BASIC TECHNIQUES OF

INDU
LITHIC REDUCTION:
M A B
HI
TOOL MAKING TECHNIQUES
1.Percussion
a.Direct Percussion
• Bipolar
INDU
M A B
• Anvil/Block on block technique

HI
• Stone hammer technique
• Cylinder hammer technique
b. Indirect percussion
2. Pressure flaking
3. Grinding, pecking & polishing
Shattering (Called bipolar, if it splits into two flakes)

INDU
M A B
HI
 INDU
Anvil /

B
Block on block

HIM A technique
Levalloisian tools / Percussion / Stone hammer technique

INDU
M A B
HI
 Making of flake tools

INDU
M A B
HI
Making of blades (Mesolithic blade production is called
fluting as the fluted core resembles such pillars)

INDU
M A B
HI
 FLUTING TECHNIQUE

INDU
M A B
HI
 Making of Burins

INDU
M A B
HI
Soft hammer technique / Cylinder hammer technique.

INDU
M A B
HI
 Indirect
INDU
M
precussion
A B
HI
 Pressure flaking/ Retouching

INDU
M A B
HI
Pecking
INDU
M A B
HI
 INDU
Grinding &
Polishing

M A B
HI
PALAEO-LITHIC
INDU
M A B
TOOLS
HI
 INDU
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 INDU
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 INDU
M A B
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 INDU
M A B
HI
 INDU
M A B
HI
 INDU
M A B
HI
 Awl

INDU
M A B
HI
 INDU
M A B
HI
 INDU
M A B
HI
 MESOLITHIC
TOOLS
INDU
M A B
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 INDU
M A B
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 INDU
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 INDU
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 INDU
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 INDU
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 INDU
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 INDU
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 NEOLITHIC
INDU
M A B
TOOLS
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 INDU
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 INDU
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 INDU
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 WORLD
ARCHAEOLOGY
INDU
M A B
UNIT-1.8 (b) Paper 1
HI
EVOLUTION OF STONE TOOLS:
• Archaeologists classify stone tools into industries (also known as complexes or
technocomplexes) that share distinctive technological or morphological
characteristics.

U
• In 1969 in the 2nd edition of World Prehistory, Grahame Clark proposed an

B IND
evolutionary progression of flint-knapping and assigned to them relative dates:
Modes 1 and 2 to the Lower Palaeolithic, 3 to the Middle Palaeolithic, 4 to

HIM A
the Advanced and 5 to the Mesolithic.
• They were not in effect in different regions simultaneously. Mode 1, for example,
was in use in Europe long after it had been replaced by Mode 2 in Africa.
• Consequently, in the literature the stone tools used in the period of
the Palaeolithic are divided into four "modes", each of which designate a
different form of complexity, and which in most cases followed a
rough chronological order.
Pre-Mode I
Kenya
• Stone tools found from 2011 to 2014 at Lake Turkana in Kenya, are dated to be
3.3 million years old, and predate the genus Homo by about one million years.
• The oldest known Homo fossil is about 2.4-2.3 million years old compared to the
3.3 million year old stone tools.

INDU
M A B
• The stone tools may have been made by Australopithecus afarensis, the species
whose best fossil example is Lucy, which inhabited East Africa at the same time

HI
as the date of the oldest stone tools, or by Kenyanthropus platyops (a 3.2 to 3.5-
million-year-old Pliocene hominin fossil discovered in 1999).
• Dating of the tools was by dating volcanic ash layers in which the tools were
found and dating the magnetic signature (pointing north or south due to reversal
of the magnetic poles) of the rock at the site.
Ethiopia
• Grooved, cut and fractured animal bone fossils, made by using stone tools, were
found in Dikika, Ethiopia near (200 yards) the remains of Selam, a
young Australopithecus afarensis girl who lived about 3.3 million years ago.

U
Mode I: The Oldowan Industry / Abbevillian / Chopper – chopping tools/
Homo habilis:

B IND
HIM A
• A typical Oldowan simple chopping-tool. This example is from the Duero
Valley, Valladolid.
• Abbevillian is a currently obsolescent name for the tool tradition that is now
being called as Oldowan. The name Abbevillian prevailed until Leaky family
(Mary and Louis Leaky) discovered older, yet similar tools at Olduvai Gorge.
The term Abbevillian is now restricted to Europe.

NDU
• The earliest stone tools in the life span of the genus Homo are Mode 1 tools, and

I
M A B
come from Oldowan Industry, named after the type site found in Olduvai
Gorge, Tanzania, where they were discovered in large quantities.

HI
• Oldowan tools were characterised by their simple construction, predominantly
using core forms.
• These cores were river pebbles, or rocks similar to them, that had been struck by
a spherical hammerstone to cause conchoidal fractures (Fractures in brittle stone)
removing flakes from one surface, creating an edge and often a sharp tip. The
blunt end is the proximal surface; the sharp, the distal.
• Oldowan is a percussion technology.
• The earliest known Oldowan tools yet found date from 2.6 million years ago,
during the Lower Palaeolithic period, and have been uncovered
at Gona in Ethiopia.
• After this date, the Oldowan Industry subsequently spread throughout much of

U
Africa, although archaeologists are currently unsure which Hominin species first

B IND
developed them, with some speculating that it was Australopithecus garhi, and
others believing that it was in fact Homo habilis.

IM A
• Homo habilis was the hominin who used the tools for most of the Oldowan in

H
Africa, but at about 1.9-1.8 million years ago Homo erectus inherited them.
• The Industry flourished in southern and eastern Africa between 2.6 and
1.7 million years ago, but was also spread out of Africa and into Eurasia by
travelling bands of H. erectus, who took it as far east as Java by 1.8 million years
ago and Northern China by 1.6 million years ago.
Mode II: The Acheulean Industry

INDU
M A B
HI
A typical Acheulean hand axe; this example is from the Douro valley, Zamora,
Spain. The small chips on the edge are from reworking.
• Eventually, more complex Mode 2 tools began to be developed through
the Acheulean Industry, named after the site of Saint-Acheul in France.
• The Acheulean was characterised not by the core, but by the biface, the most
notable form of which was the hand axe.
• The Acheulean first appears in the archaeological record as early as 1.7 million

DU
years ago in the West Turkana area of Kenya and southern Africa.

IN
B
• In contrast to an Oldowan tool, which could have been made by chance, an

HI A
Acheulean tool is a planned result of a manufacturing process. The manufacturer

M
begins with a larger stone knocked off a rock, to be used as a core. Standing a core
on edge on an anvil stone, he or she hits the exposed edge with centripetal blows
of a hard hammer to roughly shape the implement. Then the piece must be worked
over again, or retouched, with a soft hammer of wood or bone to produce a tool
finely chipped all over consisting of two convex surfaces intersecting in a sharp
edge.
• Some Mode 2 tools are disk-shaped, others ovoid, others leaf-shaped and pointed,
and others elongated and pointed at the distal end, with a blunt surface at the
proximal end, obviously used for drilling. Mode 2 tools are used for butchering;
not being composite (having no haft) they are not very appropriate killing
instruments. The killing must have been done some other way.

U
• Mode 2 tools are larger than Oldowan.
Clactonian:

B IND
H
country of Essex.
I A
• An industry of European flint tools, named after Clacton- on – Sea in the English

M
• The technique involves striking thick irregular flakes from a core of flint, used as
a chopper, the flakes would have been used as crude knives or scrapers.
• Preceded by Acheulean, followed by Mousterian.
 INDU
A B
Mode III: The Mousterian Industry / Levalloisian industry:

M
HI
• A tool made by the Levallois technique. This example is from La Parrilla (Valladolid,
Spain).
• Eventually, the Acheulean in Europe was replaced by a lithic technology known as
the Mousterian Industry, which was named after the site of Le Moustier in France,
where examples were first uncovered in the 1860s.
• Evolving from the Acheulean, it adopted the Levallois technique to produce smaller

DU
and sharper knife-like tools as well as scrapers. Also known as the "prepared core

IN
B
technique," flakes are struck from worked cores and then subsequently retouched.

HIM A
• The Mousterian Industry was developed and used primarily by the Neanderthals, a
native European and Middle Eastern hominin species, but a broadly similar industry is
contemporaneously widespread in Africa.
Mode IV: The Aurignacian Industry – Long blades
• The widespread use of long blades (rather than flakes) of the Upper
Palaeolithic Mode 4 industries appeared during the Upper Palaeolithic between
50,000 and 10,000 years ago, although blades were still produced in small quantities
much earlier by Neanderthals.
• The Aurignacian culture seems to have been the first to rely largely on blades.
• The use of blades exponentially increases the efficiency of core usage compared to
the Levallois flake technique, which had a similar advantage over Acheulean
technology which was worked from cores.
Mode V: The Microlithic / Magdalenian Industries

DU
• Mode 5 stone tools involve the production of microliths, which were used in

IN
B
composite tools, mainly fastened to a shaft.

