Lecture 1 ● Pre-History

Age

Time Period

Divisions

Palaeolithic Age

500,000 BCE to 10,000 - Early or Lower BCE Palaeolithic Phase 500,000 to 50,000 BCE - Middle Palaeolithic Phase 50,000 to 40,000 BCE - Upper Palaeolithic Phase 40,000 to 10,000 BCE

Mesolithic Age

9,000 BCE to 4,000 BCE

Neolithic Age

5,000 BCE to 1,800 BCE

Chalcolithic Age

1,800 BCE to 1,000 BCE

Iron Age

Started from 1,000 BCE onwards

Indus Valley Civilization

2900 To 1700 BCE

Early Harappan Phase 2900To 2500 BCE Middle Harappan Phase 2500 to 2000 BCE Late Harappan Phase 2000 to 1700 BCE

Vedic Age

1500 to 600 BCE

Early Vedic Age 1500 to 1000 BCE Later Vedic Age 1000 to 600 BCE

Pre-Mauryan Age

6th Century BCE to 4th Century BCE

Mauryan Age

321 BCE to184 CE

Post-Mauryan Age

200 BCE to 300 CE

Gupta Period

4th Century CE to 6th Century CE

Age of Harsha

606 CE to 647 CE

Sources of Historical Reconstruction ●

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Material Remains ◦

Archaeology

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Temples, Monasteries, Mounds

Coins ◦

Numismatics

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Metal coins – Cu, Ag, Au, Pb

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Symbols; names of Kings, Gods or Godesses

Inscriptions ◦

Epigraphy and Palaeography (old writings)

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Carved on seals, stone pillars, rocks, copper plates, temple walls, bricks or images

Literary Sources ◦

Manuscripts written on birch bark and palm leaves

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Vedas, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas, Upanishads etc.

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Buddhist texts, Jaina texts

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Arthashastra

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Plays and stories

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Sangam Literature

Foreign Accounts ◦

Megasthenes, Ptolemy

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Fa-Hien, Huan-Tsang

Pre-History ● ● ● ●

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The period of our ancient past for which no written records are available is known as Pre-History Archaeological remains are the only historical sources to reconstruct the history of this period. They include the stone tools, pottery, artefacts and metal implements used by pre-historic people. In India, the prehistoric period is divided into the Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age), Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age), Neolithic (New Stone Age) and the Metal Age. However, these periods were not uniform throughout the Indian subcontinent.

Palaeolithic Age or Old Stone Age ●

The Palaeolithic Age in India has been divided into three phases according to the nature of stone tools used by the people and also according to the nature of change in the climate – ● Early or Lower Palaeolithic ● 500,000 BCE to 50,000 BCE

● Middle Palaeolithic ● 50,000 BCE to 40,000 BCE

● Upper Palaeolithic ● 40,000 BCE to 10,000 BCE

Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age ●

The period before 10000 B.C. is assigned to the Old Stone Age.

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Characteristics ◦ In the Old Stone Age, food was obtained by hunting animals and gathering edible plants and tubers. Therefore, these people are called as huntergatherers. ◦ They used stone tools, hand-sized and flaked-off large pebbles for hunting animals; e.g. hand axes, cleavers, choppers, blades, scrapers and burin. ◦ Stone implements are made of a hard rock known as quartzite. Hence the Palaeolithic man is also called `Quartzite Man’. ◦ They had no knowledge of agriculture, fire or pottery of any material.

Palaeolithic Sites ●

The Palaeolithic sites are spread in practically all parts of India except the alluvial plains of Indus and Ganga.

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These sites are generally located near water sources.

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Palaeolithic people usually lived in rock shelters and caves.

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Sites ◦

Such tools have been found in Soan (Sohan) river valley (now in Pakistan)

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Kashmir

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Thar desert, Rajasthan

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Belan Valley in the Mirzapur district of UP.

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Other sites such as desert area of Didwana, Rajasthan, Belan valley and Narmada valley and caves and rock-shelters of Bhimbetka (near Bhopal, M.P.) belong to ~100,000 BCE [Hand-axes have been discovered from this site]

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Palaeolithic tools discovered from Chotanagpur plateau date back to 100,000 BCE and those found in Kurnool district date back to 20,000-10,000 BCE

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We have also discovered bone implants and animal remains

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Animal remains found in Belan valley, U.P. are those of cattle, sheep, and goat.

