About Kanhirapoil Megalithic Site:
- It is located in the state of Kerala.
- Major findings
- 24 pairs of prehistoric footprints and a human figure have been found carved into rock on private property.
- The carvings, made with iron tools, include footprints varying in size from six to ten inches, suggesting representations of both children and adults.
- At the end of the footprints, a human figure has been intricately etched, accompanied by four circular pits around it.
- These carvings bear similarities to prehistoric rock art found in Avalakki Pera in Udupi district in Karnataka.
Key facts about Megaliths
- These were constructed either as burial sites or commemorative((non-sepulchral) memorials.
- The former are sites with actual burial remains, such as dolmenoid cists (box-shaped stone burial chambers), cairn circles (stone circles with defined peripheries) and capstones (distinctive mushroom-shaped burial chambers found mainly in Kerala).
- Non-sepulchral megaliths include memorial sites such as menhirs.
- In India, archaeologists trace the majority of the megaliths to the Iron Age (1500 BC to 500 BC).
- In India, these are concentrated in the states of Maharashtra (mainly in Vidarbha), Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