HIM A
• Examples include the Magdalenian culture (named after the type site of La
Madeleine, a rock shelter located in the Vézère valley
in France's Dordogne department).
• Such a technology makes much more efficient use of available materials like flint,
although required greater skill in manufacturing the small flakes.
• Mounting sharp flint edges in a wood or bone handle is the key innovation in
microliths, essentially because the handle gives the user protection against the flint
and also improves leverage of the device.
Neolithic industries – Ground / Polished stone tools:

INDU
M A B
HI
• In prehistoric Japan, ground stone tools appear during the Japanese
Paleolithic period, that lasted from around 40,000 BC to 14,000 BC.
• Ground stone tools became important during the Neolithic period beginning
about 10,000 BC.
• These ground or polished implements are manufactured from larger-grained
materials such as basalt, jade and jadeite, greenstone and some forms
of rhyolite which are not suitable for flaking.
• The greenstone industry was important in the English Lake District, and is known
as the Langdale axe industry. Ground stone implements included adzes, celts,
and axes, which were manufactured using a labour-intensive, time-consuming
lubricant.
INDU
method of repeated grinding against an abrasive stone, often using water as a

A B
• Because of their coarse surfaces, some ground stone tools were used for grinding

M
I
plant foods and were polished not just by intentional shaping, but also by use.

H
• Manos are hand stones used in conjunction with metates for grinding corn or
grain. Polishing increased the intrinsic mechanical strength of the axe.
• Polished stone axes were important for the widespread clearance of woods and
forest during the Neolithic period, when crop and livestock farming developed on
a large scale. They are distributed very widely and were traded over great
distances since the best rock types were often very local.
• They also became venerated objects, and were frequently buried in long

IN U
barrows or round barrows with their former owners.

D
• During the Neolithic period, large axes were made from flint nodules by chipping

A B
a rough shape, a so-called "rough-out". Such products were traded across a wide

M
HI
area. The rough-outs were then polished to give the surface a fine finish to create
the axe head. Polishing not only increased the final strength of the product but
also meant that the head could penetrate wood more easily.
1. Archaeological Anthropology. (10M,2015)
2. Give an account of the field methods in Archaeological anthropology (15M, 2018)

GATHERING DATA

IN U
• First, archaeologists must gather data on the topic they wish to further research. Oral

D
history or written history provides clues about the suitable site for excavation.

A B
• Field surveys are another common method to determine where excavations should be

M
HI
done. Surveying is done through the use of evidence, sampling, GPS, transects, and
other techniques, to determine where archaeological research should be done.
• Excavations are how material remains are found by archaeologists, and involve the
digging, exposure, and recovery of material data. This data could include artefacts
(objects from the past), Eco facts (biological information from the past), or landscape
alterations that can provide clues about past cultures.
• When conducting excavations, stratigraphy is an important idea used by
archaeologists. Since it's known that the newest matter will lie closer to the top of
the soil, stratigraphy is the idea that knowing the location of different remains in
soil can help us to understand the different ages and contexts of these remains.
• In ethnoarchaeology, living people are observed and joined by means of

U
participant-observation and conversation in order to learn how artifacts are made

D
and disposed. Discarded objects and the processes involved in the formation of
archaeological record.
A B IN
archaeological sites, or taphonomy, are also observed to learn how to interpret the

HIM
ARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS :-
• Radiocarbon dating, often simply called carbon dating, is one of the most well-
known techniques of analysis in archaeology. Radiocarbon dating helps
archaeologists determine the age of different artefacts. If an artefact has organic
material, and thus the radioactive element of radiocarbon, then this method can be
used. Since radiocarbon decays over time, determining its structure in an artefact
gives archaeologists clues about the potential age of that object.
• Another established method of dating is potassium-argon dating. While
radiocarbon dating is limited to more relatively recent remains, potassium-argon
dating can be used in objects over hundreds of thousands of years old. Similarly to
radiocarbon dating, potassium-argon dating looks at radioactive decay to
determine the age of material remains.
I. PALAEOLITHIC CULTURE IN INDIA :

NDU
3. Differentiate between Lower Paleolithic culture and Middle Paleolithic culture

I
M A B
with suitable examples. (15M,2020)

I
4. Palaeolithic culture. (10M,2015)

H
5. South Indian Paleoliths (10M,2015)
6. Give a broad outline of Patheolithic culture emphasizing upon its tool
technology. (20M,2013)
7. Indian Paleolithic culture can neither be conceived chronologically
homogeneous nor as a unfiorm cultural phase.-Discuss. (15M,2013)
Ø At Attirampakkam near Chennai, Lower Palaeolithic is dated to 1.5 million years
Ø At Isampur in Karnataka date for the same culture is estimated to be 1.2 million years.
Ø In Maharashtra, Bori and Moregaon are two lower Palaeolithic sites which have dates
beyond 600,000 years.

U
8. Discussed the typology and distribution of upper palaeolithic cultures in India
(20M,2012)

B IND
A
9. Palaeolithic Art (12M,2012)

HIM
10. Compare the salient features and distribution of middle Palaeolithic and upper
Palaeolithic cultures in India. And add a note on tools traditions of upper Palaeolithic
period. (20M,2012)
11. Soan culture (12M,2012)
12. Differentiate between lower palaeolithic culture and middle palaeolithic culture with
suitable examples (2020,20M)
• The Palaeolithic Age in India is divided into three phases in accordance with the
type of stone tools used by the people and also according to the nature of climatic
change.

(a) Early or Lower Palaeolithic (between 500,000 and 100,000 BCE):

NDU
(b) Middle Palaeolithic (between 100,000 and 40,000 BCE):

I
A B
(c) Upper Palaeolithic (between 40,000 and 10,000 BCE):

M
HI
Prehistoric Geochronology/ Type of tools / Tool Technique used Material
period Geological time tradition used
scale
Lower Middle Core tools, (Abbevillian/ Direct Quartzite
Paleolithic Pleistocene Oldowan & Acheulean). percussion like
stone hammer
Middle Middle
Paleolithic Pleistocene
INDU
Flake tools like scrapers Direct
and points were much percussion like
chert and
jasper,

M A B
frequent than cores. stone hammer besides

HI (Levalloisian /
Mousterian)
and pressure
flaking for
retouching
continuing
with
quartzite
Upper Upper Blade tools, Parallel Stone hammer, Quartz and
Paleolithic Pleistocene sided blade tools along indirect bone
with bone tools percussion &
(Aurignasian) cylinder hammer
Note: Cenozoic era, Quaternary period, Pleistocene epoch

1. EARLY / LOWER PALAEOLITHIC

• The Early or Lower Stone Age in India may be associated with the people of the
Homo sapiens group.

INDU
LOWER PALEOLITHIC PERIOD IN INDIA: THE SOAN AND MADRAS
CULTURE

M A B
HI
• The lower paleolithic culture of India has two distinct cultural traditions
• (A) The Soan culture or the chopper chopping tool tradition in the Punjab and
• (B) The Madras culture or Hand-axe tool tradition in peninsular region.
• H. De Terra, T.T. Paterson, V.D. Krishnaswami suggested that Soanian and
Madrasian were two independent cultural traditions.
A. THE SOAN CULTURE (LOWER PALEOLITHIC) :
• The discovery of stone tools from Soan Valley was first made by Dr. D. N.
Wadia and thereafter by Dr. Helmut de Terra in 1928 and 1932 respectively.
But the credit of excavation goes to H. De Terra and T.T. Paterson who

U
undertook this important work in 1935. Later, V.D. Krishnaswami, D. Sen and

IND
O. Menghin had studied the assemblages of tools.

B
IM A
• The river Soan is a tributary of the great river Indus that flows through the

H
city of Rawalpindi in Potwar region.

• Dates: 500000-125000

• Preceded by Acheulean , followed by Mousterian.

Climate: Being located near Himalayans, Soan valley witnessed Glaciation and
interglaciation.

INDU
M A B
HI
1. Surface of the River (To/TD)/ pre soan (During 2nd Glaciation):
• Situated about 400 feet above the present riverbed. Tools found are Split pebbles
with small bulb of percussion

U
2. Terrace-1 (T1)/ Early Soan (during the second inter-glacial phase):

IND
• This is 220 feet high from the present riverbed.

B
HIM A
• The ‘Early Soan’ is primarily a pebble-tool industry (Oldest lithic industry of
early man) as most of the tools are made on rounded pebbles, mainly chopper-
chopping tools made by direct hammer technique.
• Other tool-types include scrapers, borers and other pebble flakes.

• The materials are mostly the fine-grained quartzite of different variety

3. Terrace -II (T2) / ‘Late Soan Industry’ (During the third glacial phase):
• Height of this Terrace is about 120 feet from the present day riverbed.
• Late Soan is majorly flake dominated industry. The technique of detaching flakes
from a prepared core may be synonymous with the Levalloisian technique.

NDU
• Chopper chopping and flake tools were found. Flakes increased in number and they

I
are lighter and neater.

M A B
HI
4. Terrace-III (T3) During third inter-glacial period:
• This Terrace is situated at 80 feet above the present day riverbed.
• It is very interesting that no tools of man have come out from this Terrace.
5. Terrace-IV (T4)/ ‘Evolved Soan’ During the last glacial phase: (Dates to
middle palaeolithic)
• Upper Pleistocene.
• Height of the Terrace is 40 feet from the present day riverbed.

U
• The ‘Evolved Soan Industry’ has been reported from two sites, namely, Pindi
Gheb and Dhok Pathan.

B IND
HIM A
• The tools are not much different from the Early and Late Soan, but
technologically they are much developed. The Levalloisian technique that
appeared in Late Soan had shown a further refinement in the Evolved Soan.