Early Palaeolithic Age ● 500,000

B.C.E. – 50,000 B.C.E. ● It covers the greater part of the Ice Age ● Characteristic tools ● Hand axes, cleavers and choppers ● These were used mainly for chopping, digging, and skinning

Middle Palaeolithic Phase ● Characteristics ● Use of stone tools made of flakes ● Blades, points, scrapers, borers

● Sites ● Valleys of Sohan, Narmada and Tungabhadra rivers

Upper Palaeolithic Phase ● ● ● ● ● ●

From 40,000 B.C.E. to 10,000 B.C.E. Last phase of Ice-Age; Climate comparatively warmer Appearance of Homo Sapiens Appearance of new type of flint industries Characteristic tools ● Burins and scrapers.

Upper Palaeolithic Sites ●

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Such tools have been found in AP, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Chhota Nagpur Plateau, southern U.P. South Bihar plateau A few Old Stone Age paintings have also been found on rocks at Bhimbetka and other places. Larger flakes, blades, burins, scrapers have also been found in Gujarat

Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age ●

The next stage of human life is called Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age

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It falls roughly from 10000 B.C. to 6000 B.C.

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It was the transitional phase between the Palaeolithic Age and Neolithic Age.

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Climate became warm and dry

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Climate changes led to changes in flora and fauna

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New areas opened up

Tools

Blade s

Choppers

Hand-axe

Scrapers

Burins

Mesolithic Age ●

Characteristics ◦ Different type of stone tools are found. ◦ These are tiny stone artefacts, often not more than five centimeters in size, and therefore called Microliths. ◦ The hunting-gathering pattern of life continued during this period. However, there seems to have been a shift from big animal hunting to small animal hunting and fishing. ◦ There began a tendency to settle for longer periods in an area. Therefore, domestication of animals, horticulture and primitive cultivation started.

Mesolithic Tools

Mesolithic Sites ●

Some places of Karnataka, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. ◦ Bagar, Rajasthan ◦ South of river Krishna ● Central and Eastern India ◦ Langhanj in Gujarat, Adamgarh in Madhya Pradesh ●

The paintings and engravings found at the rock shelters, for example at Bhimbetka and Adamgarh, give an idea about the social life and economic activities of Mesolithic people.

Neolithic Age ●

In India Neolithic Age is not earlier than 6000 BC and some places in South and Eastern India, it is as late as 1000 BC. ● Mehrgarh, Baluchistan is the only neolithic settlement in the Indian sub-continent. It dates to ~ 7,000 B.C.E. ● Some neolithic sites in the Vindhyas date back to ~5,000 B.C.E. ● Generally, neolithic sites in South India are not older than 2,500 B.C.E. ● A remarkable progress is noticed in human civilization in the Neolithic Age.

Neolithic Age ●

Characteristics ◦ There was a great improvement in technology of making tools and other equipments used by man. ◦ Tools and implements were now made of polished stone ◦ The polished axes were found to be more effective tools for hunting and cutting trees. ◦ The practice of agriculture and domestication of animals began . ◦ The cultivation of plants and domestication of animals led to the emergence of village communities based on sedentary life. ◦ Wheat, barley, rice, millet were cultivated in different areas at different points of time. ◦ Rice cultivation was extensive in eastern India. ◦ Domestication of sheep, goats and cattle was widely prevalent.

Neolithic Age ●

Pottery ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦

First appears in this period Used to store foodgrains Also used for cooking, eating and rinking Hand-made pottery in the early stages Foot-wheels to turn up pots in the later stages ● [They knew about making fire and making pottery, first by hand and then by potter’s wheel] ◦ They also painted and decorated their pottery. ◦ Large urns were used as coffins for the burial of the dead.

Neolithic Age ● Based

on the type of axes, 3 important areas of Neolithic settlements in India, ● North-West – Kashmir, Burzahom ● North-East – Hills of Assam, Garo Hills in Meghalya ● South – south of river Godavari

Neolithic Settlements ●

Kashmir valley

● Numerous tools and weapons made of bones (antlers = horns of deer) [Another place where bone implants have been discovered is Chirand, Bihar]

◦ Burzahom

● Domestic dogs were buried with their masters in their graves ● This is not found anywhere else

◦ Gufkral, famous for pit dwelling, stone tools and graveyard in house ●

Several places of Deccan and south India

● Maski, Brahmagiri, Hallur in Karnataka, Paiyampalli in TN and Utnur in AP ● Fire-baked earthen figurines suggest large number of cattle ● Sheep, goat and cattle present ● Acquainted with the art of producing cereals

Neolithic Settlements ● Number

of neolithic settlements on the northern spurs of Vindhyas in Mirzapur and Allahabad districts of U.P. ● Chirand in Bihar, ● Belan valley in Uttar Pradesh ● Neolithic sites in Allahabad are noted for cultivation of rice (~6th millenium BCE) ● Koldihawa in UP revealed a threefold cultural sequence: Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Iron Age

