Geographical Regions and

UNIT 2 PREHISTORIC PERIOD* Sources

Structure
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Nomenclature
2.3 Birth of Prehistory
2.4 Geographical Features of India
2.5 Phases within the Indian Palaeolithic and Dating
2.6 Archaeological Record of the Palaeolithic
2.7 Lower Palaeolithic Stage in India
2.8 Middle Palaeolithic Cultures
2.9 The Upper Palaeolithic Culture
2.10 Mesolithic Culture
2.11 Summary
2.12 Key Words
2.13 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
2.14 Suggested Readings

2.0 OBJECTIVES
In this Unit, you will learn about:
the birth of Prehistory in India;
how Palaeolithic and Mesolithic cultures are defined;
the kind of archaeological evidence that is available to reconstruct tool
typology, technology;
sites and their regional settings; and
the salient features of Indian Palaeolithic and Mesolithic cultures.

2.1 INTRODUCTION
In this Unit, we shall learn about the earliest stage in the history of man’s biological
and cultural evolution. This is the stage when creatures ancestral to Humans
began to branch off from their ape-like cousins. This journey covers a time span
of 2.5 million years. It involved improvements both in aspects of the biological
make-up like bipedal posture and brain enlargement. In cultural behaviour the
critical factor was the intentional preparation of tools out of natural materials
like stone and wood.

In this Unit, we will be studying the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic cultures;

archaeological evidence which has been used to reconstruct tool typology and
technological aspects; different sites of these cultures, their regional setting and
salient features.

* This Unit has been adopted from MAN-002, Block 5 and 6 37

Reconstructing Ancient Indian
History 2.2 NOMENCLATURE
The branch of archaeology which deals with the study of the initial stage of
human history is called Prehistory. Stated in other words, Prehistory deals with
the origins and growth of human societies before the advent of writing systems.
This stage is succeeded by Proto-history which is a transitional stage between
Prehistory and History in India. The Proto-History stage covers the third and
second millennia and early half of the first millennium before the Common Era.
It is characterized by the rise of many early agro-pastoral Neolithic-Chalcolithic
communities characterized by settled village life, domestication of animals like
cattle and sheep/goat, cultivation of crops like wheat, barley, rice and millets,
and the emergence of various crafts and arts. In the Indus valley, this phase
eventually led to the growth of an urban civilization based on town planning and
bronze technology.

Another way of classification is that of the division of human past or History

into three main periods, namely:
1) Stone Age,
2) Bronze Age, and
3) Iron Age.
These are not simply technological stages. They do not just imply that tools and
implements were made of stone during the Stone Age, of bronze during the Bronze
Age and of iron during the Iron Age. These Ages imply much more than
technology. They imply subsistence economy or the ways of acquiring food,
social organization, including caring for the weak, sick and old, modes of
disposing of the dead, art and other aspects of life.
Stone Age is divided into three periods, namely:
1) Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age,
2) Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age, and
3) Neolithic or New Stone Age.
The word ‘lithic’ is derived from the Greek word ‘lithos’, meaning stone.
Palaeolithic means Old Stone Age, Mesolithic means Middle Stone Age and
Neolithic means New Stone Age.

2.3 BIRTH OF PREHISTORY

The birth of prehistory took place in 1859 when the findings of primitive stone
implements in association with fossilized bones of extinct species of wild cattle
and other large mammals were ratified before the Royal Society in London in
northern Europe. It became clear that northern Europe was occupied by humans
much before its landscape assumed its present form. A long phase of infancy
was, thus, prefaced to human history. In his book Prehistoric Times (1865) Sir
John Lubbock announced the birth of a new science called Prehistory. He divided
the Stone Age into Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age), Neolithic (New Stone Age)
Ages. And by the end of the 19th century, not only an intermediate stage called
the Mesolithic was introduced between the Palaeolithic and the Neolithic, but
several stages were identified within the Bronze and Iron Ages. Furthermore,
38
thanks to the cultural sequence obtained from cave and open-air sites in France, Prehistoric Period
three phases were recognized within the Palaeolithic: Lower, Middle and Upper.

2.4 GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES OF INDIA

India (or South Asia, for general geographical and cultural purposes) is a distinct
geographical entity at the sub-continental level. The Indian landscape is endowed
with all the prerequisites for a successful hunting-gathering way of life: suitable
landforms permitting free movement of hunter-gatherer groups; occurrence of a
variety of basic rocks and siliceous stones for making tools; existence of perennial
water bodies in the form of large and small streams and springs; and availability
of a large variety of wild plant and animal foods. It is, therefore, not surprising
that, barring the Himalayan tract proper and the Indo-Gangetic alluvial tracts,
Stone Age groups occupied the whole of the Indian landmass.

