1.
Poulnabrone dolmen
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Poulnabrone dolmen is a portal tomb - one of approximately 174 in Ireland - located in the Burren, County Clare, Ireland. It dates back to the Neolithic period, probably between 4200 BC and 2900 BC and it is situated 8 km south of Ballyvaughan,9.6 km north-west of Kilnaboy. The tomb is located in a field in the townland of Poulnabrone, parish of Kilcorney, close to the R480 road. Poulnabrone is sometimes translated as Hole of Sorrows. However, brone is derived form the Irish bró, meaning quern, the cairn helped stabilize the tomb chamber, and would have been no higher during the Neolithic. The entrance faces north and is crossed by a low sill stone, a crack was discovered in the eastern portal stone in 1985. Following the resulting collapse, the dolmen was dismantled, and the stone was replaced. Excavations during that time found that 33 people, both adults and children, were buried under the monument, personal items buried with the dead included a polished stone axe, a bone pendant, quartz crystals, weapons and pottery. There were no intact skeletons, indicating the site was not used as a place in the sense that bodies were placed there immediately after or even close to the time of death. Bones were found in the strata, but jumbled chronologically. Only one of the adults seems to have lived past 40, the children had teeth showing signs of illness and malnutrition. Those selected for deposit at this site were apparently the members of some sort of elite and their bodies were left elsewhere to decompose, in a protected location, as none of the bones show any signs of teeth marks. Only the bare bones were taken here and deposited. As some of them show scorch marks, they may have ritually purified by fire beforehand. According to Radiocarbon dating, the tomb was used between 3,800 and 3,200 BC. The findings are now at the Clare Museum, Ennis, loaned from the National Museum of Ireland, in the Bronze Age, a newborn baby was buried in the portico, just outside the entrance. With its dominating presence on the landscape of the Burren. It may have served as a territorial marker in the Neolithic landscape on the important north-south route from Ballyvaughan bay to Kilnaboy
2.
The Burren
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The Burren is a region in County Clare, Ireland. It is dominated by karst landscape and measures, depending on the definition, the name The Burren is most often applied to the area within the circle made by the villages of Ballyvaughan, Kinvara, Tubber, Corofin, Kilfenora and Lisdoonvarna. The Burren National Park is one of six National Parks in Ireland, the exact extent of the area referred to as The Burren is not clearly defined. The name is applied to the limestone uplands of north western Clare. In the north and northwest it is bounded by Galway Bay, although mostly considered to lie in County Clare, geologically the area does extend into County Galway. The Aran Islands are also an extension of the limestone hills that make up most of The Burren. Note that this includes places like the town of Ennistymon and the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren Programme for example defines The Burren region as extending well into the Gort plain, encompassing inter alia Coole Park and the turloughs around it. To the south it extends to Ruan and Crusheen, in the southwest it is bordered by Doolin, Lisdoonvarna, Kilfenora and Corofin. Thus the size of The Burren varies between around 250 square kilometers and 560 square kilometers, depending on the approach taken, roughly 60% of the uplands show exposed limestone. The rolling hills of The Burren are composed of limestone pavements with criss-crossing cracks known as grikes, the limestones, which date from the Visean stage of the Lower Carboniferous, formed as sediments in a tropical sea approximately 325 million years ago. The strata contain fossil corals, crinoids, sea urchins and ammonites and this bed of limestone is up to 800 meters thick. In the north and west it lies on a shelf of Galway granite which supported the upper layers, preventing shifts like those that created the twisted hills Knockanes, the limestone also extends below Galway Bay out to the Aran Islands and to the east into the Gort plain. Later in the Upper Carboniferous, the limestone was covered by sand and mud that later turned into shale. These layers reached a thickness of up to 330 meters in north Clare, one island of shale is the hill Poulacapple, southwest of Ballyvaughan, where an upland moor has formed on top of the impermeable shale layers. Glaciation during the late Quaternary facilitated greater denudation, glaciers expanded and retreated over the region several times. Of the last two periods the first was the pronounced, covering the whole of the Burren. The last advance of the ice cover was more limited, affecting only the eastern Burren, the result is that The Burren is one of the finest examples of a glacio-karst landscape in the world. The effects of the last glacial period are most in evidence, the impact of earlier karstification has been eliminated by the last glacial period
3.
