Ancient Indian History: Prehistory of India
Prehistoric Period: Era of Indian Prehistory
There were no records to state when and where the early man lived in India. However Archaeologists have unearthed stone tools used by them. This period is known as Stone Age because the tools made by them were made of stone. However there were some improvements in the tools used by them and on the basis of tools used the stone age is divided into Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic |
Palaeolithic Age
The Palaeolithic age is further divided into three phases depending on the nature of stone tools used by them. These tools were made of Quartzite rock. They are Early or Lower Palaeolithic age, Middle Palaeolithic age and Upper Palaeolithic Age. They lived on hunting and food gathering. Their period belongs to the Ice Age period. |
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| A rock painting at Bhimbetka, India, a World heritage site |
- Early or Lower Palaeolithic Age Their characteristic feature is the use of hand axes, cleavers and choppers for chopping, digging and skinning. Their sites are found in the valley of river Soan (Sohan) in Pakistan, Kashmir and Thar desert, Belam valley in Utter Pradesh and in the caves and rock shelter of Bimbetka near Bhopal, M.P. Their period may be placed between 250,000 BC and 100,000 BC.
- Middle Palaeolithic Age The tools used were blades, points, borers and scrappers made of flakes. Their artefacts were found at several places on river Narmada and south of Tungabadra. Their period may be placed between 100,000 BC and 40,000 BC.
- Upper Palaeolithic AgeThese people used blades and burins made of flint. Their sites are found in Andra, Karnataka, Maharastra, Central M.P, Southern UP, Bihar Plateau and adjoining areas. Their period may be placed between 40,000 BC and 10,000 BC.
Mesolithic Age
It is the transitional age between Palaeolithic Age and Neolithic Age. The characteristic tools of the Mesolithic Age aremicroliths which are small measuring about 3 cm in length. Mesolithic sites are found Rajasthan, southern UP, central and eastern India and south of Krishna. Adamgarh (MP) and Bagour (Rajasthan) provides the earliest evidence of domestication ofanimals. Bagor had a distinctive microlithic industry. Earliest evidence (Sambhar lake) of cultivation of plants also comes from this period. Mesolithic culture flourished from 9000 BC to 4000 B.C. The Mesolithic people were hunters and herders.
Rajasthan: The Pachpadra basin and the Sojat area (Rajasthan) are rich in mimliths. The significant habitation site discovered is Tilwara. Tilwara has two cultural phases, Phase-I is Mesolithic and is characterized by the presence of microliths. In Phase-II wheel made pottery and pieces of iron are found together with microliths.
Bagor (Rajasthan) on the river Kothari is the largest Mesolithic site in India and has been horizontally excavated. Bagor has three cultural phases. On the basis; of radiocarbon dating phase I or the earliest phase of culture has been placed between 5000-2000 B.C.
Gujarat: Akhaj, Valasana, Hirpur on the Sabarmati bank. Langhnaj is the most researched mesolithic site.
Uttar Pradesh: Allahabad pratapgarh area (Nahar Rai) , Morhana pahar and Lekhania.
Madhya Pradesh: Bhimbethka and Adamgarh (Hosangabad)
Jharkhand: Chhotanagpur Plateu
Orissa: Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Sundergarh
Westbengal: Birbhanpur
Meghalaya: Sehalgiri 2 in Garo Hills
South India: Krishna 7 Bhima rivers, Renigunta in Andhra Pradesh
Mesolithic Tools:
- Tools of mesolithic age are microliths all made of stone.
- The microliths were first discovered by Carlyle in 1867 from Vindhyan Rock Shelters.
- This age is also known by various names like Late Stone Age or Microlithic Age. The Mesolithic people lived on hunting, fishing and food-gathering. Earliest domestication of animals has alo been witnessed from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
- Tools are characterised by parallel-sided blades taken out from prepared cores of fine-materials as chert, crystal, chalcedony, jasper, carnelian, agate etc. and were generally one to five centimeters long.
Mesolithic Paintings:
- At various sites in Bhimbetka, Adamgarh, etc. rock and cave paintings have been discovered.
- In these paintings, various subjects including animals and human scenes have been found.
- Animals are the most frequently depicted subjects either alone or in large and small groups and shown in various poses.
- Depiction of human figures in rock paintings is quite common.
- Dancing, running, hunting, playing games and quarrelling were commonly depicted scenes.
- Colours like deep red, gree, white and yellow were used in making these paintings.
List of Mesolithic Sites :
Rajasthan: The Pachpadra basin and the Sojat area (Rajasthan) are rich in mimliths. The significant habitation site discovered is Tilwara. Tilwara has two cultural phases, Phase-I is Mesolithic and is characterized by the presence of microliths. In Phase-II wheel made pottery and pieces of iron are found together with microliths.
Bagor (Rajasthan) on the river Kothari is the largest Mesolithic site in India and has been horizontally excavated. Bagor has three cultural phases. On the basis; of radiocarbon dating phase I or the earliest phase of culture has been placed between 5000-2000 B.C.
Gujarat: Akhaj, Valasana, Hirpur on the Sabarmati bank. Langhnaj is the most researched mesolithic site.
Uttar Pradesh: Allahabad pratapgarh area (Nahar Rai) , Morhana pahar and Lekhania.
Madhya Pradesh: Bhimbethka and Adamgarh (Hosangabad)
Jharkhand: Chhotanagpur Plateu
Orissa: Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Sundergarh
Westbengal: Birbhanpur
Meghalaya: Sehalgiri 2 in Garo Hills
South India: Krishna 7 Bhima rivers, Renigunta in Andhra Pradesh
Neolithic Age
This age is known as New Stone Age. People of this age used Polished Stone tools particularly stone axes. They were usually made out of fine grained dark green trap. Based on the types of axes used by them, we can distinguish three important areas of Neolithic settlements. The first group of people were found in Burzahom near Srinagar, Kashmir. They lived inpits, used both stone and bone tools, buried the dead along with dogs and practised agriculture and domestication of animals. The second group lived in south India, south of Godavari river. The third area is found on the hills of Assam. The Neolithic settlers were the earliest farming communities. they produced ragi and horsegram (kulathi). The oldest Neolithic settlement is found inMehrgarh and it roughly belongs to 7000BC. The age of Neolithic Settlement is placed between 7000 BC to 1000 BC.
Metal Age in India
- Copper Age: People started using metals by the end of Neolithic age. The first metal used was copper. Numerous copper objects were found in the region from Chota Nagpur plateau to upper Gangetic basin. The important finds include ochre coloured pottery.
- Chalcolithic Age: The culture based on the use of stone and copper is known as Chalcolithic culture which covered the period between 2800 BC to 700 BC. They used black and red pottery. This type of culture are found in south eastern Rajasthan, Western MP, Western Maharastra and Eastern India.
- Iron Age: In India, we do not have a bronze age in the proper sense, so we find that copper age was followed by iron age in northern India and Neolithic age was followed by iron age in the south India. We have evidence from megalithic monuments such as dolmensof gradual transition from stone and copper culture to iron age in the south India. The main characteristic finds include big funeral urns containing human skeletons and rice husks. Numerous sites of this type has been found in Karnataka and the Deccan.
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