2.5 PHASES WITHIN THE INDIAN

PALAEOLITHIC AND DATING
Indian Palaeolithic is divided into three developmental stages:
i) Lower,
ii) Middle, and
iii) Upper.
The Lower Palaeolithic has two cultural traditions:
i) Soanian pebble-tool tradition, and
ii) The Peninsular Indian handaxe-cleaver tradition.
Lower Palaeolithic traditions involved the use of large pebbles or flakes for
making choppers and chopping tools, hand-axes, cleavers, knives etc. The Middle
Palaeolithic is based on the use of a variety of flakes struck from cores for
preparing scrapers, points, borers and other tools. Further refinements came in
the Upper Palaeolithic stage. Now, implement types like blunted and penknife
blades, blades with serrated edges and arrow points were made on long parallel-
sided blades struck in a series from cylindrical cores by punch technique.

Besides relative dating, it has been possible, in recent years, to date some of the
sites in absolute terms by means of scientific dating techniques such as the
Radiocarbon, Palaeomagnetism, Thermoluminiscence, Potassium-Argon, Argon-
Argon and Uranium-Thorium.

2.6 ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD OF THE

PALAEOLITHIC
Palaeolithic sites are of two principal types:
i) open air sites, and
ii) caves or rock shelters.
Open air sites are more common in all parts of India and occur on or close to
large and small rivers and also in interior basins or valleys and foothill zones of
39
Reconstructing Ancient Indian the hill ranges. They represent various formation processes ranging from true in
History
situ or undisturbed sites found on weathered bedrock or else in soft silts to
occurrences in colluvium and river-borne gravels. Cave and rock shelter sites
occur in hilly areas covered with sedimentary rocks (sandstones and limestones).
Bhimbetka complex in Madhya Pradesh and Kurnool caves in Andhra Pradesh
are well-known examples.

2.7 LOWER PALAEOLITHIC STAGE IN INDIA

As we have noted earlier, the Lower Palaeolithic phase in India (see map 2.1)
consists of two principal tool-making or cultural traditions, viz.
a) The Soanian tradition forming part of the East and Southeast Asian chopper-
chopping tool tradition, and

Important Lower Palaeollthle sites in South Asia: 1) Riwat; 2) Pahlgam; 3) Jalalpur; 4) Dina; 5)
Beas-Banganga complex; 6) Sirsa-Ghaggar complex; 7) Dang-Deokhuri complex; 8) Didwana;
9) Jayal; 10 Jaisalmer-Pokaran Road; 11) Ziarat Pir Shaban; 12) Berach complex; 13) Chambal
complex; 14) Bhimbetka; 15) Raisen complex; 16) Lalitpur; 17) Damoh complex; 18 Son complex;
19) Sihawal; 20) Belan complex; 21) Sisunia; 22) Singhbhum complex; 23) Paisra; 24) Brahmani
complex; 25) Wainganga complex; 26) Mahadeo Piparia; 27) Adamgarh; 27A) Hathnora; 28)
Durkadi; 29) Samadhiala; 30) Umrethi; 31) Gangapur; 32) Chirki-Nevasa; 33) Bori; 34) Nalgonda
complex; 35) Hunsgi and Baichbal basins complex; 36) Mahad; 37) Anagwadi; 38) Malwan; 39)
Lakhmapur; 40) Nittur; 41) Kurnool complex; 42) Nagarjunakonda complex; 43) Guddapah
complex; 44) Rallakalava complex; 45) Kortallayar complex; 45A) Ratnapura complex.

Map 2.1: Lower Palaeolithic Sites in India. Source: MAN-002, Block 5.

40
b) The Handaxe-cleaver or biface assemblages constituting the Acheulian Prehistoric Period
tradition, which is widely known from the western half of the Old World
(African, Western Europe, West and South Asia).

The term “Old World” is a term that is used in the West to refer to Africa,
Europe, and Asia (Afro-Eurasia, or the eastern hemisphere), regarded
collectively as the part of the world known to its population before contact
with the Americas and Oceania or the “New World” (Western
hemisphere).
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_World

The Soanian Cultural Tradition

The existence of this tradition was recognized in 1939 by H. de Terra of Yale
University and T. T. Paterson of Cambridge University in the north-western part
of the subcontinent. On the basis of their field studies in the area, they identified

Fig. 2.1: Chopper and Flake Tools of the Early Soan Tradition. Source: MAN-002,
Block 5.
41
Reconstructing Ancient Indian a series of five terraces on the river Soan, forming part of the Indus drainage
History
system. They correlated these terraces with glacial and interglacial events of the
Kashmir valley, and, on stratigraphical and typological considerations, put up
what has been called the Soan culture-sequence.

The tools consist of pebbles with working edges on their sides or ends, obtained
by means of flaking from one or both surfaces (producing choppers or chopping
tools) (Fig. 2.1).

Robin Dunnel, who worked in this area (now in Pakistan) in the 1980s, raised
serious doubts about the palaeo-climatic interpretations and cultural sequence
put forward by Terra and Paterson. But the term “Soan culture” has stuck on in
Indian Prehistory. From the Indian side of the border, pebble tool assemblages
were found in the Sirsa and Ghaggar valleys of Haryana, Beas and Banganga
valleys of Himachal Pradesh, and Hoshiarpur-Chandigarh sector of the Siwalik
Frontal Range (Figure 2.2).