County Clare
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County Clare is a county in Ireland, in the Mid-West Region and the province of Munster. Clare County Council is the local authority, the county had a population of 117,196 at the 2011 census. Clare is north-west of the River Shannon covering an area of 3,400 square kilometres. Clare was founded by the noble Luke Fitzgerald, A knight of Internal Audit, Clare is the 7th largest of Irelands 32 traditional counties in area and the 19th largest in terms of population. It is bordered by two counties in Munster and one county in Connacht, County Limerick to the south, County Tipperary to the east, clares nickname is the Banner County. The county is divided into the baronies of Bunratty Lower, Bunratty Upper, Burren, Clonderalaw, Corcomroe, Ibrickan, Inchiquin, Islands, Moyarta, Tulla Lower and these in turn are divided into civil parishes, which are divided into townlands. These divisions are cadastral, defining land boundaries and ownership, rather than administrative, bodies of water define much of the physical boundaries of Clare. To the southeast is the River Shannon, Irelands longest river, the border to the northeast is defined by Lough Derg which is the third largest lake on Ireland. To the west is the Atlantic Ocean, and to the north is Galway Bay, County Clare contains The Burren, a unique karst region, which contains rare flowers and fauna. At the western edge of The Burren, facing the Atlantic Ocean, are the Cliffs of Moher, the highest point in County Clare is Moylussa,532 m, in the Slieve Bernagh range in the east of the county. Clare is one of the richest places for these tombs in Ireland, the most noted one is in The Burren area, it is known as Poulnabrone dolmen which translates to hole of sorrows. The remains of the people inside the tomb have been excavated and dated to 3800 BC, Ptolemy created a map of Ireland in his Geographia with information dating from 100 AD, it is the oldest written account of the island with geographical features. Within his map Ptolemy names the Gaelic tribes inhabiting it and the areas in which they resided and it was renamed Thomond, meaning North Munster and spawned Brian Boru during this period, perhaps the most noted High King of Ireland. From 1118 onwards the Kingdom of Thomond was in place as its own petty kingdom, after the Norman invasion of Ireland, Thomas de Clare established a short-lived Norman lordship of Thomond, extinguished at the Battle of Dysert ODea in 1318 during Edward Bruces invasion. There are two hypotheses for the origins of the county name Clare. One hypothesis is that the name is derived from Thomas_de_Clare, _Lord_of_Thomond who was embroiled in local politics. An alternative hypothesis is that the county name Clare comes from the settlement of Clare whose Irish name Clár refers to a crossing over the River Fergus. In 1543, during the Tudor conquest of Ireland, Murrough OBrien by surrender, Henry Sidney as Lord Deputy of Ireland responded the Desmond Rebellion by creating the presidency of Connaught in 1569 and presidency of Munster in 1570
4.
Andhra Pradesh
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Andhra Pradesh is one of the 29 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of the country. The state is the eighth largest state in India covering an area of 162,968 km2, as per 2011 Census of India, the state is tenth largest by population with 49,386,799 inhabitants. On 2 June 2014, the portion of the state was bifurcated to form a new state of Telangana. In accordance with the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act,2014, Hyderabad will remain the de jure capital of both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states for a period of not exceeding 10 years. The new riverfront proposed capital in Guntur district is Amaravati, which is under the jurisdiction of APCRDA, the Gross State Domestic Product of the state in the 2016–2017 financial year at current prices stood at ₹6,800.3 billion. The state has a coastline of 974 km with jurisdiction over nearly 15,000 km2 territorial waters, the second longest among all the states of India after Gujarat. It is bordered by Telangana in the north-west, Chhattisgarh in the north, Odisha in the north-east, Karnataka in the west, Tamil Nadu in the south and the water body of Bay of Bengal in the east. A small enclave of 30 km2 of Yanam, a district of Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh is composed of two regions, Coastal Andhra, located along the Bay of Bengal, and Rayalaseema, in the inland southwestern part of the state. These two regions comprise 13 districts, with 9 in Coastal Andhra and 4 in Rayalaseema, Andhra Pradesh hosted 121.8 million visitors in 2015, a 30% growth in tourist arrivals over the previous year. The Tirumala Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati is one of the worlds most visited religious sites, a tribe named Andhra has been mentioned in the Sanskrit texts such as Aitareya Brahmana. According to Aitareya Brahmana of the Rig Veda, the Andhras left north India, archaeological evidence from places such as Amaravati, Dharanikota and Vaddamanu suggests that the Andhra region was part of the Mauryan Empire. Amaravati might have been a centre for the Mauryan rule. After the death of emperor Ashoka, the Mauryan rule weakened around 200 BCE, the Satavahana dynasty dominated the Deccan region from the 1st century BCE to the 3rd century CE. The Satavahanas have been mentioned by the names Andhra, Andhrara-jatiya and Andhra-bhrtya in the Puranic literature, Dharanikota along with Amaravathi was the capital of the later Satavahanas. Amaravathi became a trade and pilgrimage centre during the Satavahana rule. According to the Buddhist tradition, Nagarjuna lived here, possibly in second, Andhra Ikshvakus were one of the earliest recorded ruling dynasties of the Guntur-Krishna regions of Andhra Pradesh. They ruled the eastern Andhra country along the Krishna river during the half of the second century CE. Puranas called Andhra Ikshvakus Shri Parvatiya Andhras, archaeological evidence has suggested that the Andhra Ikshvakus immediately succeeded the Satavahanas in the Krishna river valley
5.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
6.
