Pre-historic Period (Stone Age)

1. Introduction & Tripartite Classification of Stone Age

• Definition of Pre-history: The era characterized by the complete absence of written records. All historical reconstructions rely on archaeological remains such as stone implements, bone tools, rock shelters, and fossil beds.
• Pioneering Discoveries: Prehistoric archaeology in India began when Robert Bruce Foote discovered the first Palaeolithic tool—a quartzite handaxe—at Pallavaram near Madras (Chennai) in 1863. Foote is rightfully regarded as the “Father of Indian Pre-history.”
• The Three-Age System: Danish scholar Christian Jürgensen Thomsen classified human antiquity into Stone, Bronze, and Iron ages. The Stone Age is further divided into three distinct phases based on geological epoch, climate, and tool technology:
  • Palaeolithic Age (Old Stone Age): c. 2 Million – 10,000 BCE (Pleistocene Epoch / Ice Age)
  • Mesolithic Age (Middle Stone Age / Late Stone Age): c. 10,000 – 6,000 BCE (Holocene Epoch / Warm Climate)
  • Neolithic Age (New Stone Age): c. 6,000 – 1,000 BCE (Food production & settled life)

2. Palaeolithic Age (Old Stone Age | c. 2 Million – 10,000 BCE)

The Palaeolithic Age in India developed during the Pleistocene Epoch (Ice Age). Early humans lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers, possessed no knowledge of agriculture, pottery, or metal, and made heavy tools out of hard rock called Quartzite (earning them the title “Quartzite Men”).

• A. Lower Palaeolithic (c. 2 Million – 100,000 BCE):
  • Tool Types: Large core tools made by pebble flaking—Handaxes, Cleavers, and Chopper-Chopping tools.
  • Two Distinct Traditions:
    • Soan Culture (Punjab, Pakistan): Dominated by pebble/chopper-chopping implements.
    • Acheulian / Madrasian Culture (South India): Dominated by bifacial handaxes and cleavers (Attirampakkam, Pallavaram).
  • Key Sites: Bori (Maharashtra – earliest dated human tool site ~1.4 mya), Bhimbetka (MP), Hunsgi (Karnataka), Didwana (Rajasthan), and Belan Valley (UP).

• B. Middle Palaeolithic (c. 100,000 – 40,000 BCE):
  • Tool Technology: Shift from core tools to Flake tools made of fine-grained siliceous stones like chert, jasper, and agate. Characterized as the Nevasan Culture after the site of Nevasa (Maharashtra).
  • Key Tools: Scrapers, Borers, Points, and Blades.
  • Key Sites: Nevasa (Maharashtra), Bhimbetka rock shelters (MP), Samnapur in Narmada Valley (MP), and Kalpi (UP).
• C. Upper Palaeolithic (c. 40,000 – 10,000 BCE):
  • Characteristics: Emergence of anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens), warm transition at the end of the Ice Age, and the dawn of primitive rock art.
  • Tool Technology: Blade and Burin industry with long, parallel-sided flint blades; first widespread use of bone tools (harpoons, needles).
  • Key Sites: Kurnool Caves and Muchchatla Chintamanu Gavi (Andhra Pradesh – bone tools), Renigunta (AP), Belan Valley (UP – bone mother goddess idol at Lohanda Nala), and Patne (Maharashtra – engraved ostrich eggshell beads).