Fig. 2.2: Pebble Tools from Lower Palaeolithic Sites in India: a) Nittur, Karnataka; b)
Jaiselmer-Pokaran Road, Rajasthan; c) Sirsa Valley, Haryana; d) Mahadeo Piparia,
42 Madhya Pradesh. Source: MAN-002, Block 5.
The Soan assemblages from Punjab have been assigned by some workers to the Prehistoric Period
Middle Palaeolithic tradition.

The Acheulian Cultural Tradition

The term ‘Acheulian’ is used for hand-axes and cleavers found as tool assemblages
and representing advanced and increasingly symmetrical shapes. Quartzite was
the preferred rock for tool-making. Where it was not naturally available, the
Acheulian groups made use of other available rocks like limestone in the Bhima
basin, dolerite and basalt in Maharashtra, and fossil wood in Bihar and Bengal.
Stone hammer, soft hammer and prepared core techniques were employed for
detaching flakes and shaping them into implements.

Stone tools are the main evidence through which an understanding of the
prehistoric people’s lifeways is arrived at. Archaeologists use certain terms
to define stone tools. If a large piece of rock is intentionally broken into
two or more pieces, the largest piece is called core and the tool made out
of it called a core tool. The smaller pieces detached from the parent rock
are called flakes and tools made on flakes are called flake tools.

Time Range
Lower Palaeolithic in India: 600,000 years BP to 150,000 years BP
Middle Palaeolithic in India: 165,000 BP to 31,000 years BP
Upper Palaeolithic in India:40,000 years BP to 12000 years BP

Important Sites of the Lower Palaeolithic

1) Singi Talav in western Rajasthan has yielded an assemblage comprising of
choppers, polyhedrons, bifaces, scrapers and points.

Fig.2.3: Acheulian Horizon Exposed in Trench I at Isampur, Karnataka. Source: MAN-

002, Block 5. 43
Reconstructing Ancient Indian
History

Fig. 2.4: Lower Acheulian Artefacts from Isampur, Karnataka: 1) Core; 2&3) Cleavers;
4 & 5) Handaxes; 6) Perforator; 7) Knife; 8) Hammerstone. Source: MAN-002, Block 5.

2) Rock shelter III F-23 (Figure 2.5) at Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh has
yielded Acheulian, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic levels.
3) Adamgarh in Madhya Pradesh has exposed an Acheulian level below Middle
Palaeolithic deposits.
4) Lalitpur in Jhansi district of UP produced an early and in situ assemblage
made up of granite tools
44
5) Paisra in Munger district, Bihar has yielded early Acheulian assemblage. Prehistoric Period
The excavation exposed hut-like dwelling structures in the form of
alignments of post-holes and a circular arrangement of stone blocks.
6) Chirki-Nevasa in Maharashtra has yielded dolerite artefacts along with fossil
bones of wild cattle and other animals. The site was a seasonal camp used
for multiple purposes. The artefactual collection included hand-axes, cleavers
and knives as well as a small-tool component made up of flake-tools of
chert and chalcedony.
7) Morgaon, a site from Deccan basalt landscape in the Bhima drainage basin
has yielded an assemblage of 162 specimens including cleavers and hand-
axes.
8) Hunsgi in the Hunsgi valley and Yediyapur in the Baichbal valley in north
Karnataka have in situ cultural levels. They have yielded scores of artifacts.

Developed Acheulian artefacts from III F-23 rock shelter at Bhimbetka, Madhya Pradesh:
1 to 4) handaxes 5 & 7) cleavers; 6) convex scraper; 8) notched tool; 9) denticulate; 10)
end-scraper.

Fig. 2.5: Acheulian Artefacts from Bhimbhetka. Source: MAN-002, Block 5.

45
Reconstructing Ancient Indian 9) Isampur in the Hunsgi valley in North Karnataka is a quarry-cum-camp site.
History
It has yielded cores, flake blanks, finished implements and waste product of
limestone (Fig.2.3 & 2.4). Deer and shell fragments of land turtle were also
found. Isampur served as a localized hub in this part of the Hunsgi valley,
from where the hominins radiated onto surrounding limestone tablelands
and valley floor as part of their daily foraging rounds.
10) Attirampakkam (Tamil Nadu), an in situ Acheulian site has yielded an
Acheulian assemblage of quartzite and fossilized bones of wild cattle and
other species. The site has recently been dated to 1.5 million years BP by an
advanced scientific technique.