• As the flakes of this level are much thinner and slender they look like a blade. A
new type of tool, an awl has been discovered here.
Terrace-V (T5) during post-glacial period:

• This is the lowest Terrace. Height of this Terrace is about 20 feet above the
present stream.

hunter-gatherers.
IN U
• Social life: The stone tools suggest that the Soan valley people were primarily

D
ACHEULIAN CULTURE
M A B
HI
• Acheulian culture was named after the French site of St. Acheul, which was first
effective colonization of the Indian subcontinent and is almost synonymous
with the lower Palaeolithic settlements in India. Most of the sites in India
including those in peninsular India, Deccan, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, East
and North East have been categorized in Acheulian culture.
B. THE MADRAS CULTURE: (LOWER PALAEOLITHIC)
• Father of Indian Pre-history Robert Bruce Foote had discovered hand axes
near Chennai and called it Madrasian culture. Presently the lower
palaeolithic sites of Peninsular India are collectively referred to as Madras
culture.

INDU
M A B
Climate: Experienced pluvial and interpluvial periods.

HI
• In South India there are abundant evidences of core culture. Core tool industry of
South India is known Madras Industry. Attirampakkam and Vadamadurai
are the two important sites in the Kortalayar valley of Madras.
Material culture:

• The most common and characteristic tool-type of Madras Industry’ is hand-axe. These
hand- axes are typically pear-shaped or oval, flaked on both faces to produce a continuous
cutting edge.

• Some pebble tools (Chopper-chopping) are also found in association with hand-axes.

DU
• In technique the Madras Industry is also known as ‘Abbevellio-Acheulean’.

IN
A B
• Hand-axe suggests tropical forest and woodland environment; it is widespread in the

M
HI
tropical peninsular area.

• Technologically, these tools are more evolved than the chopping tools as they show multi-
directional flaking and symmetry of form.

• Cleaver is often found associated with hand-axe in peninsular region. and denotes
Abbevellio-Acheulean tradition. (Oval or pear-shaped hand axes associated with early
humans, lasted longer than any other tradition)
• A cleaver usually suggests a tropical woodland environment where it is used for
cutting and shaping of wood and for skinning and flaying of animal carcass.

• Early man in India also made lighter and smaller tools on flake. At first the flakes
were detached and worked by a simple technique Clactonian (Clactonian =
Striking thick irregular flakes from a core of flint, used as a chopper, the flakes

DU
would have been used as crude knives or scrapers) and later on by a more refined

IN
B
technique of core preparation, Levalloisian.

HIM A
• As hand- axe became a characteristic core tool of peninsular India, chopper type
became an important element of northern Indian tool tradition. In Central India, a
fusion of technology (between two main traditions) has been observed.

• The characteristic flake tools are knife, point, scraper, awl, (LIKE POINT) etc.

• Quartzite has been used.

• However, the tools of Madras industry are also found in other places of India like the
valley of river Cauveri and Vaigai, in the West around Mumbai and North of the
Narmada, and further North-East as far as the upper reaches of the Son.

• In Vadamadurai, findings have been categorized into three groups –on the basis of
patination as well as typology.

INDU
A B
Ø The first group is the earliest group where the tools are heavily rolled and show the

M
I
signs of intensive patination. The core tools include hand-axe, cleaver etc. while the

H
flake tools comprise of scrapers, awl etc. These tools resemble the Abbevillian-
Acheulean tool types.

Ø The second group Most of the tools of this group are pear-shaped and ovate hand-axes.
An advancement of typology is indicated with the adoption of Levalloisian technique.
Ø The third group includes neatly worked hand-axes and cleavers. These tools
show little patination (Brown colored layer on rock with time due to oxidation). The
technology went towards more perfection. True Levalloisian flakes and cores
characterize this group.

DU
• The Gudiyam site (in Thiruvallur district, 60km from Chennai), first identified by

IN
B
Robert Bruce Foote also reveals early Paleolithic tools of Acheulean tradition. In a

IM A
similar way, the industry is divided into three phases—Phase-I, Phase-II and

H
Phase-III. Similar improvement of typology and technology has been recorded
from phase to phase. Basic tools are hand-axe, cleaver, point and awl. In 2011, a
team from Madras university claimed to have found 1.5 million years old microliths
from Gudiyam caves. If the dates are confirmed they will be the oldest microliths in
the world.
C. OTHER LOWER PALEOLITHIC SITES IN INDIA

Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh):

• Discovered by V.S. Wakankar (1957). It has more than 500 painted rock

U
shelters.

IND
• One of the largest Rock-shelters, III F-23 at Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh was

B
HI A
excavated by V.N. Misra between 1973 - 1976.

M
• It preserved 4 m thick cultural deposit containing Acheulian, Middle and
Upper Palaeolithic, and Mesolithic levels.
• The 2.5 m thick Acheulian level consisted of lower palaeolithic.
• This shelter yielded 8 layers of cultural deposits, out of which the bottom three
represent lower palaeolithic period.
• Lower Palaeolithic tools have also been found in the Belan valley in UP
• Chirki-Nevasa in Maharashtra has yielded as many as 2000 tools
• Nagarjunakonda in Andhra Pradesh is also an important site
• Certain stone industries from Kurnool in the Deccan and near Mumbai represent

U
a new type of tool tradition, based not on the massive flake but on the slender
blade detached from a core.

B IND
2. THE MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC CULTURE OF INDIA:

IM A
• It is the second subdivision of Palaeolithic culture, spans 100,000 BCE to 40,000

H
BCE. The Middle Palaeolithic sites are also found extensively at different regions of
India.
• Climate: This culture developed during the Upper Pleistocene geological period
which was characterised by intense cold and glaciations in the northern latitudes and
the areas bordering glaciated regions experienced strong aridity, which might have
affected the Middle Palaeolithic population.
• Material culture: Parth Chauhan (2006) suggests four features that distinguish
Middle Palaeolithic assemblages from the Lower Palaeolithic types:
Ø A decrease in size of the artefacts
Ø A noticeable shift from large Acheulian bifaces to smaller, specialized tools

U
Ø An increase in the prepared core technique. (Levalloisian / Mousterian)

IND
Ø A preference for fine grained raw material (such as chert, jasper, chalcedony,

B
A
flint, cryptocrystalline silica, and so forth).

HIM
• Some of the new types within Middle Palaeolithic toolkits are cores, discoids,
flakes, flake-scrapers, borers, awls, blades, and points.
• The Middle Palaeolithic tools are primarily made on flakes and blades and
comprised side scrapers of various types, end scrapers, denticulates, notches,
points and borers.
• In this stage, as compared to the preceding Acheulian phase, tools became smaller,
thinner and lighter.
• In terms of technology, improvements in the techniques of removing flakes from cores
such as Levallois and discoid core can be seen.
• Significant changes in the choice of raw material for making tools also occurred in this

IN U
period as the Middle Palaeolithic population started using fine-grained siliceous rocks

D
like chert and jasper, besides continuing with quartzite, quartz and basalt.

A B
• Social life: Hunting gathering economy, Burials found with implements at some sites

M
HI
indicate belief in life after death and some sort of rituals.
SITES: MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC ARTEFACTS HAVE BEEN
FOUND IN
1. Nevasa (Maharashtra): It was excavated by H.D.Sankalia (1956), near river
Pravara in Nevasa. Nevasian culture also includes the sites along river Godavari,
Soan & Krishna.
• Climate: The region experienced Pluvial and interpluvial phases.
Material culture:
• Nevasa has yielded several Levallois-bases flake tools prepared on Jasper. Leaf
shaped points and borers were found.
• The tools were made by direct hammer technique and retouching by pressure
flaking.

INDU
palaeolithic.
M A B
• The stones tools found were comparable to Mousterian tools of European middle

HI
• The stone tools found in Nevasa were typo-morphologically and technologically
distinct. This uniqueness compelled the earlier workers to attribute a formal name
to some distinct assemblages from the type-site of Nevasa, Maharashtra as the
‘Nevasian’ industry.
• However, later on, Sheila Mishra (1995) found the ‘Nevasian’ industry to be a
part of the Late Acheulian assemblages.
2. Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh):
• It has more than 500 painted rock shelters.
• One of the largest cave shelters, III F – 23 was excavated by V.N.Misra.
• This shelter yielded 8 layers of cultural deposits, out of which fifth layer from

DU
the top represents middle paleolithic period.

IN
M A B
• The material used was mostly quartzite.

HI
3. Luni valley (Rajasthan): Excavated by VN. Misra, it is different and richer in
tools than Nevasian industry. Contains convex, concavo- convex sidescrapers and
points of various types.

4. South India: In Karnool, Chittoor, Nalgonda, tools like in Bhimbetka, made of

quartzite were found.
• Around Didwana, and at Budha Pushkar, all in western Rajasthan; at numerous
sites in the valleys of the Belan; at Son and Narmada and their tributaries in central
India, in the Chota Nagpur plateau, the Deccan plateau and the Eastern Ghats.

3. UPPER PALAEOLITHIC CULTURE OF INDIA

INDU
• The Upper Palaeolithic culture developed during the later part of the Upper
Pleistocene.

M A B
HI
• Climate: Witnessed the last phases of glaciation and pluviation that
characterized the Pleistocene climate.
• Archaeological evidence of this period comes from the Belan and Son valleys in
the northern Vindhyas, Chota Nagpur plateau in Bihar, Upland Maharashtra,
Orissa and from the Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh.
Material culture:
• Upper Palaeolithic tool assemblages are essentially characterized by blade and
burin tools and show a marked regional diversity with respect to the refinement
of techniques and standardization of finished tool forms.
• The principal artefact forms are scrapers, flake-blades, blades and cores;

DU
backed blade, burins, unifacial, bifacial and tanged points and choppers.

