ABSTRACT
Investigations Into The Iron Age Early Historic Cultures Of The Upper Gundar Basin, Madurai District, Tamil Nadu, India
V. Selvakumar
Intensive research was undertaken in the Upper Gundar basin, which lies in the Madurai district of Tamil Nadu, between 1991 and 1998, with a view to bringing out the archaeological potential of this region. This research has exposed various kinds of material evidence datable to the Mesolithic, the Iron Age and the Early Historic periods. In this basin, the Iron Age-Early Historic period witnessed the occupation of agro-pastoral groups, who used black-and-red ware pottery and iron, and made different types of graves (‘megaliths’) for the dead. During the Iron Age-Early Historic period, hunter-gatherer groups, which predominantly used microliths, were also living side by side with the agro-pastoral groups. This paper presents the characteristics of the Iron Age-Early Historic sites, which were mostly occupied by the agro-pastoral groups, and discusses aspects related to the chronology and economy of the Iron Age-Early Historic cultures.