2.8 MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC CULTURES

Middle Palaeolithic culture succeeded the Lower Palaeolithic culture. As stated
earlier, Lower Palaeolithic culture is characterized by heavy tools like the hand-
axes and cleavers. The Middle Palaeolithic culture, on the other hand, consists
of a variety of tools made on flakes; and these flakes are produced by specialized
techniques. Therefore, it is widely referred to as flake tool industry. The Middle
Palaeolithic culture of Europe, South-west Asia and Africa is called as Mousterian
culture, named after the rock shelter of Le Moustier in France. The human species
associated with Mousterian culture is the extinct Homo neanderthalensis. The
popular name of this hominin is Neanderthal man. He lived during the period of
Upper Pleistocene.

Hand-axe: generally a core tool. It is a bifacial tool since it is worked on

both sides. It is roughly triangular in shape, broad at one end and pointed at
the other. It is meant to be held in hand by the butt and sometimes hafted
onto handles.
Cleaver: a flattish tool made on a broad rectangular or triangular flake, on
one end of which is a broad and straight cutting edge.
Chopper: Large, unifacial tool, i.e. worked on one side only.
Chopping tool: a tool made on a core or a pebble and flaked alternately on
both sides to produce a wavy cutting edge.
Source: H. D. Sankalia (1964) 1982: pp. 45-58

Mousterian Industries
The Mousterian industry is a Middle Palaeolithic tradition of tool making used
by Neanderthals in Europe, South-west Asia and Africa. The widespread
occurrence of stone tool industries in which flakes are predominantly used, in
contrast to the hand-axes and cleavers of the previous cultural phase, begins at
the close of the Middle Pleistocene period. The production of flakes heralds a
technical change in the manufacture of advanced hunting tools. In this new
technique, the development is the production of a complete implement, at a single
blow, from a core previously prepared so as to ensure that flakes when detached
conformed to specific pattern of tools. Moreover, it was possible to strike off a
series of flakes by reworking (or rejuvenating) the same core; therefore, the
technique was economical both of labour and raw material. Further, the flakes
thus detached could easily be shaped by simple retouch into a variety of tools. It
was easy to manufacture a range of tools to perform various functions.

46
Middle Palaeolithic in India Prehistoric Period

The Middle Palaeolithic culture phase in India is characterized by flake tool

industries. In 1956, H. D. Sankalia for the first time recorded and demonstrated
these flake tools occurring in Pravara at Nevasa (Maharashtra) and then later in
the Godavari valley in north Karnataka. He called this industry Nevasian (like
Mousterian). Soon, his subsequent surveys revealed that Nevasian was not a
local phenomenon but a generalized feature of Indian Stone Age cultures. In the
beginning the term Middle Stone Age was adopted for this phase in Indian
prehistory. Subsequently, the term Middle Palaeolithic has been accepted.

The Middle Palaeolithic tools are made on flakes and flake-blades pro-
duced by flake core, discoid and the specialized Levallois technique. In
some regions, there is a continuity of Late Acheulian lithic tradition
with refinement in bifacial flaking, and second marginal retouch, and
inclusion of small sized hand-axes and cleavers. In many regions there
is a switch over in the use of raw material from coarse grained rocks
like quartzite of the preceding phase to fine grained rocks like chert,
jasper, chalcedony, agate etc.

The tool types of the Indian Middle Palaeolithic are scrapers of various types:
single side, double side, side-cum-end, straight, oblique, concave, convex,
concavo-convex, notched, and core scrapers; awls; borers; simple unilateral or
bilateral points; Levallois points; tanged or shouldered points; miniature hand-
axes and cleavers; and utilised flakes. Anvils and Hammers are also found at
some of the manufacturing sites (Figure 2.6).

Fig.2.6: Tools of the Indian Middle Palaeolithic. Source: MAN-002, Block 5.

Anvils and hammer stones are also found at some of the manufacturing sites.
The techniques used for tool manufacture are stone hammer, cylinder hammer,
and Levalloisian. The raw materials used for the manufacture of stone tools are
medium to fine grained quartzite, chert, jasper and chalcedony.
47
Reconstructing Ancient Indian
History Levalloisian technique – Named after the locality of Levallois, a suburb
of Paris, from where a particular type of prepared cores were obtained,
this technique is recognized from the production of a new mode of mak-
ing tools from a ‘tortoise shaped core’ from the under-surface of which
a flake tool could be struck by a single blow. This is also referred to as
“Prepared Core technique”

Map 2.2: Middle Palaeolithic Sites in India (after V.N. Misra, 1989).
Source: MHI-08, Block 2.

