Neolithic and Iron Age-Megalithic Findings from the Meenachil River Basin, Kottayam District, Kerala Cyriac Jose 1 1 . Department of Archaeology, St. Thomas College, Pala, Kottayam, Kerala – 686 574, India (Email: cyriakose@gmail.com) Received: 02 July 2020; Revised: 17 September 2020; Accepted: 29 October 2020 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 8.1 (2020): 448-461 Abstract: This paper discusses the details of archaeological investigations carried out in the Meenachil river basin, Kottayam district, Kerala, India and also reveals recent findings on the Neolithic and Iron- Age-Megalithic period of the region. Keywords: Megaliths, Neolithic, Meenachil River, Dolmen, Menhir, Cist, Urn Introduction Archaeological exploration was carried out in the Meenachil river basin by the Department of Archaeology of St. Thomas College, Pala with the permission of the Archeological Survey of India for the field season 2018-2019. The field survey was initiated with the aims of locating the evidences of Neolithic, the Iron Age-Megalithic, Early Historic and the Medieval period and also to document and interpret them. Exploration also gave attention to findings which were already reported but are not yet been documented and described. Although the archaeological data of the Medieval and the Modern period also were documented, the present article discusses only the Neolithic and the Iron Age-Megalithic. Study Area The river Meenachil is located and flows through the district of Kottayam of Kerala. The total length of the river is about 78 km and is nourished by a number of tributaries. Formed by the confluence of several streams, the total catchment area of the river is 1272 sq. km. Major tributaries of the river is Kurusumalai,Thikovil, Chattappuzha, ,Kadappuzha, Kalathukadavu, Poonjar, Chittar, Lalam thodu, Pannagam thodu and Meenadam. The general elevation of the river ranges from 77m to 1156 m in the highlands and less than 2 m in the lowlands and 8 m to 68 m in the midlands (Menon 1975). The river takes a westerly direction and finally merges into Vembanad Lake. Geological formation of eastern part of the district comprises of Precambrian metamorphic rocks and forms a hilly ground. The central part is a low plateau, where Tertiary sediments containing lignite occur. These are followed by a low plain in