Report of my lectures on the Megaliths of India at the XVII World Congress on Prehistory at Burgos in Spain.

Burgos, the city in Spain which hosted the XVII World Conference on prehistory

      I was invited by Dr.Terence Meaden of Oxford University to present my research on the Megaliths of India at the XVII World Congress on Prehistory aka UISPP held at the beautiful city of Burgos, Spain from 1 to 7 Sept 2014.

   Dr. Meaden was one of the organisers of the sessions of the Congress. The topic of his session in which I was to present my lectures was "STANDING STONES AND MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS IN CONTEXT" and the number was A25C.

Terence and I flanked by UISPP flags at the University of Burgos, the venue of the World Conference

     Dr.Meaden had earlier invited me to England, therefore I was to reach London on the 28th August and stay with Terence till 31st. Our tickets to Bilbao, Spain were already booked for that day .  But something cropped up and I couldn't make it to England so I flew directly to Spain on the 2nd Sept and reached Burgos on the 3rd Sept  missing out on the opening ceremony.

   Terence received me warmly with open arms at Burgos and he checked me in at the wonderful Casa Azorfa Hotel near the University of Burgos, the venue of the Congress. 

   THE LECTURES:

  The University of Burgos, the venue fixed for the UISPP is a combination of modern and ancient buildings with large boulders and decorative arches. The floor too is a blend of modern tiling and ancient cobbled stones.

  The next day was the day of our lectures. I learnt that over a hundred sessions were on way and ours was just one of these. 
    I had my presentation in my pen-drive. Terence opened our session giving an introduction to the topic on which we were to address. He opened his lecture giving his presentation on the design of the Stonehenge, Dronbeg and Avebury Stone Circles. 

Dr.Meaden opens the session.

Terence presents his lecture

   Many scholars from all over the world addressed after him as  Maria Giuseppina Gradoli from University of Leicester, Ana Cruz from Portugal, James Blinkhorn from University of Bordeaux,  Herman Bender from England et al.

   I, it seemed was the only one from India or more precisely speaking from Asia to speak on megaliths.

My presentation at the UISPP

My lecture at the Conference.

 Of the two papers that I presented the first was called "INDIAN MEGALITHIC CULTURE SINCE ITS DAWN IN PREHISTORIC TIMES AND ASPECTS OF CONTINUING MEGALITH USES AND BELIEF SYSTEMS". 

   
   This lecture covered the varied typology of megaliths (both the types; the surface typology and the inner excavated structures) that exist in India from Kashmir to Kerala and from Manipur to Gujarat. I presented the details of the excavation of various megaliths, the description of the exposed burials and the grave finds of many megaliths from all over the country. 

  

Dr.Giuse Gradoli, Dr Meaden and I relax and pose after the Conference

Outside one session along with other delegates

   In the ancient times megaliths in India were not built only for sepulchral/funerary purposes but many were non-sepulchral and commemorative and were also raised for astronomical and other purposes. My presentation dealt with such monuments from all over the country. 

   The paper also covered the various megaliths that are still raised by different tribes across the country. In the process I tried seeking what drove the ancients to build such stone monuments and revealed that the ancient megaliths apart from being burials were actually the shrines of the erstwhile ubiquitous Mother Goddess of the now defunct fertility cult.
    The first session ended with this lecture.

I spotted one of the floors decorated with many such designs created with primitive tool like stones

 The second half of the session commenced with my second presentation titled, "SIMILARITIES OF INDIAN MEGALITHS WITH NEOLITHIC EUROPEAN AND BRITISH MEGALITHS AND MONUMENTS; A CONSIDERATION OF POSSIBLE INFLUENCES IN ANTIQUITY"

 In this paper I tried to trace the reason behind the stunningly similar megalithic architectures that exist in England/Europe and India. I showed that the similarities did not confine themselves to mere archaeology but  also to folktales and place names.
    I delved deep  into the Santal migratory legends and narrated that these tales speak of their traversing into these region at some hoary antiquity. 

   Many European languages as Flemmish, German, Latin and English has many Mundari words that confirm that such a journey into Europe by the proto austroloid tribals. That Jharkhand and England share the same term for a megalith, sasan is also such an authentication. 
   The presentation dealt into more such solid proofs that brought the two lands so close during the prehistoric era  which made them build such stunningly identical megaliths in India and England/Europe.

    Both the lectures were backed with impressive photographs. As I am not a professional archaeologist but an independent researcher, my papers not only touched archaeology but  also subjects like anthropology, philology, typonomy and folklores etc.

The Queen of Spain, Her Majesty Sophia Margarita Victoria Frederika graced the end ceremony

 Terence too  presented a few more lectures on the megaliths of England.

 The papers of this session will be published in the journal of British Archaeological report (BAR) of which Dr.Prof.Terence Meaden is the Editor.

 The conference ended with the Queen of Spain Margarita Sophia gracing the end ceremony. The next UISPP as it was decided will be held in Melbourne in 2017.