Chalcolithic Age ●

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1800 B.C.E. to 1000 B.C.E. The Neolithic period is followed by Chalcolithic (copper-stone) period when use of metals began. Copper was the first metal to be used followed by bronze However, in India, Chalcolithic period came after the Harappan culture

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Chalcolithic tools:

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◦ Stone and copper and low-grade bronze objects ◦ Used primarily by rural communities spread over areas where hilly land and rivers were available ● ● ●

The new technology of smelting metal ore and crafting metal artefacts is an important development in human civilization. But the use of stone tools was not given up. Some of the micro-lithic tools continued to be essential items. People began to travel for a long distance to obtain metal ores. This led to a network of Chalcolithic cultures and the Chalcolithic cultures were found in many parts of India.

Chalcolithic Sites ●

South-eastern Rajasthan ● Ahar, Gilund (dry zones of Banas valley) ● Copper objects are found in good numbers ● Stone axes or blades are almost absent here ● Flat axes, bangles, sheets – made of Copper – have been discovered ● Smelting and metallurgy was practiced from the very beginning ● Ahar = Tambavati

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Western part of M.P ● Malwa, Kayatha, Eran ● Malwa – richest among the Chalcolithic cermaics

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Western Maharashtra ● Jorwe, Nevasa, Daimabad, Chandoli, Nashik etc. ● Also known as Jorwe culture – covered modern Maharashtra except Vidarbha; ber and babul vegetation ● Daimabad is famous for recovery of a large number of Bronze goods

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Vindhyan regions of Allahabad dist. ● Chirand on the Ganga ● Mahishdal in Birbhum dist., W.B. [People belonging to this culture used tiny tools and weapons in which the stone-blades and bladelets occupied an important position]

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Southern and eastern India ● In South India the river valleys of the Godavari, Krishna, Tungabhadra, Pennar and Kaveri were settled by farming communities during this period.

Chalcolithic Pottery ● People

of chalcolithic phase used different kinds of pottery ● Red and black ware – widely prevalent from about 2000 BCE onwards ● Occasionally painted with white linear designs ● Such pottery in Maharashtra, M.P. and Rajasthan was painted but such painted pots were very few in Eastern India

Chalcolithic Age ●

Other features of people living in the chalcolithic age in M.P., Rajasthan and Maharashtra ● Domesticated animals ● Practiced agriculture ● Kept cows, sheep, goats, pigs and buffaloes and hunted deer ● Remains of camel have been found ● NOT acquainted with the horse ● People ate beef ● Wheat, rice, bajra, pulses – lentil, black gram, green gram, grass pea – were cultivated ● Cotton was also produced ● Houses made of mud bricks; not acquainted with burnt bricks

Chalcolithic Arts and Crafts ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Expert coppersmiths – tools, weapons and bangles of copper Knew the art of spinning and weaving because spindle whorls have been discovered in Malwa Acquainted with the manufacture of cloth We find potters, smiths, ivory carvers, terracotta artisans Eastern India produced rice; western India produced wheat and barley Terracotta figures of women suggest people venerated the mother goddess Stylized bull terracottas in Malwa and Rajasthan show that the bull was a symbol of a religious cult

Chalcolithic Age - Society ●

The settlement patterns and burial practices suggest beginnings of social inequalities ● A kind of settlement hierarchy appears in several Jorwe settlements ● The chief and his kinsmen lived in rectangular houses and dominated others who lived in round huts ● Did NOT practice cultivation on an intensive or extensive scale as neither plough nor hoe has been discovered

Chalcolithic Age – Some other characteristics ● ● ● ● ● ●

The stone-copper culture had an essentially rural background Supply of copper was limited and as a metal copper has its limitations People did not know the art of mixing tin with copper Bronze tools has facilitated the rise of earliest civilizations in Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Indus as well The people of stone-copper age did not know the art of writing; nor did they live in cities. The Chalcolithic culture in the region of Rajasthan is known as Banas Culture after the river of that name. This is also known as Ahar Culture after the type-site.

Chalcolithic and Harappan Age(s) ●

Chronologically, there are several series of chalocolithic settlements in India – some pre-date Harappa, some contemporaries of Harappa, and some others still postHarappa ● The pre-Harappan phase at Kalibangan and Banawalai is distinctly chalcolithic ● Various types of pre-Harappan chalcolithic cultures promoted the spread of farming communities in Sindh, Baluchistan, Rajasthan and created conditions for the rise of urban civilization of Harappa ● Some chalocolithic farming communities moved to the floodplains of Indus, learnt bronze technology and succeeding in setting up cities.