Archaeological Investigations of Lithic Monuments in Northeast India: A Spatial and Typological Study

Abstract

Stone has been used by humans for various purposes since antiquity, including tools, art, architecture, and sepulchral monuments. Due to its hardness, it lasts for ages and is often used for erecting monumental forms, such as for marking important events, village boundaries, and commemorations. Lithic monuments in the North - Eastern Region are diverse in structure and function, with cairns, capstones, cists, dolmen, menhir, monolithic jars, and trilithons. These monuments can be broadly classified into funerary and non - funerary types, with wide variation among them. Menhir is the most commonly used and seen in ethnic communities' villages. Local inhabitants continue to create lithic specimens, but jars lack a living tradition. Deciphering these ambiguities is a challenging task due to the ambiguity surrounding their use and the difficulty in understanding their history. Overall, stone has been a valuable tool for understanding and preserving the past.