Megalithic monuments and ancestral sites: An ethnoarchaeological investigation of continuity of tradition among Austroasiatic communities of Jharkhand

Over the years, several megalithic sites have been reported from different regions of Jharkhand. The initial investigations were conducted during the second half of the 19th century and the early phase of the 20th century by colonial ethnographers and anthropologists. An excavation was conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India in the year 1965-66 at the site of Khuntitoli, where evidence of cremated bones of multiple individuals was found separately under a stone slab, indicating evidence of a secondary family burial. Recent investigations are carried out by the members of INTACH, Hazaribagh. The author has recently conducted an ethnoarchaeological study as part of the doctoral research, studying the continuing tradition and culture of raising megalithic monuments, comparing them with the archaeological parallels in light of evidence found through the survey of ancient sites and ethnographic analogy. This paper briefs the research of the present tradition of Austroasiatic communities; Mundas, Bhumij, and Hos in light of present monuments and ancestral sites, which indicate the distribution of megaliths on their possible route of the movement in Chotanagpur plateau throughout the past and existence of old and recent burial monuments over different ancestral sites.