ABSTRACT
Considered a post-Neolithic phenomenon, megaliths in Northeast India have its greatest concentration in the Khasi–Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya, Naga-dominated areas of Manipur, Kohima and Phek districts of Nagaland and Hamren subdivision of Karbi Anglong in Assam. Common types such as menhir, dolmen, cist, cairn, stone circle, etc. and differing widely in terms of size and shape, are found to be used for a variety of reasons by present-day populations such as for recreation or resting, and as burial stones, path stones, market stones, judiciary and religious stones, etc. This continuing practice witnessed in Northeast India is fairly unique in the global context. On the basis of relevance to the present-day people, megalithic traditions of the region can be segregated into three major categories indicating temporality: megaliths that are archaic and no longer in use, megaliths that are in use today and maintained regularly, and those that have been modified and used as tokens embodying new meanings.