Amudalavalasa
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Amadalavalasa is a town in Srikakulam district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and also the headquarters of Amadalavalasa mandal. The town is spread over an area of 19.65 km2, Amadalavalasa is located at 18. 4167°N83. 9000°E /18.4167,83.9000. It has an elevation of 29 metres. Amadalavalasa means the town of castor oil, during the times of Ashoka, this place was called Herandapalli. Heranda in Sanskrit means castor oil, ironically, there are no castor oil plants being grown or castor oil being produced in this place. Iron Age habitation Evidence of early historic man and his activities have recently discovered on the hills of Sangamayya Konda. Buddhism and Jainism Sangamayya Konda Sangamayya Konda is 3 km from Amudalavalasa and it was a Buddhist site and is known for the Jain vestiges and Buddhist monasteries excavated recently. A freelance archaeologist conducted recent explorations on the hills of Sangamayya Konda and found several pre-historic Dolmen, Menhir, Cave, Danthapuri Danthapuri is one of the historical places near Amadalavalasa. This village is between Amudalavalasa and Hiramandalam, ancient Buddha stupas are present in this place. Amadalavalasa is 3rd municipality in Srikakulam district, there 23 wards as on 2005 elections. The famous veteran parliamentarian Boddepalli Raja Gopal Rao and MLA Boddepalli Satyavathi is also from this constituency As of 2001 India census, males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. There is a sugar factory in Amadalavalasa, presently not working. Other industries like jute, oil etc. are located at that town, there is head post office at Amadalavalasa. The primary and secondary education is imparted by government, aided and private schools. The medium of instruction followed by different schools are English, Telugu
7.
Megalith
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A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. The word megalithic describes structures made of large stones without the use of mortar or concrete. For later periods, the monolith, with an overlapping meaning, is more likely to be used. The word megalith comes from the Ancient Greek μέγας and λίθος, megalith also denotes an item consisting of rock hewn in definite shapes for special purposes. It has been used to describe buildings built by people from parts of the world living in many different periods. A variety of stones are seen as megaliths, with the most widely known megaliths not being sepulchral. The construction of these took place mainly in the Neolithic and continued into the Chalcolithic. At a number of sites in eastern Turkey, large ceremonial complexes from the 9th millennium BC have been discovered and they belong to the incipient phases of agriculture and animal husbandry. Large circular structures involving carved megalithic orthostats are a feature, e. g. at Nevalı Çori. Although these structures are the most ancient megalithic structures known so far, at Göbekli Tepe, four stone circles have been excavated from an estimated 20. Some measure up to 30 metres across, as well as human figures, the stones carry a variety of carved reliefs depicting boars, foxes, lions, birds, snakes and scorpions. Dolmens and standing stones have been found in areas of the Middle East starting at the Turkish border in the north of Syria close to Aleppo. They can be encountered in Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Israel, Jordan, the largest concentration can be found in southern Syria and along the Jordan Rift Valley, however they are being threatened with destruction. They date from the late Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age, megaliths have also been found on Kharg Island and pirazmian in Iran, at Barda Balka in Iraq, and at Jaintapur in Bangladesh. A semicircular arrangement of megaliths was found in Israel at Atlit Yam and it is a very early example, dating from the 7th millennium BC. The most concentrated occurrence of dolmens in particular is in an area on both sides of the Jordan Rift Valley, with greater predominance on the eastern side. They occur first and foremost on the Golan Heights, the Hauran, and in Jordan, in Saudi Arabia, only very few dolmen have been identified so far in the Hejaz. They seem, however, to re-emerge in Yemen in small numbers, the standing stone has a very ancient tradition in the Middle East, dating back from Mesopotamian times
8.