IN
B
• The tools can be categorized as Aurignasian tools.

HIM A
• The various types of scrapers were probably used for wood and bamboo work.
Simple blades and backed blades could have been used as inserts for spear points,
arrow points, barbed fishhooks, slicer knives and daggers.
• Social life: Tools suggest Hunting gathering economy. First evidences of cave
art were that of upper palaeolithic culture. The cave paintings suggest some
sort of social organization. The shorter span of this phase suggests quicker
advancement to the next stage.
Regional diversity / Sites:
Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh)

• Discovered by V.S. Wakankar (1957).

• It has more than 500 painted rock shelters.

NDU
• One of the largest cave shelters, III F – 23 was excavated by V.N.Misra.

I
A B
• This shelter yielded 8 layers of cultural deposits, out of which fourth layer from

M
HI
the top represents upper paleolithic period.
• Belan valley (Uttar Pradesh): It was surveyed by G. R. Sharma. Along with
stone tools, an artificial stone structure called Shrine and a female figurine on
bone were found.
• Renigunta: It was excavated by M.L.K. Murthy. It is considered as the finest
Indian upper paleolithic site. A large variety of blades were found.
Ethnoarchaeological studies related to Upper Palaeolithic culture:
• On the basis of ethnoarchaeological research among the tribal populations of
central India and the Eastern Ghats on the food procurement technologies

U
and behaviour it can be argued that that prototype of traps, snares and nets

IND
must have been used during the Upper Palaeolithic period.

B
HI A
• Bored stones, similar to the Upper Palaeolithic ones, are being used by the

M
Yanadi (Andhra Pradesh) fishermen as net sinkers in riverine fishing and the
heavier ones are used by the Vada Balija (Andhra Pradesh) and other groups
for marine fishing. (Ethnoarchaeology, parallel)
II. MESOLITHIC CULTURE
The Mesolithic period coincides with the onset of milder, warmer climatic
conditions with the commencement of the Holocene Period (10,000 BC). It

DU
also affected the flora (vegetation) and fauna (animals).

IN
A B
Man reacted positively to these changes for his survival. This resulted in

M
HI
v Modification of his tool equipment and
v Modification of his living pattern.
 INDU
M A B
HI
 INDU
M A B
HI
 INDU
M A B
HI
• Till recently the very existence of the Mesolithic culture in India was in doubt because of the
paucity of stratified evidence. But the discoveries in Belan valley, Chittor district,
Shorapur doab in Karnataka, Rajasthan and Gujarat has provided enough gleanings to
reconstruct Mesolithic evidence in India.

• Depending on the evidence from different sites, Mesolithic culture can be divided into four
distinct phases.

INDU
1. Non-geometric tools (epi-palaeolithic) 12,000-8,000 BC.

M A B
2. Geometric pre-pottery stage (Early Mesolithic-I) 8,000-2,000 BC.

HI
3. Geometric tools with pottery (early Mesolithic-II) 5,000-1,500 BC;

4. smaller microliths with precision (Advanced Mesolithic or Proto- Neolithic) 2,000-1,000

BC.

• The above division is based on the sequence observed primarily at Chopani Mando and
attested at other places.
THE TOOLS:
• The stone tools prepared in Mesolithic period are very small and hence known as
‘microliths’ meaning ‘tiny stones’. Some of the forms which could be identified amongst
these tools are the blades, points, lunates, trapezes, scrapers, arrowheads, geometric and
non-geometric tools. For the production of these tools fine-grained material like chert

U
chalcedony, agate, jasper, etc was utilized. Often these microliths were used as

IND
combination tools by fixing several of them in curved wood or bone or to produce a

B
A
barbed arrowhead.

HIM
Life and subsistence pattern:

• Hunting and gathering vegetable foods are the two main occupations of the Mesolithic
people.
• More and more dependence on the vegetal food was probably one of the reasons behind
forcing the human communities to have fixed settlements from Mesolithic period onwards.
• In this connection the example of Mahadaha in the Ganga valley is worth
mentioning. Here it was noticed that very large number of quern, muller, anvil,
hammer, etc. have been found which indicate that the people exploited fully the vegetal
products.
• The microlithic tools like blades and scrapers are well suited for processing

U
vegetables.

B IND
• The presence of hearths in the habitations point to consumption of roasted food. The
evidence points out that man depended more on vegetal food rather than on animal
meat.

Hunting methods:
HIM A
• The use of composite tools revolutionized hunting, fishing and food gathering. The
Mesolithic paintings at Bhimbetka throw interesting light on the contemporary
hunting practices and the kinds of weapons used in hunting.
• The bow and arrow, barbed spears and sticks were used in hunting.
• Ring stones were used as stone clubs.
• Masks in the form of animal heads such as of rhinoceros, bull, deer and monkey
were used as disguises to deceive the game.
• In one of the scenes animals are shown falling down a cliff. Probably animals were
driven down a cliff and done to death.

DU
• The paintings show men carrying dead animals suspended on a wooden bar.

IN
A B
• Domestication of animals: Bones of domesticated animals like cattle, sheep and goat

M
I
have been reported from almost all the excavated sites of the Mesolithic settlements.

H
Indicating pastoralism.
• Agriculture: The full-fledged agricultural activity witnessed in Neolithic period must
have had its roots in the Mesolithic period itself. It can be considered as incipient
stage of food production. The storage pits of this period probably indicate some
incipient form of agriculture. Seeds of wild variety of rice have been found embedded
in the lumps of burnt clay at Chopani Mando.
Structural activity:

• Evidence of structural activity in the form of huts, paved floor or wind screens come from a
number of Mesolithic sites.
• The houses were roughly circular or oval on plan with postholes around them. Some
hutments had stone paved floors. Paved floors and wattle have been noticed at Bagor.

DU
• The Mesolithic folk at Bhimbetka too made floors with flat stone slabs.

IN
Pottery:

M A B
HI
• Pottery has been reported from a number of excavated sites like Langhnaj, Bagor,
Nagarjunakonda, Chopani Mando, etc.
• Pottery came to be associated with the Mesolithic culture after the introduction of geometric
tools.
• Pottery was wholly hand-made and usually coarse grained with incised and impressed
designs rarely.
• Clothing and ornaments: The human figures in the rock shelter paintings are shown
wearing a loin cloth. Some of the figures are elaborately decorated with ornaments,
headgear, feathers and waistbands, shell, ivory and bone beads also are evident
from sites.

IN U
• Recreation: Mesolithic man in rejoicing moods is to be seen in the paintings at

D
Bhimbetka. Some of the dances may be of ritual significance. The musical

A B
instruments depicted are the blowpipes and horns.

M
HI
• Burials and spiritual practices: The spiritual side of the Mesolithic man is very well
represented by a rock-painting of a family mourning the death of a child at Bhimbetka.
• The dead were very carefully buried.
• At Langhnaj human skeletons were associated with quartzite pebbles which are
not locally available. These were probably brought from the bed of Sabarmati 15 to
20 kms away.
• Mesolithic burials have been excavated at Dorthy Dweep and Jambudweep Rock
shelters in the Mahadeva hills in MP. Langhnaj, Baghai Khor and Lekhahia in the
Mirzapur dt. UP and Sarai nihar Rai and Mahadaha UP.
• The evidence from different sites indicates that four types of burials were prevalent.
Ø Extended burial (lying flat, arms and legs stretched)
Ø Flexed (folded) burial

INDU
B
Ø Fractional burial (a burial in which only part as the head) of a body is interred.)

Ø Double Burials.

HIM A
• Multiple burials were witnessed at Sarai Nihar Rai and Mahadaha. Mesolithic people
interred objects like microliths, animal bones and beads along with the dead. Probably the
double burials indicate the development of family units, consisting of male and female. In
that case family set-up is one of the most important contributions of the Mesolithic period
to the modern world.
• Aesthetic activities: The Mesolithic folk had left behind good evidence of their
artistic pursuits in the form of painted rock-shelters. Such rock paintings were
noticed in the Mirzapur district UP. And at Bhimbetka near Hoshangabad in
MP. The paintings deal primarily with animals which are shown standing,
moving, running, grazing, etc. The paintings are generally executed in red
ochre but sometimes bluish green, yellow or white color also have been used.

INDU
M A B
HI
Name of Location Characteristics Excavated by
Mesolithic
Sites
Bagor Rajasthan It had a microlithic industry. Thousands V.N. Misra
of microliths found. They are considered (1967)

NDU
smallest across Indian sites. Other

I
M A B
features include stone paved habitaional

I
floors, human burials and bones of wild

H animals. Its people lived on hunting and

pastoralism.
Adamgarh Madhya Pradesh It shows the earliest evidence for the
domestication of animals.
Bhimbetka Madhya Pradesh It has more than 500 painted rock shelters. Discovered by
This shelter yielded 8 cultural formations, V.S. Wakankar
out of which first 3 belong to Mesolithic (1957)
period. Rich geometric microlith industry is One of the
present.

U
largest cave

B IND shelters, III F –

A
23 was

Langhnaj
H
Gujarat
IM excavated by
V.N.Misra.
• Shows presence of geometric microliths. H.D. Sankalia
• Human skeletons found buried in (1944-63)
crouching position indicate some ritual
& the earliest evidence of burial of the
dead.
 • Presence of wild and domestic animal
bones indicate some degree of
pastoralism
• Tools include geometric microliths like
lunates, Trapezes and some other types

DU
of blades.