Middle Palaeolithic Sites

Middle Palaeolithic sites (see map 2.2) have been found from most parts of the
Indian subcontinent. Middle Palaeolithic tools have been found in river gravels
and deposits which tell us about the prevailing climatic conditions. Some of
these sites are the following:
1) Didwana in Rajasthan
2) Hiran valley in Gujarat
3) Potwar Plateau between the Indus and Jhelum rivers
4) Sanghao cave in NWFP of Pakistan
48
 Prehistoric Period
5) Budha Pushkar in Rajasthan
6) Luni river system denoting tool industries west of the Aravallis
7) Chirki Nevasa in Maharashtra
8) Kalpi in Uttar Pradesh
Check Your Progress Exercise 1
1) Stone Age is divided into how many periods? Write a few lines about the
birth of Prehistory.
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2) Discuss the main cultural traditions within the Indian Lower Palaeolithic?
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3) Discuss any two sites of Indian Middle Palaeolithic?
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2.9 THE UPPER PALAEOLITHIC CULTURE

The Upper Palaeolithic is the third and last subdivision of the Palaeolithic and it
is characterized by the first great climax of human achievements. Upper
Palaeolithic cultures flourished in Europe, South-west Asia, Africa, South Asia
and Southeast Asia during the later stages of the Upper Pleistocene, often referred
to as Late Pleistocene.

Very broadly, the age of the Upper Palaeolithic falls between 40,000 and 10,000
years ago. The human species associated with this cultural phase is Anatomically
Modern Home sapiens (AMHS), the extant and the only surviving human species.
We belong to this species. Upper Palaeolithic cultures succeed the Middle
Palaeolithic Mousterian or other flake tool cultures in different parts of the Old
World.
49
Reconstructing Ancient Indian The Upper Palaeolithic is marked by technological advances in stone tool
History
manufacture by the production of parallel sided blades which are finished into a
variety of tools by blunting one side or by backing. Blades are flakes, but very
refined flat narrow ones, elongated in shape and having parallel sides. For
producing blades, the cores are first trimmed all around to remove the roughness.
Then, by striking along the circumference of the core, using a punch, a series of
blades are removed. That means blades are produced by indirect percussion but
not by direct percussion. After the removal of the first series of blades, a second,
third and fourth series and so on are removed, until the core is exhausted. Thus,
in this blade production technique, numerous blades are removed from a single

50 Map 2.3: Distribution of Upper Palaeolithic Sites in India. Source: MAN-002, Block 5.
core. These cores have a prismatic or fluted appearance; hence this technique is Prehistoric Period
called “prismatic-core” technique or “fluted-core” technique. These blades are
subsequently further worked and finished, by blunting one side of the blade into
various tool forms. This kind of retouch is called backing and these tools are
called backed blade tools. The Upper Palaeolithic industries also consist of a
variety of flake and core tools like side scrapers, ovate scrapers, notched scrapers,
discoid scrapers and unifacial and bifacial flake points. Some of these flakes are
produced by the Levallois technique, and the discoid core technique, indicating
the persistence of the preceding Middle Palaeolithic traditions. Some of the backed
blades could have been used by hafting as barbs to harpoons. The raw material
used for the stone tools is fine grained rock.

Upper Palaeolithic in India

The Upper Palaeolithic cultural relics in varied physiographical zones of India
(see map 2.3) are stone tools which are based on blade-tool technology. Since
most of these are open-air occupations, tools made of organic materials such as
bone are not known because organic remains are prone to disintegration in open-
air situations. However, bone tools were recovered from the Kurnool caves
(Andhra Pradesh) in which conditions for the preservation of organic remains
were favourable.

Fig. 2.7: Artifacts of the Blade-and-Burin Industry from the Rallakalava Valley, near
Renigunta. 1, 4, 6, Retouched Blades; 2, 3, 5, 7, Simple Blades (After Murty 1979).
Source: MAN-002, Block 5. 51
Reconstructing Ancient Indian The primary occupation sites in the Rallakalava (Vedulacheruvu, Nallagundlu)
History
and Gunjuna (Peddarajupalli; Vodikalu, Bellu) valleys in the southern Eastern
Ghats have yielded the best known evidence of the blade-and-burin industries in
the country (Figures 2.7 – 2.10).

Fig. 2.8: Artifacts of the Blade-and-Burin Industry from the Rallakalava Valley, near
Renigunta. 1-2, Backed Knives; 3-12, Backed Blade and Bladelet Tool Variants (5 and 6
are Backed Pen Knives); 13, Awl; 14, Unifacial Point; 15, Tanged Point; 16, Blade Core
(After Murty, 1979). Source: MAN-002, Block 5.

Radiocarbon dates for the Upper Palaeolithic obtained from different part of
India and the Thermoluminiscence (TL) dates from the Kurnool caves indicate a
time period falling in the range of 40,000 BCE to 8,000 BCE. The faunal remains
from Kurnool caves, found in association with the Upper Palaeolithic also belong
to the Late Pleistocene Age.
52
 Prehistoric Period

Fig. 2.9: Artifacts of the Blade-and-Burin Industry from the RallakalavaValley, near
Renigunta. 1, Convex Scraper; 2, 4, Side Scrapers; 3, Ovate Scraper; 5, 6, 7, End Scrapers
(after Murty 1979). Source: MAN-002, Block 5.

