PRE-HISTORIC CULTURE

                                                       PRE-HISTORIC CULTURE

Introduction

- The earliest human fossils have been found in Africa dating about 4.2 million years. 

-The primitive man was shorter in height and had a smaller brain. 

-Homo sapiens evolved over a period of these years about 50,000 years ago.

- Humans have been using stone tools and their life story is, therefore, divided into Paleolithic,Mesolithic and Neolithic age.

Evolution of Man

First Fossile -- Male -Ramapithecus                     Female - Shivapithecus                                 (10-14 million years ago) These fossils were found in Shivalik and Salt range Homoerectus: Found in Hathnora (Lower Palaeolithic) 10 lakh B.C. Homo sapiens : Found in Upper Palaeolithic Regions

-The designation of the cultural past of man was done by P.F. Suhm in as early as 1776.    

-C.J.Thomsen, in 1836, followed the same to arrange the exhibits in Danish museums.                                                                                                                                          - -Lubbock in France divided the stone age further into Paleolithic and Neolithic.          -In 1930, Gabriel de Mortillet, a French investigator, started the practice of naming cultural divisions in the manner of compartments or stages.

It is generally classified as follows:-

Pre History

Palaeolithic Age or Mesolithic Age or Neolithic Age or Old stone age Late Stone Age New Stone age (500,000-10,000 BC) (10,000-4,000 BC) (6,000-1,000 BC)

·        Palaeolithic Age can be further divided into following:-

Palaeolithic Age
Lower Palaeolithic Culture	Middle Palaeolithic Culture	Upper Palaeolithic Culture
(5,00,000 - 100,00 BC)	(100,000 - 40,000 BC)	(40,000 - 10,000 BC)

·         

Pre Historic Phases
Stone Age	Primary Culture	Major Site	Importance
Lower Palaeolithic	Flakes,Chopper Chopping Culture	Kashmir, Punjab, Whole India except Sind and Kerala. Main :- Sohan(Punjab), Singrauli basin (U.P.), Chhotanagpur (Jharkhand), Assam, Narmada, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka.	- Head axe and pebble tools, Fossil of Homo Erectus from Hathnaura (Narmada basin) - Represented by Sohan Culture (now in Pakistan.)
Middle Palaeolithic	Scraper/Booer Culture	Navasa (Maharashtra), Didwana (Rajasthan), Bhimbetka (MP), Bankura and Purulia (West Bengal), Narmada Valley etc.	- Varieties of Blades, Points, Borer and Scraper made of Flakes. - 200 rock shelters and caves are located on Bhimbetka hills having thousands of paintings.
Upper Palaeolithic	Blade and Burin Culture	A.P. (Kurnool, Chittor) Karnataka, Central MP, Jharkhan Plateau, U.P., Rajasthan, Gujrat	- The age of Neanderthal Man - Earlier "Homo Sapiens" - Harpoon, blade tools from Renugunta (A.P.) - Bone tools from Kurnool.
Meslithic Age	Microliths Culture or Fluting & Gometrical tools	Karnataka, Rajasthan (Bagor, Tilwara), Gujrat (Langhanj), M.P., Tamil Nadu,West Benal (Birbhanpur), U.P. (Sarai Nahar Rai)	- Microlith (a great technological development, introduction of compound tools) - Man still a savage but pottery maing (Tilwara) and permanent habitation found, still a hunter, fisher.
Neolithic Age	Polished tool culture	Kashmir (Burzahom, Gufkral), Assam (Daojili Hading), Garohill Meghalaya, Bihar (Chirand), Peninsular India, Amri, Kotdiji, Mehargarh etc	- Earlier Farming community - Kinship became the basis of social organisation - Pit dwelling houses - Food began to be cooked by fire -Evidence of dogs, circular huts made of bamboo, bone-tools, hand made pottery etc - Also called "Neolithic Revolution" -Boat making, spinning cotton and wool.

Palaeolithic Age (50,000 - 1,00,000 BC)

It was basically a hunting and food gathering culture 'Palaeo' means 'old' and 'lithic' means 'stone'. Palaeolithic age in India is divided into three phases:

1. Early or Lower Palaeothic (50,000 - 100,000 BC) : It covers the greater part of the Ice Age and its characteristic feature is the use of hand-axe, cleaners and chopper.
2. Middle Palaeothic (100,000 - 40,000 BC): The Middle Palaeothic culture is characterised by flakes. The principal tools are variety of blades, points and scrappers made of flakes.
3. Upper Palaeolithic (40,000 - 10,000 BC) : It marks the appearance of Homo Sapiens and new flint industries; widespread appearance of a figurines and other artifacts reflecting art and rituals; the appearance of wide range of bone tools, including needles, fishing tools, harpoons, blades and burin tools.