IN
M A B
I
Mohrana Mirzapur, Uttar Provides the earliest evidence of burial.
Pahara
H
Pradesh

Teri Tamil Nadu It is a group of 11 sites of microlithic

clusters, especially in the tradition of
bifacially pressure flaked points.
Sarai Nahar Uttar Pradesh • Dated around 8000 BCE. Oldest
Rai Mesolithic site.
Important findings:
• Living floor with hearths

U
• Human burials in specific posture

IND
with one skeleton having microliths

B
A
pierced in a bone suggesting war

HIM between groups.

• Domesticated animal bones were
found.
13. Elucidate Mesolithic culture and associated rock art with examples from India
(15M, 2019)
14. Examine the regional variations of Mesolithic cultures of India. (20M, 2018)
15. Discuss salient features of Mesolithic culture in India with special reference
to western India. (10M,2013)

16. What stage is known as incipient stage of food production? Point out major
cultural features of this cultural stage. Illustrate your answer with suitable
examples from specific area in the world.

INDU
B
III. NEOLITHIC CULTURE

HIM A
17. Discuss the characteristic features of ‘Neolithic culture’ in India. (15M,2020)

18. Distribution of Neolithic sites in India (10M,2019)

19. Give an account of the consequences of food production in Neolithic cultures

(15M, 2018)
20. Neolithic Cultures of India. (10M,2016)
21. Describe the Neolithic culture of India. (15M,2014)
22. Neolithic cultures of N-E India(10M,2014)
23. Which stage of prehistoric culture is known as the cultural revolution? Why?
(2010)

INDU
24. Discuss the characteristic features of “Neolithic culture” in India (2020,15M)

M A B
• The term Neolithic refers to the last stage of the Stone Age. The period is significant

HI
for its megalithic architecture, spread of agricultural practices, and use of polished
stone tools. Agricultural economies developed while hunting and gathering activities
were reduced.
A Revolution?
• In order to reflect the deep impact that agriculture had over the human population,
an Gordon Childe popularized the term “Neolithic Revolution” in the 1940s CE.
• However, today, it is believed that the impact of agricultural
innovation was exaggerated in the past: the development of Neolithic
culture appears to have been a gradual rather than a sudden change.
Moreover, before agriculture was established, archaeological evidence

INDU
has shown that there is usually a period of semi-nomadic life,
Agriculture and foraging are not totally incompatible ways of life.

A B
This means that a group could perform hunter-gatherer activities for
M
HI
part of the year and some farming during the rest, perhaps on a small
scale. Rather than a revolution, the archaeological record suggests that
the adoption of agriculture is the result of small and gradual changes.
 INDU
M A B
HI
 INDU
M A B
HI
 INDU
M A B
HI
Origin of Neolithic Age
• The Neolithic Age started in 9,000 B.C. in world context but in Indian context it
was varying from 7,000 B.C. to 1,000 B.C. In South India, the Neolithic
settlements are generally considered to be around 2,500 B.C. old while the
Neolithic sites discovered on the northern spurs of the Vindhyas are not older than
5,000 B.C. Some Neolithic sites found in parts of Eastern India and South India
are only 1,000 B.C. old.

INDU
• Characteristics of Neolithic Age

M A B
HI
• The Neolithic Age saw the man turning into food producer from food gatherer. It
also witnessed the use of pottery for the first time. People used microlithic blades
in addition to tools made of polished stone. The use of metal was unknown.
1. Agriculture: The people of Neolithic Age cultivated ragi, horse gram, cotton,
rice, wheat, and barley and hence were termed as food producers. They
domesticated cattle, sheep, and goats.
2. Tools: The people used microlithic blades in addition to tools made of polished
stones. They used stone hoes and digging sticks for digging the ground. The ring
stones of 1-1/2 kg of weight were fixed at the ends of these digging sticks. They also
used tools and weapons made of bone; found in Burzahom (Kashmir) and Chirand
(Bihar).

INDU
3. Weapons: The people primarily used axes as weapons. The North-western part of
Neolithic settlement used rectangular axes having curved cutting edge. The

A B
Southern part used axes with oval sides and pointed butt while polished stone axes

M
I
with rectangular butt and shouldered hoes were use in the north-eastern part.

H
4. Housing: The people of Neolithic Age lived in rectangular or circular houses
which were made of mud and reed. The people of Mehrgarh lived in mud-brick
houses while pit-dwelling is reported from Burzahom, the Neolithic site found in
Kashmir.
5. Pottery: With the advent of Agriculture, people were required to store their food grains
as well as to do cooking, arrange for drinking water, and eating the finished product.
That’s why pottery first appeared in the Neolithic Age. The pottery of the period was
classified under grey ware, black-burnished ware, and mat-impressed ware.
6. Architecture: The Neolithic Age is significant for its Megalithic Architecture.

INDU
7. Technology: In the initial stage of the Neolithic Age, hand-made pottery was made but
later on the foot-wheels were used to make pots.

M A B
I
8. Community Life: Neolithic people had common right over property. They led a settled
life.
H
9. Geographical Location of Neolithic people
• The Neolithic people did not live far away from the hilly areas. They habited mainly the
hilly river valleys, rock shelters, and the slopes of the hills since they were entirely
dependent on weapons and tools made from stone.
List of Neolithic sites, their locations, and characteristics :
Name of Location Time Span Characteristics
Neolithic Site
Mehrgarh Baluchistan, 7,000 B.C. • Excavated by Jarrige (1974-86)

U
Pakistan • Produced cotton and wheat and lived in

B IND mud-brick houses. Evidences of wheat,

barley cultivation and cattle rearing

HIM A marks one of the oldest farming and

herding.
• Wheel made pottery and trade make
Mehrgarh a precursor to the Indus
valley civilization.
Burzahom (the Kashmir 2,700 B.C. • Excavated by archeological survey of
place of birch) India (1960-71).
• The people lived on a lake side in pits.
• A variety of celts (Axe or Adze like tool)
and bone tools were found, along with

U
handmade coarse pottery.

B IND • Domestic dogs were buried along with

their masters in their graves.

HIM A • Used tools and weapons made of

polished stone as well as bone.

Gufkral Kashmir 2,000 B.C. • Practiced both agriculture &

domestication of animals.
• Used tools and weapons made of
polished stone as well as bone.
Chirand Bihar 2,000 B.C. • Used tools and weapons made of
bone and antlers found.
• Chirand is also noted for terracotta
objects, especially snake figurines
that represents some serpent related

U
rituals.
Pikilihal,
B IND
Karnataka 2,000 B.C. to • Shows a mixture of Neolithic and
Brahmagiri, Maski,

H
Hallur, Takkalakota,
I
T. Narsipur, Kodekal,M A
1,000 B.C.
•
chalcolithic traits.
The people in Piklihal were cattle-
herders. They domesticated sheep,
Sanganakallu goats, and cattle.
• Ash mounds (Burnt heaps of cow
dung) have been found, indicating
some unique ritual.
Paiyampalli Tamil Nadu
2,000-1,000 B.C.
Utnur Andhra Pradesh
2,000-1,000 B.C.
Daojali Hading Assam • Excavated by T. C. Sharma.

DU
• Daojali Hading revealed a 45 cm thick

IN
B
occupational deposit.

HIM A
• The site has yielded neolithic stone and fossil
wood axes, adzes, hoes, chisels, grinding
slabs, querns, mullers, hand made grey to dull
red cord marked pottery as well as dull red
stamped pottery and plain red pottery.
• No domesticated cereals have been recovered
but the presence of mullers and querns
establishes the practice of agricultural
activity.
• Considerable progress
was made in Neolithic
Age in terms of
technology. The people
developed the practices
of cultivation,
domestication of

INDU
animals, building

M
houses, pottery, weaving,
A B
and writing. This
HI
revolutionized man’s life
and paved the way for
the beginning of
civilization.
 INDU
M A B
HI
Neolithic chisel Modern chisel
• The End of the Neolithic

• Towards the end of the Neolithic era, copper metallurgy is introduced, which marks a
transition period to the Bronze Age, sometimes referred to as the Chalcolithic or
Eneolithic Era. Bronze is a mixture of copper and tin, which has a greater hardness
than copper, better casting properties, and a lower melting point. Bronze could be

DU
used for making weapons, something that was not possible with copper, which is not

IN
B
hard enough to endure combat conditions. In time, bronze became the primary

HI A
material for tools and weapons, and a good part of the stone technology became

M
obsolete, signalling the end of the Neolithic and thus, of the Stone Age.
REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF NEOLITHIC CULTURES

1. Northwest India: Mehrgarh, Kili Gul Muhammad, Rana Ghundai, Rehman

Dheri, Hakra ware sites

2. North India: Burzahom, Gufkral

3. Central India & mid-Gangetic basin: Koldihawa, Chirand, Lahuradeva

4. Eastern India: Kuchai, Golbai Sasan, Pandu Rajar Dhibi

5. North Eastern India: Daojali Hading

U
6. South India: Sangankallu, Piklihal

IV. CHALCOLITHIC OR COPPER AGE CULTURE

B IND
IM A
25. Delineate the salient features of Chalcoloithic cultures (20M, 2016)

H
• The term Chalcolithic is a combination of two words- Chalco+Lithic was derived from
the Greek words "khalkos" + "líthos" which means "copper" and "stone" or Copper Age.
It is also known as the Eneolithic or Aeneolithic (from Latin aeneus "of copper") is an
archaeological period that is usually considered to be part of the broader Neolithic
(although it was originally defined as a transition between the Neolithic and the Bronze
Age). It spans around 4500 to 1000 BCE in the Indian context.
Chalcolithic Culture Sites of Chalcolithic Culture
1. Ahara - Banas Culture • Aahar (Rajasthan), balathal, Gilund etc.
• Settlements of Ahar culture were larger than the
settlements of kayatha culture.
• The distinctive feature is black and red ware. Pottery is

NDU
characterized by black and redware, painted in white on

I
M A B
exterior.
2. Kayatha Culture
HI • Located in Rajasthan near Chambal and its tributaries.
• The sturdy red slipped ware with chocolate coloured
designs is main feature.
• Red painted buff ware, and a combed ware bearing
incised patterns were found.
3. Malwa Culture • Sites are located near Narmada & its tributaries in
Gujarat. One of the largest Chalcolithic settlements.
Characterized by orange slipped pottery painted black or
dark brown.

