gold articles, which were probably used as diadems, vary in size and are oval in shape : some have a strip extending beyond the two extremities with a small hole for a wire or string at each end. They are thin plates ornamented with triangular and linear dotted designs and all were found folded up in a manner which suggests that some symbolical meaning may have been attached to the practice. Of iron, many implements and weapons were found always placed point downwards, as if they had been thrust into the surrounding earth by the attendant mourners. There are no implements or weapons in bronze, all articles in this metal being vessels of varied shape, personal ornaments, such as rings, bangles and bracelets, or ornaments which have been attached to the bases and lids of Vases, such as buffaloes with wide curved horns. The domestic animals represented in bronze are the buffalo, goat or sheep and cock; and the wild animals are the tiger, antelope and elephant. There are also representations of flying birds. There are sieves in bronze in the form of perforated cups fitted into small basins, the metal of these cups being extremely thin, and the basins only a little thicker. The perforations in the cup are in the form of dots arranged in a variety of designs, chiefly concentric circles around the bottom, and concentric semi-circles sometimes interlacing around the rim. Numerous human bones and skulls have been found, and one of the latter in particular, from an urn which was devoid of earth, retained its shape in perfect condition. This skull was taken from the bottom of the urn, which contained only bones of large size and the decomposed debris of smaller ones. Against one of the inner sides of the urn, leant the bones of the legs and arms of the skeleton, while below, in addition to the skull, were the vertebrae, ribs and other smaller bones exactly as one would expect them after the body, as evidently was the case in this instance, had been placed in the urn in a crouching or a sitting position. In only a few instances did an urn contain the complete bones of a skeleton, and in such cases it was always of large size, being nearly three feet in diameter. Concerning the Ādichanallūr prehistoric burial site, M. Lapicque (Bull. Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, 1905),9 writes as follows: "Avec une autorisation spéciale de I’administration anglaise, j'allai pratiquer quelques journées de fouilles dans le gisement réservé d'Adichannallour. J'ai rapporté un specimen des urnes funéraires, avec une colléction assez complète du mobilier funeraire .... J'ai rapporté aussi un crâne en assez bon état, et parfaitement déterminable. II est hyperdolichocéphale et s'accorde avec la série que le service d' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ with a characteristic fibrous texture, with 25 per cent carbon (by combustion). 9 Annual Report of the Madras Government Museum, 1905-06, pp. 5 and 6. |