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Articles from General Knowledge Today

Palaeolithic Age Prehistory of India


2011- 05- 04 14:05:10 GKToday
Palaeolit hic Age spanned f rom 100000 years ago t ill 10000 years ago. It is
divided int o 3 ages viz. Lower Palaeolit hic age which spans t ill 100000 years
ago. Middle Palaeolit hic which spans f rom 100000 years ago t ill 40000 years
and upper Palaeolit hic which spans f rom 40,000 years t o 10000 years ago.
Palaeolit hic t ools were club, sharpened st one, chopper, hand axe, scraper,
spear, Bow and arrow, harpoon, needle, scrat ch awl et c. The t ools made were
generally of hard rock quart zit e so t he Palaeolit hic man was called Quart zit e
Man. The t erm Palaeolit hic was coined by archaeologist John Lubbock in 1865.
It lit erally means "Old St one Age." It was marked by t he hunt ing gat hering
nat ure. Most Palaeolit hic sit es in India developed in t he Pleist ocene period.
Lower Palaeolithic Era
The earliest human set t lement s in sout h Asia have been ident if ied wit h an
abundance of st one t ool assemblages. The oldest known t ools used by
human beings were t he simple cores and f lakes, and t hey have been report ed
f rom t he Siwalik Hills at Riwat , near Rawalpindi in Pakist an. These t ools dat e
back t o as old as t wo million years. However, t he earliest reliable st one t ool
assemblages belong t o t wo dist inct cult ural and t echnological t radit ions viz.
t he Sohanian Cult ure and t he Acheulian cult ure, which we st udy under t he
lower Palaeolit hic cult ures.
Sohanian cult ure
The name is derived f rom t he Sohan river, a t ribut ary of Indus. The sit es of
Sohanian cult ure were f ound in t he Siwalik Hills in Nort h-west India and
Pakist an. The art ef act s of t hese st ages were f ound in t hree river t erraces
which were correlat ed wit h t he phases of t he f our-f old Pleist ocene glaciat ion.
These st ages have been named T1, T2 and T3. The animal remains f rom t his
deposit included horse, buf f alo, st raight -t usked elephant and hippopot amus,
suggest ing an environment charact erized by perennial wat er sources, t ree
veget at ion and grass st eppes. The t ools included t he pebble choppers,
blades et c.
Acheulian cult ure
Acheulian cult ure, named af t er French sit e of St . Acheul, was t he first effective
colonization of the Indian subcontinent and is almost synonymous wit h t he lower
Palaeolit hic set t lement s in India. The Acheulian cult ure was a hunt er-gat herer
cult ure t hat adapt ed t o a variet y of climat es including but not limit ing t o
west ern Rajast han, Mewar plain, Saurasht ra, Gujarat , Cent ral India, Deccan
plat eau, Chot a Nagpur plat eau and t he East ern Ghat s, nort h of t he Cauvery
river. Read more about Acheulian Culture here.
Middle Palaeolithic Era
The Acheulian cult ure was slowly t ransf ormed int o
t he middle Palaeolit hic by shedding some of t he
t ool t ypes and by incorporat ing new f orms and
new t echniques of making t hem.
In some parts of the world, the middle Palaeolithic
culture is associated with the Neanderthal man
(Homo sapiens neanderthalensis), however, no
physical remains of Neanderthal man have been found in India.
But , what has been f ound in India are t he st one t ools very similar t o t hose
f ound wit h t his hominid species in Europe and ot her regions.
The first general observation about the Middle Palaeolithic era is that in comparison
to the lower Palaeolithic era, the distribution of sites is sparse. The reason f or t his
is t hat t he middle Palaeolit hic cult ure developed during t he upper Pleist ocene,
a period of int ense cold and glaciat ion in t he nort hern lat it udes. In t hose t imes,
t he areas bordering glaciat ed regions experienced st rong aridit y. However,
generally, t he middle Palaeolit hic populat ions occupied t he same regions and
habit at s as t he preceding Acheulian populat ions.
Tools of middle Palaeolit hic Era
Middle Palaeolit hic t ools were primarily made on f lakes and blades made by
f inely t rimming t he edges. Some of t hem were used f or manuf act uring t he
wooden t ools and weapons and also f or processing animal hide. There are
lit t le hint s of use of wooden shaf t s. In comparison t o t he lower Palaeolit hic
era, t he t ools in middle Palaeolit hic became smaller, t hinner and light er. Then,
t here was also a signif icant change in t he choice of raw mat erial f or making
t ools. While quart zit e, quart z and basalt cont inued t o be used, in many areas
t hey were replaced or supplement ed by fine-grained siliceous rocks like chert
and jasper. Tool Fact ory sit es at chert out crops occur at many places in
cent ral India and Rajast han.
Import ant Middle Palaeolit hic Sit es in India