DU
• The three best known settlements of Malwa culture are

IN
B
at Navdatoli, Eran, and Nagada.

HI A
• Navdatoli was one of the largest Chalcolithic settlements

Min the country. It was spread in almost 10 hectares. Some

of these sites were fortified.
• Eran had a fortification wall with a moat.
• Nagada had a bastion of mud-bricks.

4. Svalda Culture • Dhulia district of Maharashtra.

5. Jorwe culture • More than 200 settlements of Jorwe culture are known.
Greater number of these settlements are found in
Maharashtra.
• The best known settlements of Jorwe culture
are Prakash, Daimabad, and Inamgaon. Daimabad was

U
the largest one that measured almost 20 hectares.

B IND
• The pottery is called Lustrous Red Ware because of their
glossy surface.
6. Prabhas & Rangpur
Culture
HIM A
• Very few not more than half dozen settlements
of Prabhas culture are known.
• The settlements of Rangpur culture are located mostly
on Ghelo and Kalubhar rivers in Gujarat.
• Both of them are derived from the Harappa culture. The
polished red ware is the hall mark of this culture. The
pottery is called Lustrous Red Ware because of their
glossy surface.
Chronology of Chalcolithic Settlement

• The first metal age of India is called Chalcolithic Age which saw the use of
copper along with stone. It was also called Stone-Copper Age. Along with the
use of copper and stone these people also used low grade bronze to make tools
and weapons.

INDU
M A B
• Chronologically, there are several settlements. Some are Pre-Harappan or early

I
Harappan (Kalibangan in Rajasthan and Bhanawali in Haryana) and some are

H
Harappan and Post-Harappan.
• The Chalcolithic culture mainly had farming communities and they existed
between 2000 BC and 700 BC. In India it was mainly found in South-Eastern
Rajasthan, Western part of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, and in South and
East India.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CHALCOLITHIC AGE

• Main occupations were hunting, fishing and farming.

1. Agriculture and Animals

I
was one of the important occupations
N U
• People of Chalcolithic Age survived on hunting, fishing, and farming. Hunting

D
A B
• Animals such as sheep, buffalo, goat, cattle, and pig were reared and killed for

M
food
HI
• Remains of camels are also found. People ate beef but no traces of eating pork
are found
• People of Navdatoli grew ber ( Plum) and linseed
• Cotton was produced in black cotton soil
• Traces of rice cultivation are also found. This shows that their food included fish
and rice. Eastern India produced rice and Western India produced barley. The
major crops cultivated were barley and wheat, lentil, bajra, jowar, ragi millets,
green pea, green and black gram.
2. Tools and Weapons

NDU
• Metals such as copper and its alloys were used to make knives, axes, fishing

I
hooks, chisels, pins, and rods

M A B
3. Houses

HI
• Use of bricks was extensive during the Chalcolithic people of Harappa but there
are no traces of burnt (baked) bricks.
• The planning of the houses was simple which was either rectangular or circular.
• The walls of houses were made from mud and plastered with cow dung and lime.
• The houses mostly had only one room, but sometimes multi-roomed houses were
also seen.
• For influential people, large mud houses with 5 rooms, 4 rectangular and 1
circular in centre of the settlement are found.

U
• In Inamgaon, ovens and circular pit houses are found.
4. Pottery

B IND
HI A
• Different types of potteries were used by the people of the Chalcolithic phase. The

M
Black-and-Red pottery among them was quite common. The Ochre-Coloured
Pottery (Made of clay, porcelain etc, gave ochre colour on hands of
archaeologists) was also in use.
5. Burials
• People buried the dead in the floors of their houses in the North-South direction
along with pots and copper objects.
• In Nevasa, children were buried with necklaces around their necks or with pottery of
copper. These children were mainly from affluent families.
• In Kayatha region; bodies were found with 29 bangles and 2 unique axes.

6. Art and Craft

NDU
• The specialty of the Chalcolithic culture was wheel made pottery mostly of red and
I
orange colour.

M A B
HI
• Pottery was painted in linear designs, mainly in black pigment and was decorated
with different shapes.
• Designs of flowers, vegetation, animals, and birds were used.
• The Black-and-Red pottery came into existence for the first time.
• People from Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Bihar produced channel-spouted
pots, dish-on-stands, and bowls-on-stand.
• The people of Chalcolithic Age were expert coppersmiths, ivory carvers, lime
makers, and terracotta artisans.
• Ornaments were made from semiprecious stones and beads such as agate, jasper,
chalcedony, and carnelian were used.

U
• People had knowledge of spinning and weaving. Flax, cotton, and silk thread is
found from sites in Maharashtra

B IND
A
ØImportance of Chalcolithic Phase :

HIM
• They knew the art of smelting.
• They used painted pottery for the first time. Mostly all used black and red, wheel
turned pots. These pots were used for cooking, storing, drinking, and eating.
• Use of lota and thali is seen.
• Chalcolithic people were colonizers.
• In Peninsular India there were large villages and a large amount of cereal cultivation
is known/seen.
• They grew wheat, barley, lentils, and rice.
• Fish and rice were the important foods.

NDU
• People from Kayatha, Inamgaon, and Eran were well-off while the people from

I
M A B
Chirand and Pandu Rajar Dhibi were poor.

HI
• In Maharashtra, the dead were buried in north-south direction while in South India in
the east-west direction.

ØLimitations of Chalcolithioc Phase

• Chalcolithic people could not make full use of domestic animals as they used them
only for food and not for milk (they thought that milk is for animals’ young ones).
• They did not do much of cultivation. They lived in black cotton soil area which
required iron tools for cultivation and there are no traces of plough or hoe.
• Chalcolithc phase did not show longevity. There are traces of a large number of
children buried which indicate lack of nutrition and outbreak of epidemics.

IN U
• People had no knowledge of mixing two metals so they could not use the stronger

D
metal bronze nicely. Copper had its own limitations and its supply was also less.

A B
ØChalcolithic Sites in Indian Sub-Continent:

M
HI
1. Indus Region: Mohenjodaro, Harappa, Ropar, uratgarh, Hanumangarh,
Channudaro, Jhukar, Amri, Jhangar

2. Ganges Region: Kausambi, Alamgirpur

3. Brahmaputra Region
4. Mahanadi Region

5. Chambal Region: Pseva, Nagda, Paramar kheri, Tungini, Metwa, Takraoda, Bhilsuri,
Maori, Ghanta Bilaod, Betwa, Bilawati, Ashta

6. Saurashtra Region: Rangpur, Ahar, Prashas Patan, Lakhabawal, Lothal, Pithadia, Rojdi,
Adkot,

INDU
A B
7. Narmada Region: Navdatoli, Maheshwar, Bhagatrav, Telod, Mehgam, Hasanpur

M
HI
8. Tapi Region: Prakash, Bahal

9. Godavari-Pravara Region: Jware, Nasik, Kopergaon, Nivasa, Daimabad

10. Bhima Region: Karegaon, Chandoli, Umbraj, Chanegaon, Anacji, Hingni, Nagarhalli

11. Karnataka Region: Brahmagiri, Piklithal, Maski

1.1.2. PROTOHISTORY, INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION (PRE
HARAPPAN, HARAPPAN AND POST HARAPPAN CULTURES)
Indus Valley Sites
• There were many sites discovered and are still being discovered. We will look

DU
only at some of the important sites of IVC

IN
Year Site

M A
Location
B Excavated by Major findings

HI Montgomer
y District of
Daya Ram
• Sandstone statues of
Human anatomy
1921 Harappa Punjab in • Bullock carts
Sahini
the banks • Granaries
of Ravi • Coffin burials
 • Great bath
Larkana • Granary
District Of • Bronze dancing girl
Mohenjo-
1922 Sind on the R. D Banerjee • Seal of Pasupathi
Daro
bank of
Indus
INDU Mahadeva
Steatite statue of beard man

B
•

1929 HIM
Sutkagendor
A
Baluchistan
on Dast Stein
•

•
Bronze buffalo

Trade point between

Harappa and Babylon
river
• Bead makers shop
Sind on the
1931 Chanhudaro N G Majumdar • Footprint of a dog chasing
Indus river
a cat
 On the bank
1935 Amri of Indus N G Majumdar • Antelope evidence
river
Rajasthan

U
Fire alter

D
•
on the bank
1953 Kalibangan
of Ghaggar

A B IN
Ghose • Camel bones
Furrowed land

M
•
river

HI Gujarat on
Bhogva
•

•
First manmade port
Dockyard
1953 Lothal river near R. Rao • Rice husk
Gulf of • Fire alters
Cambay • Chess playing
 • Bones of horses
1964 Surkotada Gujarat J P Joshi
• beads

Hissar

INDU • Bones of horses

B
1974 Banawali district of R S Bisht • Beads

HIM
Haryana

Gujarat in
A • Barley

• Exclusive water
1985 Dholavira Rann of R S Bisht
management
Kutchchh
HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION:
• Pre-Harappan – Mehrgarh : Mehrgarh is a Neolithic (7000 BCE to c.
2500 BCE) site to the west of the Indus River valley.