Neolithic
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It ended when metal tools became widespread. The Neolithic is a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops, the beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to be in the Levant about 10, 200–8800 BC. It developed directly from the Epipaleolithic Natufian culture in the region, whose people pioneered the use of wild cereals, which then evolved into true farming. The Natufian period was between 12,000 and 10,200 BC, and the so-called proto-Neolithic is now included in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic between 10,200 and 8800 BC. By 10, 200–8800 BC, farming communities arose in the Levant and spread to Asia Minor, North Africa, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat, millet and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep. By about 6900–6400 BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order, the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery. Early Japanese societies and other East Asian cultures used pottery before developing agriculture, unlike the Paleolithic, when more than one human species existed, only one human species reached the Neolithic. The term Neolithic derives from the Greek νέος néos, new and λίθος líthos, stone, the term was invented by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system. In the Middle East, cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th millennium BC, early development occurred in the Levant and from there spread eastwards and westwards. Neolithic cultures are attested in southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia by around 8000 BC. The total excavated area is more than 1,200 square yards, the Neolithic 1 period began roughly 10,000 years ago in the Levant. A temple area in southeastern Turkey at Göbekli Tepe dated around 9500 BC may be regarded as the beginning of the period. This site was developed by nomadic tribes, evidenced by the lack of permanent housing in the vicinity. At least seven stone circles, covering 25 acres, contain limestone pillars carved with animals, insects, Stone tools were used by perhaps as many as hundreds of people to create the pillars, which might have supported roofs. Other early PPNA sites dating to around 9500–9000 BC have been found in Jericho, Israel, Gilgal in the Jordan Valley, the start of Neolithic 1 overlaps the Tahunian and Heavy Neolithic periods to some degree. The major advance of Neolithic 1 was true farming, in the proto-Neolithic Natufian cultures, wild cereals were harvested, and perhaps early seed selection and re-seeding occurred. The grain was ground into flour, emmer wheat was domesticated, and animals were herded and domesticated
9.
Tumulus
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A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or kurgans, a cairn, which is a mound of stones built for various purposes, may also originally have been a tumulus. Tumuli are often categorised according to their external apparent shape, in this respect, a long barrow is a long tumulus, usually constructed on top of several burials, such as passage graves. A round barrow is a tumulus, also commonly constructed on top of burials. The internal structure and architecture of both long and round barrows has a range, the categorization only refers to the external apparent shape. The method of inhumation may involve a dolmen, a cist, a mortuary enclosure, examples of barrows include Duggleby Howe and Maeshowe. The funeral of Patroclus is described in book 23 of the Iliad, Patroclus is burned on a pyre, and his bones are collected into a golden urn in two layers of fat. The barrow is built on the location of the pyre, achilles then sponsors funeral games, consisting of a chariot race, boxing, wrestling, running, a duel between two champions to the first blood, discus throwing, archery and spear throwing. Beowulfs body is taken to Hronesness, where it is burned on a funeral pyre, during cremation, the Geats lament the death of their lord, a widows lament being mentioned in particular, singing dirges as they circumambulate the barrow. Afterwards, a mound is built on top of a hill, overlooking the sea, a band of twelve of the best warriors ride around the barrow, singing dirges in praise of their lord. Parallels have also drawn to the account of Attilas burial in Jordanes Getica. Jordanes tells that as Attilas body was lying in state, the best horsemen of the Huns circled it, as in circus games. An Old Irish Life of Columcille reports that every funeral procession halted at a mound called Eala, whereupon the corpse was laid, archaeologists often classify tumuli according to their location, form, and date of construction. Some British types are listed below, Bank barrow Bell barrow Bowl barrow D-shaped barrow - round barrow with a flat edge at one side often defined by stone slabs. Disc barrow Fancy barrow - generic term for any Bronze Age barrows more elaborate than a hemispherical shape. Long barrow Oval barrow - a Neolithic long barrow consisting of an elliptical, platform barrow - The least common of the recognised types of round barrow, consisting of a flat, wide circular mound that may be surrounded by a ditch. They occur widely across southern England with a concentration in East and West Sussex. Pond barrow - a barrow consisting of a circular depression, surrounded by a bank running around the rim of the depression
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