MALARI (Nautiyal 1985) (Cave at)

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

A west-facing entrance (1.15 m high) gave access to man-made, oval-shaped rock chamber (3 m wide), which was dug on the soft calcareous limestone mountains by the protohistoric settlers of the region, primarily for burying the dead (Indian Archaeology: A Review [IAR] 1982-83 / 1985: 95). SITUATION: At an unspecified location on the western face of an unidentified the mountain somewhere near Malari in the valley of the Dhauliganga. Here, the site of Malari is located in the inner Himalayan Zone at a height of 4000 m above MSL and 60 km north-east of Joshimat (Indian Archaeology: A Review [IAR] 1982-83 / 1985: 95). CAVE DESCRIPTION: It was found that the cave was oval in shape with an entrance of 1.15 m height, on the western face of the mountain, the width of the inner portion was 3 metres. At the entrance to the cave burial, a few large boulders were kept to block the passage (Indian Archaeology: A Review [IAR] 1982-83 / 1985: 95).CULTURAL HISTORY -- archaeology: These cave burials wee dug on the soft calcareous limestone mountains by the protohistoric settlers of the region, primarily for burying the dead. The excavation yielded a complete skeleton of a horse oriented in EW direction. The other associated funerary material included red and black ware jars. The rich repertoire of pots showed linear, geometrical and, incised designs besides decorative handles occasionally from two sides. A red ware vase was painted with black flowing wavy designs on the neck portion and grooved geometrical lines on the body portion. Inside the cave, along with the skeleton a big storage jar in grey ware, highly fragile iron arrow-heads and a few bone arrow-heads were also recorded. This cave burial at Malari can be tentatively assigned a date around 1000 BC (Indian Archaeology: A Review [IAR] 1982-83 / 1985: 95, 111 plate 66).