The research work entitled Rock art and Megaliths, Maraiyur, Kerala is an attempt to investigate the archaeological potential of the Maraiyur region, Idukki district Kerala. Maraiyur is located in the north-eastern parts of Devikulam Taluk of Idukki district, bordering Tamil Nadu. This study was focused on the megalithic and rock art cultures of Maraiyur and surroundings by adopting a regional approach. Also this work intended to address the issues like a detailed exploration and documentation of the rock Art sites and megalithic sites, and reconstruction of the cultural sequence of Maraiyur. This study yielded a detailed documentation and analysis of rock art and megalithic sites and which brought to light more than 30 Iron Age-Early Historic sites, two habitational evidences as well. The excavation of Megalithic burial and rock shelter produced evidence of early historic occupation in the area. This study also brought to light the close connection of rock art with megaliths of that region. Further, this has not only helped in identifying new archaeological site in this region, but also the cultural synthesis with neighboring area of Palani hills and Amaravathi Valley in Tamil Nadu.
Dr. Nihildas N. has completed masters in Archaeology from University of Kerala and Post Graduate Diploma and Ph.D. from Deccan College, Post Graduate Research Institute, Pune. He has participated in several archaeological excavations and explorations across the country, among them few are Farmana in Haryana, Methakedi in Madhya Pradesh, Talpada in Odisha, Binjor in Rajasthan, Brahmagiri in Karnataka, and Maraiyur and Kottappuram in Kerala. He has more than 15 research articles and 10 national and International presentations to his credit so far. In 2013, he joined Archaeological Survey of India as Assistant Archaeologist and later on went to Institute of Archaeology for Post Graduate Diploma in Archaeology as an in-service candidate. Recently, he got selected for Deputy Superintending Archaeologist in 2016 and joined Excavation Branch I, Nagpur.
The Archaeological research in Kerala has a long tradition which started with the discovery of first megalithic monuments in the country in 1817. However, unlike other regions of India, there is a lull in archaeological research in Kerala and many research areas remain untagged. Megalithic monuments have a vast distribution in Kerala. It is a cultural vestige that has always been in the limelight of archaeological studies in Kerala for over a century. Every now and then new sites or data come to fore accidentally or through explorations and excavations. The present work is based on the recent work conducted at Maraiyur in Kerala. Maraiyur, a village located in the eastern fringes of Idukki district, is unique for its panoramic beauty, naturally growing sandal and different types of forest products. From archaeological point of view, Maraiyur has a large number of Iron Age-Early Historic monuments especially dolmens, a unique feature to this region. Thus Maraiyur is known as land of dolmens. Earlier researchers have mentioned about the density of dolmens in and around Maraiyur, which roughly numbered up to two thousand. However, at present, the number has tremendously decreased due to large scale land encroachment and vandalism. Lack of systematic studies led to meager information about the locations, distribution and other architectural and cultural features of dolmens, and same is the case with the rock art sites. It is important to note here that this is the only region in Kerala, where we come across with these two cultural entities together. In this regard, I would like to thank the support and encouragement of some individuals. I thank Profs. P.P. Joglekar and R.K. Mohanty for their constant support and encouragement. 1 express my gratitude to Tejal Ruikar, Midhun C.Sekhar, Cyriac Jose, Abhayan G.S, Sujana Stephen, and Rajesh S.V who have supported me in several ways. I also extend my thanks to Drs. Pankaj Goyal and Sachin Tiwary for their valuable suggestions. Finally I thank my parents Haridasan R and Shylaja Haridas and wife Anupama for their care and patience. I am deeply indebted to Praveen Mittal and B.R. Publishing Corporation for accepting this work for publication.
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