3. Mesolithic Age (Middle Stone Age | c. 10,000 – 6,000 BCE)

• Climatic Transition: Coincided with the advent of the warm and humid Holocene Epoch. Melting glaciers created thick forests and rich grasslands, expanding fast-moving small fauna (deer, rabbits, birds) and aquatic resources.
• Microlithic Tool Technology: Characterized by tiny, refined stone tools called Microliths (measuring 1 cm to 5 cm in length), made of chalcedony, chert, and quartz.
  • Geometric and Non-Geometric Tools: Blades, lunates, trapezes, triangles, and arrowheads.
  • Composite Tool Mechanism: Microliths were hafted onto wooden or bone handles to make composite spears, sickles, and bows/arrows.
• Economic Shift & Domestication: Transition from exclusive big-game hunting to broad-spectrum foraging, fishing, and earliest animal domestication (dogs, cattle, sheep, goats).
• Key Mesolithic Sites:
  • Adamgarh (Madhya Pradesh) & Bagor (Rajasthan): Earliest archaeological evidence of animal domestication in India (c. 5000 BCE). Bagor on river Kothari is India’s largest Mesolithic settlement.
  • Sarai Nahar Rai, Mahadaha, & Damdama (Ganga Valley, UP): Rich evidence of microliths, bone ornaments, hearths, microlithic burials, and joint graves.
  • Langhnaj (Gujarat): Human skeletons, microliths, and faunal remains.
  • Teri Sites (Tamil Nadu): Fossilized red sand dunes yielding quartz microlith assemblages.

4. Pre-historic Rock Art in India

Prehistoric rock paintings serve as a vital visual window into the social, ritual, and economic world of Stone Age hunter-gatherers and pastoralists.

• First Discovery: Discovered in India in 1867–68 by archaeologist Archibald Carlleyle at Sohagighat in the Kaimur Hills (UP), twelve years before the famous discovery of Altamira cave paintings in Spain.
• Bhimbetka Caves (Madhya Pradesh):
  • Located in the foothills of Vindhyan ranges near Bhopal, discovered by V.S. Wakankar in 1957 and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.
  • Contains over 750 rock shelters spanning Upper Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, and historic periods.
  • Mesolithic Dominance: The largest and most vibrant paintings belong to the Mesolithic phase, illustrating hunting scenes, animal chases, collective stick-figure dances, childbirth, and burial rituals.
  • Pigments Used: Natural mineral colors—red from hematite (geru), white from limestone/gypsum, green from chalcedony, mixed with animal fat and tree resin.

5. Neolithic Revolution (New Stone Age | c. 6,000 – 1,000 BCE)

Australian archaeologist V. Gordon Childe coined the phrase “Neolithic Revolution” because the shift from nomadic food-gathering to sedentary food-producing triggered profound transformations in human culture, economy, and society.

• Pillars of the Neolithic Transition:
  • Polished Stone Celts: Ground, pecked, and polished stone axes and adzes with sharp, durable cutting edges.
  • Agriculture: Systematic cultivation of wheat, barley, rice, and pulses.
  • Invention of Pottery: Hand-made and wheel-turned pottery (cord-impressed, burnished grey/black ware) to store surplus grains and cook pulses.
  • Permanent Sedentary Villages: Mud-brick and wattle-and-daub huts replacing open cave shelters.
• Major Regional Neolithic Sites in India:
  • Mehrgarh (Balochistan, Pakistan): The oldest Neolithic site in the subcontinent (c. 7000 BCE). Shows continuous evolution from aceramic Neolithic to bronze age; earliest evidence of wheat/barley farming, cattle rearing, and mud-brick houses.
  • Burzahom & Gufkral (Kashmir Valley): Known for unique subterranean pit-dwellings (shelter from freezing winds), bone tools, polished stone axes, and unique graves where master and pet dogs were buried together.
  • Lahuradewa (Sant Kabir Nagar, UP): Yielded earliest carbonized rice husk evidence dating back to c. 9000–7000 BCE, reshaping theories on rice domestication in Asia.
  • Koldihwa & Mahagara (Belan Valley, UP): Early evidence of rice cultivation, circular huts, and cattle pens.
  • Chirand (Saran, Bihar): Famous for an extraordinary abundance of refined antler bone tools alongside polished celts.
  • South Indian Ashmound Sites (Piklihal, Utnur, Kupgal, Brahmagiri, Sanganakallu): Characterized by large pastoral burnt cow-dung ash mounds, millets/pulses cultivation, and stone axe grinding grooves.
  • Daojali Hading & Sarutaru (Assam / Northeast): Cord-marked pottery and shoulder-axes made of fossil wood, reflecting cultural connections with Southeast Asia.

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