Palaeolithic Age People :

-Earliest Palaeolithic man lived on hunting and food gathering.                                                                                                                                                                           -The hunting and gathering pattern was dependent upon the season.                                                                                                                                                                              -The nature of stone tools also varied according to the climate.                                                                                                                                                                      -Not knowing how to grow his food, he ate fruits, birds, raw animal flesh etc.                                                                                                                                                                    -The people were wanderers and moved from places to place.                                                                                                                                                                        -They took refuge under the rocks in caves and hollow tree trunks.

Facts to Remember

The Palaeolithic culture of India developed in Pleistocene period. Robert Bruce Foot was the first to discover a Palaeolithic stone in India in 1863. The Palaeolithic research in India got a boost only with the coming of Yale Cambridge Expedition in 1935 led by Deterra and Patterson. The tools were usually made of hard rock 'quartzite' and therefore Palaeolithic man in India is also called "Quartzite Man"

-Rock paintings and carvings have been numerously founded in Bhimbetka from different periods.                                                                                                                                                                                                           -The animals depicted in these paintings were mostly bisons, elephants, tigers, rhinocerous, boars etc. and were based on their hunting lives.                                         -The upper Palaeolithic art is characterised by red and green colours.

Mesolithic Age (10,000 - 4,000 BC)

-It was the transitional between Palaeolithic and Neolithic ages.                                                                                         
-Its characcteristic tools 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 also been witnessed from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Mesolithic Tools :                                                                                                                                                                      -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.

Paintings :                                                                                                                                                                                     -At various sites in Bhimbetka, Adamgarh, etc. Rock and cave paintings have been discovered.        
– 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, green, white and yellow were used in making these paintings.

Neolithic Age (New Stone Age)(6,000-1,000 BC)

-The word 'neolithic' was first coined by Sir John Lubbock in 1865.                           -Miles Burkit enumerated four characteristics of neolithic culture

1. Animal domestication
2. Agricultural practice
3. Grined and Polished stone tools and
4. Pottery manufacture

-The discovery of the tools and implements of the neolithic age was made by Le Mesurier in Uttar Pradesh in 1860.                                                                                                 -Later on, Frasher discovered such objects in Bellary in South India.                                 -The people of this age used tools and implements of polished stone.

Neolithic People :                                                                                                                                                             -The Neolithic men had a settled life.                                                                                     -They practised agriculture and grew fruits and corn.                                                              -Animals, such as the cow, dog, ox, goat etc. were domesticated.                                   -The art of producing fire by the friction of bamboos or pieces of stones was known to them.                                                                                                                                                         -Instead of eating the uncooked flesh of various animals, they now started roasting it.    -Besides this, bows and arrows were invented and were used for the purpose of hunting.                                                                                                                                          -They also learnt pottery, at first by hand and then with the potter's wheel.                  -They painted and decorated their pots.                                                                                -They lived in caves, the walls of which were polished and painted with the scenes of hunting and dancing.                                                                                                                           -The also learnt the art of spinning and weaving clothes.                                                    -They used to bury their dead and construct tombs over them which were known as Dolmens, Menhirs etc.

Neolithic Tools :                                                                                                                                                                        -The stone tools of the Neolithic age bear unmistakeable signs of polish either all over the tools or at the buttend and working-end, or only at the working end.                            -They fashioned their tools out of fine-grained dark-green trap, though there are examples of the use of diorite, basalt, slate, chlorite, schist, indurated shale, gneiss, sand stone and quartzite.

Occupation :                                                                                                                                                                                -Neolithic settlers were cattle-herders and agriculturists.                                                -They produced ragi, wheat, barley, rice, masoor, moong, kulthi etc.                              -Hand-made pottery is also found in the early stage.                                                   -Elephant, rhino, buffalo, ox, stag remains are also found in plenty. But there is no specification of these domesticated.                                                                                                                                                              -The pottery were well made but were coarse in nature, not that much polished.
-Red, Grey, Black and Red Ware, Black Burnished Ware and Mat-impressed Wars are associated with this culture.
-Tools making was another important occupation which included a variety of picks, scrapers, eyed needles, bodkins and pierced batons.

Facts to Remember

Sir John Lubbock coined the term Neolithic in his book Prehistoric Teme , first published in 1865. The term refers to an age in which stone implements were more skillfully made and more varied in form. It was V. Gardon Childe who defined the Neolothic-Chalcolithic culture as a self sufficient food economy Miles Burkit put forward the following four characteristics a culture should fulfil to be called a Neolithic Culture Agriculture practice Domestication of animal polished and grined stone tools pottery manufacture

Chalcolithic Age

-Towards the end of the Neolithic period began the use of metals.                                                                                                                                                   - -First metal to be used was copper and the culture of that time is called Chalcolithic cultre.                                                                                                                                                      -The earliest settlements belonging to this phase are extended from the Chhotanagpur plateau to the copper Gangetic basin. Some sites are found at Brahmagiri near Mysore and Navada Toli on the Narmada.                                                                                                                                                                                      

-The transition from use of stone to the use of metals is slow and long drawn.                  -There is no doubt that there was an overlapping period when both stone and metals were used.                                                                                                                                      -This is proved by the close resemblance of metallic tools and implements with those made of stone.                                                                                                                                                  -The Chalcolithic i.e. copper bronze age or stone-copper age of India produced a splendid civilisation in the Indus Valley which spread in the neighbouring regions.