Luni valley, around Didwana, Budha Pushkar in Rajast han
Valleys of t he Belan, Son river, Narmada river and t heir t ribut aries in
cent ral India
Some sparse sit es in Chot a Nagpur plat ea, Deccan plat eau and East ern
Ghat s
Upper Palaeolithic Era
Upper Palaeolit hic cult ure developed during t he lat er part of t he upper
Pleist ocene. The Upper Palaeolit hic period has recorded a rich panorama of
f ossils in t he peninsular rivers of India. One import ant discovery is of t he
ostrich egg shells at over 40 sit es in Rajast han, Madhya Pradesh and
Maharasht ra, which shows t hat ost rich, a bird adapt ed t o arid climat e, was
widely dist ribut ed in west ern India during t he lat er part of t he upper
Pleist ocene.There were very import ant changes in t he Palaeolit hic-
environment which had it s own impact on t he dist ribut ion and living ways of
t he humans. Some of t hem were as f ollows:
There was ext remely cold and arid climat e in t he high alt it ude and
nort hern lat it udes.
There was ext ensive f ormat ion of desert s in Nort h west India
The drainage pat t ern of west ern India became almost def unct and river
courses shif t ed "west wards".
Veget at ion cover over most of t he count ry t hinned out during t his
period.
Coast al areas of sout h-east ern Tamil Nadu, Saurasht ra and Kut ch
developed quart z and carbonat e dunes as a result of t he lowering of
t he sea level.
During t erminal Pleist ocene sout h-west erly monsoons became weak
and t he sea level decreased by scores of met res.
Due t o t he harsh and arid climat e, t he veget at ion was sparse t hough t he
f aunal f ossils show presence of grasslands. The human populat ion f aced
rust icat ed f ood resources and t hat is t he reason t hat t he number of Upper
Palaeolit hic sit es is very limit ed in t he arid and semi-arid regions. The most
opulent archaeological evidence of t his period comes f rom t he Belan and Son
valleys in t he nort hern Vindhyas , Chot a Nagpur plat eau in Bihar , upland
Maharasht ra, Orissa and f rom t he East ern Ghat s in Andhra Pradesh.
Tools of Upper Palaeolithic Era
The t ools of Upper Palaeolit hic Era are essent ially charact erized by blade and
t hey show a marked regional diversit y wit h respect t o t he ref inement of
t echniques and st andardizat ion of f inished t ool f orms. The middle Palaeolit hic
t radit ion cont inued but in t his period we see t he parallel-sided blades st ruck
f rom st andardized prismat ic cores. Furt her, t he prot ot ypes of t raps, snares
and net s were probably used during t he upper Palaeolit hic t imes. The bored
st ones and grinding slabs have also been f ound giving hint s t o advancement s
in t he t echnology of t ool product ion. The bored st ones are st ill used by
f ishermen as net sinkers in riverine f ishing and marine f ishing. The Upper
Palaeolit hic set t lement s also show a dist inct t rend of being associat ed wit h
permanent sources of wat ers. The use of grinding st ones might have been f or
processing plant f oods such as wild rice.
The earliest f orm of art is f ound in t he f orm of ost rich egg shell pieces
engraved wit h cross-hat ched designs f rom t he upper Palaeolit hic period.
Bhimbetka Rock Shelters
Bhimbet ka rock shelt ers are locat ed in Raisen Dist rict of Madhya Pradesh, 45
km sout h of Bhopal at t he sout hern edge of t he Vindhyachal hills. These
served as shelt ers f or Palaeolit hic age man f or
more t han 1 lakh years. This is t he most exclusive
Palaeolit hic sit e in India which cont ains t he rock
carvings and paint ings. These paint ings belong t o
t he Palaeolit hic, Mesolit hic ages, Chalcolit hic,
early-hist oric and even medieval t imes.
Bhimbet ka is a World herit age Sit e.
Please not e t hat it was earlier considered t o be a Buddhist sit e and was lat er
recognized as Palaeolit hic sit e by Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar who is now also
called "f at her of rock art in India ". Bhimbet ka Rock shelt ers were included in
t he world herit age list in 1970
Important Palaeolithic sites in India:
Lingsugur in Raichur dist rict , Karnat aka was t he f irst sit e t o be
discovered f rom India.
Lidder river Pahalgam , Kashmir
Sohan valley Punjab,
Banks of River Beas, Bangagnga
Sirsa Haryana,
Chit t orgarh and Kot a, Rajast han,
River Wagoon, Kadamali basins Rajast han.
River Sabaramat i and Mahi basins (Rajast han & Gujarat ),
Basins of river t apt i, Godavari, Bhima and Krishna
Koregaon, Chandoli and shikarpur (Maharasht ra),
River Raro (Jharkhand),
River Suvarnrekha (Orissa),
Ghat prabha River Basin (Karnat aka).
Pahalgam , Jammu & Kashmir
Belan Valley, Allahabad
Sinsgi Talav, Didwana , Nagaur Rajast han
Hunsgi, Gulbarga in karnat aka.
At t irampakkam in Tamilnadu

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