Upper Palaeolithic Sites

The following are some of the prominent Upper Palaeolithic sites in the Indian
subcontinent:
1) Rohiri hills in upper Sindh
2) Milestone 101 in lower Sindh
3) Chopani Mando in Belan valley
4) Baghor I in Madhya Pradesh
5) Paisra in Munger district of Bihar
6) Lalmai hills of Bangladesh
7) Haora and Khowai river valleys in western Tripura
8) Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh
9) Muchchatla Chintamanu Gavi in Andhra Pradesh
53
Reconstructing Ancient Indian 10) Renugunta in Chittor district of Andhra Pradesh
History

Fig. 2.10: Artifacts of the Blade-and-Burin Industry from the Rallakalava Valley, near
Renigunta. 1-9, Different Types of Burins (After Murty 1979). Source: MAN-002, Block 5.

Bone Tool Industries

Upper Palaeolithic bone tools are known from the Kurnool cave sites in Andhra
Pradesh. The excavations by Robert Bruce Foote and his son Henry Bruce Foote
in the Billa Surgam caves, in the 1880s, yielded bone tools in association with
Late Pleistocene fauna. The tools comprised awls, barbed and un-barbed
arrowheads, daggers, scraper-knives, scrapers, chisels, gouge, wedges, axe heads,
and sockets. Recent excavations conducted in the 1970s confirmed these findings.
These cave bone tools display a crude technology. This is because the cave is a
short-term occupation and the possibility for complete representation of well-
finished artifacts is less likely in short-term occupations than in permanent
occupations. Further excavations in the Muchchatla Chintamanu Gavi cave (MCG
I and MCG II) have yielded blade tools and bone tools in association with Late
Pleistocene Fauna. The bone tools of MCG cave comprise scrapers, perforators,
chisels, scoops, shouldered points, awls, barbs, spatulas, worked bones and
splinters (Figure 2.11).
54
 Prehistoric Period

Fig. 2.11: Bone Tools from Muchchatla Chintamanu Gavi Cave I (MCG I), Kurnool Caves.
1) Scraper; 2-3) Perforators; 4-6) Chisels; 7-8) Spatulas; 9) Tanged point; 10) Shouldered
Point, broken; 11) Bone Blank; 12) Bone with both ends cut (After Murty, 1979). Source:
MAN-002, Block 5.

2.10 MESOLITHIC CULTURE

The Mesolithic Age began around 8000 BCE. It was a transitional phase between
the Palaeolithic Age and the Neolithic Age. There was a rise in temperature and
the climate became warm and dry. The climatic changes affected human life and
brought about changes in fauna and flora. The warmer climate was associated
with the onset of the Holocene Age. Holocene followed the Pleistocene. Holocene
is known as the Recent or Neo-thermal phase. We are living in the Holocene
period. Holocene began around 10,000 BCE.

Geological Ages
Today, geologists divide the history of the earth into four eras or ages related
to the evolution of life forms:
i) Primary (Palaeozoic),
ii) Secondary (Mesozoic),
iii) Tertiary, and
iv) Quaternary.
The Tertiary and Quaternary together form the Cenozoic or the Age of the
Mammals which began about 100 million years ago. The Cenozoic is divided
into seven epochs of which the last two — The Pleistocene and the
55
Reconstructing Ancient Indian
History Holocene— are especially important in the story of hominid evolution. The
Pleistocene began about 1.6 million years ago, and Holocene (or Recent
Period in which we live) about 10,000 years ago.
Source: Upinder Singh, 2008, page 60.

The Mesolithic people, in their subsistence level were much like the Palaeolithic
hunter-gatherers, however their mode of hunting-gathering became more
intensified. Their long experience and interaction with plants and animals made
them species-specific hunters and gatherers. This means that they favoured some
species of plants and animals over others. Culture that was produced in Europe
during the post Pleistocene period, that is early Holocene, is known as the
Mesolithic culture.

Terminology
A. C. Carlyle, an Assistant to Alexander Cunningham, founder Director-General
of the Archaeological Survey of India, found a large number of small stone
implements from the caves and rock shelters of Vindhyan hill regions of Central
India. The assemblage comprised of small stone tools in form of crescents,
trapezoids, triangles and delicate knife-lets. No tool was more than 1.6 cms in
length. The tools were never found in association with polished or ground
implements. Carlyle found enough stratigraphic evidence to suggest that these
small implements were lying in an intermediate position between the Palaeolithic
and Neolithic stages. The accompanying culture connected with both the ages.
Carlyle termed this intermediate stage as the Mesolithic.

The end of Pleistocene is conventionally placed around 10,000 BCE. The date
for Mesolithic in Europe is around 9,500 years BCE. Mesolithic is considered to
have ended with the introduction of agriculture around 6000 and 5000 BCE (Price,
1991).

Tool Types and Technology

Microliths are the predominating and the most common tool types of this cultural
phase. Technologically, this is a continuation of types from the Upper Palaeolithic
period. Microliths start occurring in the last phase of the Palaeolithic culture but
they predominate in the Mesolithic culture. Three cms. is taken as the limit for
the length for determining a microlith. Moreover, the microliths of Mesolithic
period were made by highly skilled tool making techniques. This is mainly
reflected in retouching of the working edge of the tool or blunting of the hafting
edge of the tool.

