of people. Why some people lived in the cemeteries has not been satisfactorily explained.

Link

Dolmen field on a hill Moreramani near the village Moreratatti, in Karnataka, India.

There are about 100 Dolmens, the older ones built from a wall of stones and a big slab of granite (dayorit) on top, the newer ones built from big slabs, some of them have a soul hole. Some Menhirs still standing, but most on the ground.

Link

A big dolmen with four petroglyphs that portray men with tridents and a wheel with spokes has been found at Kollur, near Tirukoilur, 35 km from Villupuram in Tamil Nadu. ......“Hundreds of megalithic dolmens were once found in Tamil Nadu. Urban development and extension of agricultural land led to locals smashing them up or carting away the granite slabs for use in their houses. The Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department must make a survey of the surviving dolmens, and it should fence them. For these sites are directly connected with the pre-Sangam or Sangam age culture of Tamil Nadu,” Mr. Gandhirajan said.

Link

[edit on 24/6/10 by coredrill]

[edit on 24/6/10 by coredrill]

Originally posted by coredrill
Starred & Flagged!!

I am from India. In fact, from kerala, which is neighbouring Karnataka, in which Hire Benekal is situated.

I didnt know about this one till now!!

(slams my head against a post!!)

There are quite a lot of Dolmens all over India.

Some are in my own State, Kerala.

Originally posted by chaosinorder
Nice post. I'm from South India too. I havent seen this place. Nice find.

S&F

Thank goodness for that, I don't feel so bad now for never hearing about this place!!!!

I still wish I had though!

All the best, Kiwi

Nice post. I have heard from David Wilcock in one of his videos that Dolmens were use for meditation. It is believed that it increases frequency
similar to an antena for meditative purposes.

reply to post by Grey Magic


maybe that structure gave rise to the legends of the round table

or it could be a stone age attempt to recreate a flying saucer

reply to post by coredrill


so you are malayali, eh?

reply to post by kiwifoot


Great find kiwi, as usual!!!

When I saw the first photo I thought it was a bunch of empty cable reels.

Obviously they are not. If this is a graveyard why haven't any remains been found? Maybe they are deep underground below the shelters.

Thanks, S&F and 73's,
Tom

Originally posted by Ansuzrune
Nice post. I have heard from David Wilcock in one of his videos that Dolmens were use for meditation. It is believed that it increases frequency
similar to an antena for meditative purposes.

I've not heard of that, thanks a lot, gives me something to look into on the weekend!!

I did a thread on sound:

Sound - The Lost Secret of the Ancient Monument Builders is Finally Coming to Light!

There may be a possible connection there too!

All the best, Kiwi

Originally posted by tomdham
reply to post by kiwifoot

 

Great find kiwi, as usual!!!

When I saw the first photo I thought it was a bunch of empty cable reels.

Obviously they are not. If this is a graveyard why haven't any remains been found? Maybe they are deep underground below the shelters.

Thanks, S&F and 73's,
Tom

That's what o though at first, cable wheels!!
I think the missing bodies is just that they were probably let out in the open, there's nothing left after a thousand years!!!

Originally posted by reject
reply to post by Grey Magic

 

maybe that structure gave rise to the legends of the round table

or it could be a stone age attempt to recreate a flying saucer

Who knows, that's why I love the Ancient Forum, anything is possible!!

All the best, Kiwi

reply to post by kiwifoot


Awesome find! I've read quite a bit about the Village of the Dead but I'd never actually seen pictures of it. Thank you very much for this.