• "the earliest evidence of cattle herding in south Asia comes from the Indus River

NDU
Valley site of Mehrgarh and is dated to 7,000 YBP."

I
A B
• while there is a strong continuity between the neolithic and chalcolithic (Copper

M
I
Age) cultures of Mehrgarh, dental evidence shows that the chalcolithic

H
population did not descend from the neolithic population of Mehrgarh.

EARLY HARAPPAN
• The Early Harappan Ravi Phase, named after the nearby Ravi River, lasted
from c. 3300 BCE until 2800 BCE.
• The beginning of Indus valley Civilization (3300-1700 B.C) or
Harappan Culture coincided with the Bronze Age around 3300 B.C.
The Bronze Age literally referred to the times when most advanced metal

U
working used Bronze (an alloy of tin and copper).

ND
• By this time, villagers had domesticated numerous crops, including peas,

B I
A
sesame seeds, dates, and cotton, as well as animals, including the water
buffalo.

HIM
• Early Harappan communities turned to large urban centres by 2600 BCE,
from where the mature Harappan phase started. The latest research shows
that Indus Valley people migrated from villages to cities.
MATURE HARAPPAN (2600BCE – 1900BCE):
• According to Giosan et al. (2012), the slow southward migration of the monsoons
across Asia initially allowed the Indus Valley villages to develop by taming the
floods of the Indus and its tributaries. Flood-supported farming led to large

DU
agricultural surpluses, which in turn supported the development of cities.

IN
B
• Brooke further notes that the development of advanced cities coincides with a

centers.
HI A
reduction in rainfall, which may have triggered a reorganisation into larger urban

M
• Urban centres include Harappa, Ganeriwala, Mohenjo-daro in modern-day
Pakistan, and Dholavira, Kalibangan, Rakhigarhi, Rupar, and Lothal in
modern-day India.
• In total, more than 1,052 cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the
general region of the Indus Rivers and their tributaries.
2a. Critically discuss the origin of Indus valley civilization. Mention the
evidences of its endogenous origin from the pre Harappan sites

The puzzle regarding the origin of IVC largely solved after the extensive excavation
work conducted at Mehrgarh near the Bolan Pass between 1973 and 1980 by two

U
French archaeologists Richard H. Meadow and Jean Francoise Jarrige.

B IND
According to them, Mehrgarh gives us an archaeological record of a gradual

IM A
development of the four phases, pre-Harappan, early Harappan, mature Harappan

H
and late Harappan phases or stages.

The different stages of the indigenous evolution of the Indus can be documented by
an analysis of four sites which reflect the sequence of the four important stages or
phases of the Indus valley civilisation.
• The sequence begins with the transition of nomadic herdsmen to settled agricultural
communities as per the evidence found at the first site i.e. Mehrgarh near the
Bolan Pass.
• It continues with the growth of large villages and the rise of towns in the second
stage exemplified at Amri. The Amri people did not possess any knowledge of
town-planning or of writing.

INDU
• The third stage in the sequence leads to the emergence of the great cities as in
Kalibangan and

M A B
I
• finally ends with their decline, which is the fourth stage and exemplified by Lothal.
Conclusion:
H
Thus, the available evidence suggests that the Harappan culture had its origin in the
Indus valley. And even within the Indus valley, several cultures seem to have
contributed to evolve the urban civilisation. It is thus difficult to accept Sir Mortimer
Wheeler’s assumption that “the idea of civilization came to the Indus valley from
Mesopotamia”.
Features of Harappan civilization:
Ø Indus valley civilization is also called Harappan Civilization as Harappa was
first site discovered.

INDU
B
Ø IVC is also called Bronze Age Civilization as Bronze was the most prominent
metal used.

HIM A
Ø Harappa was discovered by excavator “Dayaram Sahni” in 1921
Ø 2nd site discovered was Mohenjo-Daro, by “RD Banerjee” in 1922

Ø The excavation was led by Sir John Hubert Marshall.

Agriculture and Domestication:

INDU
Main food crop/staple food crop: Wheat and Barley

B
•

•
HIM A
Rice husk found in Lothal and Rangpur which proves growth of Rice as well

First people in the world to grow cotton

• Sheep, goats, buffaloes, oxen, dogs were domesticated

• No remains of Cow and lion were found.

Cities (Town planning):
• The quality of municipal town planning suggests the knowledge of urban
planning and efficient municipal governments which placed a high priority on
hygiene.
• This urban plan included the world's first known urban sanitation systems

INDU
• Within the city, individual homes or groups of homes obtained water from wells.

A B
From a room that appears to have been set aside for bathing, waste water

M
HI
was directed to underground covered drains with manholes.
• The advanced architecture of the Harappans is shown by their impressive
dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms, and protective walls. The
massive walls of Indus cities most likely protected the Harappans from floods
and may have dissuaded military conflicts.
• In sharp contrast to this civilisation's contemporaries, Mesopotamia and
ancient Egypt, no large monumental structures were built. There is no
conclusive evidence of palaces or temples—or of kings, armies, or priests.
• Most city dwellers appear to have been traders or artisans
• Materials from distant regions were used in the cities for constructing seals,
beads and other objects.

INDU
B
• Among the artefacts discovered were beautiful glazed beads.

HI A
• Seals have images of animals, people (perhaps gods), and other types of

M
inscriptions, including the yet un-deciphered writing system of the Indus
Valley Civilisation.
• Some of the seals were used to stamp clay on trade goods and most probably
had other uses as well.
• At the western end of the site is an area known as the Citadel. This area of the
city was built on top of a mound of bricks almost 12 metres high. A large
staircase ran up the side of this mound.
 INDU
M A B
HI
• Several large public buildings and structures like Great bath (Enormous, well-
built bath), Granary and assembly halls on the Citadel mound suggest that this
area may have been used for public gatherings, religious activities or
important administrative activities. Small buildings which were probably homes

U
do exist on the Citadel mound, however, they are not common.

IND
• Most of the houses were located in the lower town. Arrangement of the houses

B
followed a grid system.

HIM A
• Lamp posts at regular intervals indicate street lighting.
• houses were 1 to 2 storied, made of burnt bricks, size of brick was in ratio 1:2:4
• Although some houses were larger than others, Indus Civilisation cities were
remarkable for their apparent egalitarianism.
• All the houses had access to water and drainage facilities. This gives the
impression of a society with relatively low wealth concentration.
• Toilets that used water were used in the Indus Valley Civilisation.

• The cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro had a bathroom and flush toilet in

DU
almost every house, attached to a sophisticated sewage system.

IN
A B
• Main roads were in North-south Direction while the alleys were in the East-west

M
direction.
HI
• Doors opened in alleys and not on the mainroads.

• The town planning in IVC was much ahead of its times.

Authority and governance:

• Given the similarity in artefacts, the evidence for planned settlements, the
standardised ratio of brick size, and the establishment of settlements near sources
of raw material suggests effective governance.

INDU
There was no single ruler but several cities like Mohenjo-daro had a separate ruler.

B
•

Technology:
HIM A
Harappan society had no stern rulers, and everybody enjoyed equal status.

• The people of the Indus Civilisation achieved great accuracy in measuring

length, mass, and time. They were among the first to develop a system of
uniform weights and measures.
 • A comparison of available objects
indicates large scale variation across
the Indus territories. Their smallest
division, which is marked on an ivory
scale found in Lothal in Gujarat,

U
was approximately 1.704 mm, the

B IND
smallest division ever recorded on a
scale of the Bronze Age.

HIM A • Harappan engineers followed the

decimal division of measurement for
all practical purposes, including the
measurement of mass as revealed by
their hexahedron weights.
• Harappans evolved some new
techniques in metallurgy and
produced copper, bronze, lead, and
tin.
• The engineering skill of the Harappans was remarkable, especially in building docks.
• In 2001, archaeologists studying the remains of two men from Mehrgarh, Pakistan,
discovered that the people of the Indus Valley Civilisation, from the early Harappan
periods, had knowledge of proto-dentistry. Later, in April 2006, it was announced in the
scientific journal Nature that the oldest (and first early Neolithic) evidence for the drilling

DU
of human teeth in vivo (i.e., in a living person) was found in Mehrgarh.

IN
M A B
• Eleven drilled molar crowns from nine adults were discovered in a Neolithic graveyard in

I
Mehrgarh that dates from 7,500–9,000 years ago. According to the authors, their

H
discoveries point to a tradition of proto-dentistry in the early farming cultures of that
region.
• A touchstone bearing gold streaks was found in Banawali, which was probably used for
testing the purity of gold (such a technique is still used in some parts of India).
Arts and crafts:

• Various sculptures, seals, bronze vessels pottery, gold jewelry, and

anatomically detailed figurines in terracotta, bronze, and steatite have been
found at excavation sites.