The technique employed was punch and pressure, which developed during the
Upper Palaeolithic period. For this reason, identification of Mesolithic microliths
largely depends on the context of its finding and dates.

Microliths are described in terms of geometric and non-geometric shapes.

Geometric ones are types such as trapeze, triangle, lunate or crescent. The non-
geometric types are named by the nature of blunting of the back, such as partly,
fully or obliquely blunted blades or after their functions such as scraper, point,
knife, blade, awl, burin and borer (Figure 2.12).

Microliths were used as composite tools for plant gathering and harvesting, slicing,
56 grating, plant-fibre processing; for lines, snares, nets and traps; shell openers;
 Prehistoric Period
bow-drill points and awls. The pieces were hafted onto wood, bone and antler.
These were set in line to give a straight cutting edge. Very often they were set
with slanting blades, micro-blades, broad trapezes, notched and serrated blades.
Sometimes lunates and triangles were set vertically to give different kinds of
saw edges. This tradition of composite tool making must have extended from the
Upper Palaeolithic into the Mesolithic.

The microlith tool technique allowed the regular exploitation of small, nodular
pebbles and even large artifacts. Microliths were easy to carry over long distances
and even in places, where suitable rock was not available, Mesolithic people
could settle down for long periods of time. In this way they exploited extremely
sharp and hard materials like flint, chalcedony, agate, carnelian etc. which occur
in the form of small nodules.

Fig. 2.12: Microliths. Source: MAN-002, Block 6.

Another type of tool used by the Mesolithic people is called the Macrolith (Figure
2.13). These were bigger than the microliths.
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Reconstructing Ancient Indian
History

Fig. 2.13: Macroliths (Heavy duty tools). Source: MAN-002, Block 6.

They were a continuation of the Upper Palaeolithic types such as scrapers. New
types are axes and picks. These are considered as heavy-duty tools. They are
made on stone, mostly flint. The tools are made by flaking and making transverse
working edge. According to the nature of the working edge they are termed as
axe or adze. They are meant for working on wood. Axe, adze and picks were
hafted on wood, bone or antler. These tools helped the users to cope with forested
environments.

Bone (Figure 2.14) and antler tools are yet another category of tools used by the
Mesolithic people. Bone tools are mainly found in the form of barbed harpoons.
Harpoons vary in terms of number of barbs, location of barbs along the shaft and
in terms of the nature and shape of barbs. They were used as fish hooks and
points. Bones are also used as hafts for making composite tools.

Fig. 2.14: Fishing Hooks, Needles and Shuttles for Fishing Net made of Bone(Sergiyevo-
Posadsky District). Mesolithic. Credit: Ëàïîòü. Source: WikimediaCommons (https://
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fishing_tools_stone_age_SPMZ.jpg).
58
Mostly shredded antlers are used for making tools. The antler was cut down Prehistoric Period
along the brow region and shaped into axe, adze. Sometimes axes and adzes
were found to be hafted into the antler.

Indian Mesolithic Culture

Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age was of a much shorter period than Palaeolithic.
It lasted from over thirty thousand years in Sri Lanka and parts of Africa to only
about ten thousand years in India and West Asia. Besides the use of microliths,
the Mesolithic people made a number of technological innovations like the bow
and arrow for hunting, querns, grinders and hammer stones for grinding and
pulverising plant foods like roots, tubers etc. They created a large volume of art
in the form of several thousand paintings and engravings, which not only tell us
about their aesthetic taste but also their capability for innovating new technological
elements, modes of subsistence economy, items of material culture, social
organization and religion.

Sites of Indian Mesolithic

The earliest discovery of microliths and other Mesolithic tools was made by
A.C.L. Carlyle. He discovered microliths, rock paintings, pigment pieces with
marks of grinding, human skeletons, animal bones, ash, charcoal pieces in the
rock-shelters of Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh. He also discovered paintings
depicting scenes of wild animals being hunted with spears, bows and arrows and
hatchets. This was the first discovery of paintings portraying the Mesolithic way
of life. Subsequently, further researches were conducted in Uttar Pradesh, Kurnool
caves in Andhra Pradesh and other sites in South India and Gujarat. The Mesolithic
sites are found almost all over India except the Northeast (Map 2.4). Even the
Indo Gangetic plains, where stone resources are scarce, were also occupied. This
shows that Mesolithic hunter-gatherers had colonized the whole country. This
had happened for the first time in the entire prehistoric period of two million
years.
Major excavated sites in India:
Tilwara, Bagor , Ganeshwar in Rajasthan
Langhnaj, Akhaj, Valasana, Hirpura, Amrapur, Devnimori, Dhekvadlo,
Tarsang in Gujarat
Patne, Pachad, Hatkhamba in Maharashtra
Morkhana, Lekhahia, Baghai Khor, Sarai Nahar Rai, Mahadaha, Damdama,
Chopani Mando, Baidha Putpurihwa in Uttar Pradesh
Pachmarhi, Adamgarh, Putli Karar, Bhimbetka, Baghor II, Baghor III,
Ghagharia in Madhya Pradesh
Paisra in Bihar
Kuchai in Odisha
Birbhanpur in West Bengal
Muchatla Chintamanu Gavi, Gauri Gundam in Andhra Pradesh
Sanganakallu in Karnataka
Tenmalai in Kerala.

