Researchers have applied a pioneering 'Quantum-Decay' calibration technique to carbonized remains found at burial sites in the Godavari Valley. This new methodology has revealed that the transition to megalithic burial practices in Southern India occurred nearly 1,000 years earlier than previously estimated, placing the origins of these complex social structures in the early 5th millennium BCE.
The study highlights how this high-precision dating allows archaeologists to correlate shifts in burial architecture with sudden paleoclimate fluctuations. This breakthrough provides a new framework for understanding the emergence of social hierarchy and permanent settlements in the Deccan Plateau during the Early Neolithic period.