THE ANTIQUITY OF AMARAVATI AND DHARANIKOTA dates back to the prehistoric times when man was in the most primitive stage of his existence. Tools used by him then were made primarily of stone, and such Early Stone Age artefacts like handaxes. Cleavers, discoid’s, scrapers and so on put to various practical uses, from Dharanikota in the course of explorations. That the area attracted the neolithic people too is evident from stray discovery of polished stone-axes.
A few urn-burials of the megalithic culture referred to earlier were discovered by Rea below one of the smaller stupas. In fact, in the region between Guntur and Amaravati, megalithic burials are noticed, specially near the foot of the hill-ranges at places like Lam, Motadaka, Nemalipuram etc. Significantly, the lowest levels of Dharanikota and the maha-chaitya site yielded material belonging to the same megalithic culture. It may, there¬fore, reasonably be postulated that the megalith-builders forming a large community occupied an extensive area in the region before the introduction of Buddhism there.