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Reconstructing Ancient Indian
History

Map 2.4: Mesolithic Sites of India (After V. N. Misra, 1989). Source: MHI-08, Block 2.

Sites like Bagor, Sarai-Nahar-Rai, Mahadaha and Adamgarh are truly Mesolithic
sites because of their early dates and associated material culture.

The above excavated sites have provided us with a vast amount of information
regarding technology, material remains, burial practices, anatomical remains,
customs associated with burial, art and charcoal for dating of the sites.

We have nearly sixty radiocarbon and eight Thermoluminiscence (TL) dates from
over twenty sites. These show that the Mesolithic people lived between 10,000
and 2,000 BCE. In the later part of their history they came into contact with
many rural and urban cultures. As a result of this interaction, their nomadic and
hunting-gathering way of life underwent transformation. The majority of the
hunter-gatherers got settled, took up agriculture and other sedentary occupations
60 and were gradually assimilated into the Hindu caste based society.
Check Your Progress Exercise 2 Prehistoric Period

1) Name two sites of the Upper Palaeolithic culture of India? Discuss any one
in detail.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
2) What are Microliths? Give a few examples.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

2.11 SUMMARY
Indian Palaeolithic is divided into three phases which show development in
technology, tool types. These are: Lower Palaeolithic, Middle Palaeolithic and
Upper Palaeolithic. The Lower Palaeolithic cultural tradition is characterized by
hand-axe and pebble chopper-chopping tool traditions. Limestone, Dolerite,
quartzite were the preferred rock material for fashioning tools besides river
pebbles. Stone hammer, soft hammer and prepared core techniques were employed
for detaching flakes and shaping them into implements. The Middle Palaeolithic
culture consists of a variety of tools made on flakes which are produced by
specialized techniques. Mousterian and Levallois techniques are the most
common. The Upper Palaeolithic culture is based on blade-tool technology.
Besides, bone tools have been found from Kurnool caves in Andhra Pradesh.
The Mesolithic culture began around 10000 BCE and is a post-Pleistocene culture.
It is an intermediate stage between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic Ages. It is
characterized by the use of Microliths which are tiny composite stone tools,
made with advanced technology by using fine siliceous materials.

2.12 KEY WORDS

Archaeology : Study of material remains to understand the past.
Artefact : Any object that has been fashioned or altered by human
hands.
Assemblage : All artefacts of one culture or one time period found
within the context of an archaeological site.
Carbon 14 dating : Also known as radiocarbon dating technique. It is an
absolute dating method which measures the
radioactivity present in an organic material.
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Reconstructing Ancient Indian Hominid : The family of modern and ancient forms of human
History
beings.
Site : An area of the landscape that shows evidence of past
human activity.
Stratigraphy : The sequence of ancient cultural activities that have
taken place in a site. They are seen in the form of layers
superimposed one above the other.
Thermoluminiscence : Absolute dating method that measures the amount of
dating thermoluminiscence emitted by a substance, usually
pottery, when heated.

2.13 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

EXERCISES
Check Your Progress Exercise 1
1) Old Stone Age or Palaeolithic, Middle Stone Age or Mesolithic, New Stone
Age or Neolithic. See Section 2.2 and 2.3
2) Soanian and Acheulian. See Section 2.7 for details.
3) Didwana in Rajasthan and Budha Pushkar in Rajasthan. See Sub-section
2.8 for details.
Check Your Progress Exercise 2
1) Renigunta in Andhra Pradesh and Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh. See Sub-
section 2.9 for details.
2) Microliths are small stone tools in the form of crescents, trapezoids, triangles,
delicate knife-lets etc. which are not more than 3 cms. in length. They are
mainly associated with Mesolithic culture. For examples, see under the
heading ‘Tool Types and Technology’.

2.14 SUGGESTED READINGS

Allchin Bridget and Allchin, F. R. (1982). The Rise of Civilisation in India and
Pakistan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Misra, V. N. (1989). Stone Age India: An Ecological Perspective. Man and
Environment. Volume 14, pp.17-64.
Paddayya, K. (1978). New Research Designs and Field Techniques in the
Palaeolithic Archaeology of India. World Archaeology, volume 10, p. 94-110.
Sankalia, H. D. (1964). Stone Age Tools: Their Techniques, Names and Probable
Functions. Pune: Deccan College.
Sankalia, H. D. (1974). Prehistory and Protohistory of India and Pakistan. Pune:
Deccan College.

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