| Abstract: |
The excavation reported here was an attempt to establish a firmer chronology for the pit-grave sites of the Nilgiri Hills. Although (when completed a dozen years ago) it was the first controlled excavation reported in this part of southern India, it did not produce a more definite dating for the culture under investigation. The concluding part of this report is a brief review of the megalithic culture in the Nilgiri Hills, presented in an attempt to show the evidence for its temporal limits and its association with the culture of other parts of South India. The major finding of this study is the link with early Todas and the widespread culture of the Kurumbas, and with a period spanning much of the first millennium A.D. A tentative date for the excavated burial is the eighth century A.D.
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