Occupation:                                                                                                                                                                                 -Their economy was based on subsistence agricultre, stock-raising, hunting and fishing.  -Their tools consisted of a specialised blade and flake of silicious material like chalcedony and chert. -Copper and bronze tools were present in a limited number. The culture shares the common characteristic of painted pottery.

Burial Practices:                                                                                                                                                                     - The dead were buried in north-south position in Maharashtra but in east-west position in south India.                                                                                                                                                                                                        -In eastern India, only a fraction of population buried their dead.

Chalcolithic Settlement Pattern

Largest - Diamabad Town features at Diamabad and Inamagaon Town Planning - Inamgaon Fortification - Nagada, Inamgaon, Diamabad, Balathal Baked Brick Evidence - Gilund Stone Dwellings - Ahar Chiefly circular and rectangular houses have been found Microliths have been found from Ahar Flat, Rectangular copper axe have been found frm Jorwey and Chandoli Chief Crop Barley Evidence of Rice has been found from Inamgaon Fire Altars and Fire Worksip were prevalent Inner Funeral System North South direction of burials East West direction of burials were prevalent in South India

About Pottery and Types

Pottery	Type
Ahar	Red Ware
Kayatha	Deep Red Ware
Malwa	Deep Brown & Black
Saalda	Pictographic (Red & Black)
Jorwe	Pictographic (Red & Black)
Prabhas	Pictographic (Red & Black)
Rangpur	Polished Red

The Copper Phase

-All the implements of the copper hoards supplemented by stone tools led a settled life, and were one of the earliest Chalcolithic agriculturists and artisans to settle in a good portion of the doab.

Copper Hoard

Stretched from North-West to East and upto Tamil Nadu Black copper has been found at these sites It continued upto 1500 BC Chief Area - Gangetic Valley Chief Sites - Gungeria (MP), Saibia (UP), Bithur (UP), Visauli (UP), Rajpur Parsu (UP)

Pottery :                                                                                                                                                                                      -This period was marked by two types of pottery: Ochre-Coloured Pottery which can be roughly placed between 2000 BC-1500 BC on the scientific dating and Black and Red pottery from about 1000 BC.

Ochre-Coloured Pottery (OCP):                                                                                                    -A new pottery type was discovered during excavatings at Badaun and Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh in 1950. It was called Ochre Coloured (OCP) as it contained a wash of ochre.  -The colour of the pottery ranges from orange to red.                                                             -The period covered by the OCP culture is roughly placed between 2000 BC and 1500 BC.                                                                                                                                                       -The Black and Red Ware (BRW) followed the OCP.

Black and Red Ware (BRW) :

-Excavations of Atranjikheda in Uttar Pradesh in the 1960s brought to light a distinct pottery.                                                                                                                                                    -The pottery, called the BRW, is sandwiched between the OCP and the Painted Grey Ware (PGW) of Iron Age or the Early Vedic Age.

Iron Age

-Only evidence of the transition from copper-bronze age to the iron age is the monuments like dolmens, cairns, cremolechs.                                                                                                                                                              -These have been found in wide areas all over India such as Assam, Bihar, Orrisa, Central India, Gujrat and Kashmir.
-Monuments discovered in Hyderabad, Mysore, Tinnevelly district, Coimbatore, Malaba, Penumbur etc. also show varied stages of development.                                 -Neolithic, Microlithic tools along with copper, bronze and iron implements have been discovered, making it difficult to identify the actual period of transition from copper-bronze age to iron age.                                                                                                                        -Iron age is usually associated with the Painted Grey Ware.

Painted Grey Ware (PGW):                                                                                                             -It referes to the ceramics which have been fired grey and then painted with black designs.                                      

-The grey colour, it is believed, is obtained by firing thin clay pots to as high as at temperature as 800 degree celcius.

Pre Historic Findings

Bhimbetka - Homo Sapiens' Cave 500 painted Rock Shelters Nevasa - Evidence of cotton Atranjikheda - Textile printing Hastinapur - Wild Sugarcane Inamgaon - Statue of mother goddness Mehargarh - Earliest evidence of agriculture Koldihva - Earliest evidence of rice Bagor and Adamgarh - Earliest evidences of Domestication of animal Chirand - Serpant cult Burzahom Gulfkral - Pit-dwelling