Largest Capstone Ever Found In South India

AncientPages.com - The largest capstone ever found in the country has been excavated by archaeologists working at the burial site at Neremetta, Siddipet in the northern region of the Indian state of Telangana, in southern India.

The capstone weighs 40 tons, is 6.70 meters in length, four meters wide and 65 cm thick, and it took four hours for the crane to lift it.

The crane from Hyderabad took four hours to lift the 40 ton capstone. Image: Deccan Chronicle

“We can safely say that this is the largest capstone found in South India and one of the largest in the country. We can’t say it’s the world’s largest as there could be much larger ones, we don’t know,” D Ramulu Naik, assistant director of the Department said.

Excavations were carried out in Neremetta village following the discovery of megalith burials in Pullur Banda village near Siddipet.

A huge capstone was used to cover a menhir-type prehistoric burial site in Neremetta. Image: Deccan Chronicle

There are 50 unusual megalith burial sites in the area that contain menhirs, cairns and dolmens and stone circles.

In ancient times, capstones had a special function. They were placed over graves to protect the body from predators, since it was believed that the soul lives on after death. Additionally, archaeologists found arm bones, three red ware pots, two mixed black and red ware broken pots, and an iron tool were found below a smaller menhir.

Bones, red ware pots and unearthed at the pre historic menhir burial site at Nemeretta village in Siddipet district. Image: Deccan Chronicle

These megalith burial sites date back to between 1000 BC and 200 AD.

Asked how pre-historic people could have placed such a massive capstone on the grave, Mr Naik explained, “First they might have dug the grave near a huge capstone, filled it up with gravel and moved the capstone either by rolling it over round stones or logs of wood. Or they could have dug up below a huge capstone and buried the dead and covered it.”

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