IN
reveal the presence of some dance form.U
• A number of gold, terracotta and stone figurines of girls in dancing poses

D
M A B
• The terracotta figurines: Made by fire baked clay included cows, bears,

HI
monkeys, and dogs. The animal depicted on a majority of seals at sites of the
mature period has not been clearly identified. Mother goddess figurines have
been recorded from various sites. Terracotta female figurines were found (ca.
2800–2600 BCE) which had red colour applied to the "manga" (line of
partition of the hair).
Unicorn seal: Part bull,
part zebra, with a
majestic horn, it has been
a source of speculation.
INDU
The prevalence of the

M A B
I
image raises the question

H
of whether or not the
animal in image is a
religious symbol.
Pottery in IVC : Very fine, wheel

INDU
B
made pottery were found. Plain pots
made of red clay and painted black

HIM
and redware were the two notable
types.
A
Dancing girl in Mohenjo-
Daro:
Sir John Marshall
reacted with surprise
when he saw the famous
Indus bronze statuette of
a slender-limbed dancing
INDU
girl in Mohenjo-Daro,

M A B
I
"When I first saw them I

H
found it difficult to believe
that they were prehistoric”.
In the statuette, the girl is
wearing several bangles
and necklace and is in
tribangha posture.
 Stone statuettes: Priest

IN U
king Statuette made of

D
steatite depicting a bearded

M A B man with half closed eyes,

I
draped in a shawl coming

H under the right arm and

covering the left shoulder,
and a male torso made of
red stone.
• Many crafts including, "shell working, ceramics, and agate and glazed steatite
bead making" were practiced and the pieces were used in the making of
necklaces, bangles, and other ornaments from all phases of Harappan culture.
• Some of these crafts are still practiced in the subcontinent today. Some make-up

DU
and toiletry items, a special kind of combs (kakai), the use of collyrium ( Eye

IN
B
shadow) and a special three-in-one toiletry gadget that were found in

HI A
Harappan contexts still have similar counterparts in modern India.

M
• Seals have been found at Mohenjo-daro depicting a figure standing on its
head, and another sitting cross-legged in what some call a yoga-like pose
• This figure, sometimes known as a Pashupati, has been variously identified.
• Sir John Marshall identified a resemblance to the Hindu god, Shiva. If this
can be validated, it would be evidence that some aspects of Hinduism predate
the earliest texts, the Veda.
• A harp-like instrument depicted on an Indus seal and two shell objects found
at Lothal indicate the use of stringed musical instruments.
• The Harappans also made various toys and games, among them cubical dice
(with one to six holes on the faces), which were found in sites like Mohenjo-Daro.

Trade and transportation:

INDU
M A B
• The IVC may have been the first civilisation to use wheeled transport.

HI
• These advances may have included bullock carts that are identical to those seen
throughout South Asia today, as well as boats.
• Most of these boats were probably small, flat-bottomed craft, perhaps driven by sail,
similar to those one can see on the Indus River today; however, there is
secondary evidence of sea-going craft.
• Archaeologists have discovered a massive, dredged (clearing by scooping out mud
and weeds) canal and what they regard as a docking facility at the coastal city of
Lothal in western India (Gujarat state).
• An extensive canal network, used for irrigation, has however also been
discovered by H.-P. Francfort.

INDU
• During 4300–3200 BCE of the chalcolithic period (copper age), the Indus Valley

A B
Civilisation area shows ceramic similarities with southern Turkmenistan and

M
HI
northern Iran which suggest considerable mobility and trade.
• During the Early Harappan period (about 3200–2600 BCE), similarities in
pottery, seals, figurines, ornaments, etc. document intensive caravan trade with
Central Asia and the Iranian plateau.
• There is some evidence that trade contacts extended to Crete and possibly to
Egypt.
• There was an extensive maritime trade network operating between the Harappan and
Mesopotamian civilisations as early as the middle Harappan Phase. Such long-
distance sea trade became feasible with the development of plank-built watercraft,
equipped with a single central mast supporting a sail of woven rushes or cloth.

INDU
• Several coastal settlements like Sotkagen-dor (astride Dasht River, north of Jiwani),

B
Sokhta Koh (astride Shadi River, north of Pasni), and Balakot (near Sonmiani) in

outposts.
HI A
Pakistan along with Lothal in western India, testify to their role as Harappan trading

M
• Shallow harbours located at the estuaries of rivers opening into the sea allowed brisk
maritime trade with Mesopotamian cities.
• In the 1980s, important archaeological discoveries have been made at Ras al-Jinz
(Oman), demonstrating maritime Indus Valley connections with the Arabian
Peninsula.
• Tin and precious stones: imported from Iran and Afganistan

• Gold imported from Karnataka

• Copper from Rajasthan and Oman

Language:

INDU
M A B
• It has often been suggested that the bearers of the IVC corresponded to proto-
Dravidians linguistically, the break-up of proto-Dravidian corresponding to the

HI
break-up of the Late Harappan culture.
• Finnish Indologist Asko Parpola concludes that the uniformity of the Indus
inscriptions precludes any possibility of widely different languages being used,
and that an early form of Dravidian language must have been the language of the
Indus people.
• Today, the Dravidian language family is concentrated mostly in southern India and
northern and eastern Sri Lanka, but pockets of it still remain throughout the rest of
India and Pakistan (the Brahui language), which lends credence to the theory.
• According to Heggarty and Renfrew, Dravidian languages may have spread into
the Indian subcontinent with the spread of farming. According to David

DU
McAlpin, the Dravidian languages were brought to India by immigration into

IN
B
India from Elam (In Iran).

HI A
• Heggarty and Renfrew note that "McAlpin's analysis of the language data, and

M
thus his claims, remain far from orthodoxy." Heggarty and Renfrew conclude that
several scenarios are compatible with the data.
Possible writing system:
• Between 400 and as many as 600 distinct Indus symbols have been found on seals,
small tablets, ceramic pots and more than a dozen other materials, including a
"signboard" that apparently once hung over the gate of the inner citadel of
the Indus city of Dholavira.
• Typical Indus inscriptions are no more than four or five characters in length, most of
which (aside from the Dholavira "signboard") are tiny; the longest on a single surface,
which is less than 1 inch (2.54 cm) square, is 17 signs long; the longest on any object
(found on three different faces of a mass-produced object) has a length of 26 symbols.
• While the Indus Valley Civilisation is generally characterised as a literate society on the

NDU
evidence of these inscriptions, this description has been challenged by Farmer, Sproat,

I
M A B
and Witzel (2004) who argue that the Indus system did not encode language, but was
instead similar to a variety of non-linguistic sign systems used extensively in the Near

HI
East and other societies, to symbolise families, clans, gods, and religious concepts.
• Others have claimed on occasion that the symbols were exclusively used for economic
transactions, but this claim leaves unexplained the appearance of Indus symbols on
many ritual objects, many of which were mass-produced in moulds. No parallels to
these mass-produced inscriptions are known in any other early ancient
civilisations.
• In a 2009 study by P. N. Rao et al. published in Science, computer scientists,
comparing the pattern of symbols to various linguistic scripts and non-linguistic
systems, including DNA and a computer programming language, found that the
Indus script's pattern is closer to that of spoken words, supporting the hypothesis

U
that it codes for an as-yet-unknown language.

ND
• Farmer, Sproat, and Witzel have disputed this finding, They conclude that the

B I
A
method used by Rao et al. cannot distinguish linguistic systems from non-linguistic
ones.

HIM
• Photos of many of the thousands of extant inscriptions are published in the Corpus
of Indus Seals and Inscriptions (1987, 1991, 2010), edited by Asko Parpola and his
colleagues.
• Edakkal caves in Wayanad district of Kerala contain drawings that range over
periods from as early as 5000 BCE to 1000 BCE. The youngest group of paintings
have been in the news for a possible connection to the Indus Valley Civilisation.
Religion in IVC:

• An early and influential work in the area that set the trend for Hindu interpretations of
archaeological evidence from the Harappan sites was that of John Marshall, who in
1931 identified the following as prominent features of the Indus religion
• A Great Male God and a Mother Goddess; deification or veneration (Person treated as

NDU
god) of animals and plants; symbolic representation of the phallus (linga) and vulva

I
M A B
(yoni); and, use of baths and water in religious practice. Marshall's interpretations have
been much debated, and sometimes disputed over the following decades.

HI
• One Indus Valley seal (Shiva / Pashupati seal) shows a seated figure with a horned
headdress, possibly tricephalic and possibly ithyphallic, surrounded by animals.
• Marshall identified the figure as an early form of the Hindu god Shiva (or Rudra),
who is associated with asceticism, yoga, and linga; regarded as a lord of animals;
and often depicted as having three eyes.
• The seal has hence come to
be known as the Pashupati
Seal, after Pashupati (lord
of all animals), an epithet
of Shiva.

U
• While Marshall's work has
earned some support, many
critics and even supporters
B IND
have raised several
objections.
H
• Doris Srinivasan hasIM A
argued that the figure does
not have three faces, or
yogic posture, and that in
Vedic literature Rudra was
not a protector of wild
animals.
 INDU
Mother goddess

M A B
HI
• Herbert Sullivan and Alf Hiltebeitel also rejected Marshall's conclusions,
with the former claiming that the figure was female, while the latter associated
the figure with Mahisha, the Buffalo God and the surrounding animals with
vahanas (vehicles) of deities for the four cardinal directions.
• Writing in 2002, Gregory L. Possehl concluded that while it would be appropriate

DU
to recognise the figure as a deity, its association with the water buffalo, and its

IN
B
posture as one of ritual discipline, regarding it as a proto-Shiva would be going

HIM A
too far. Despite the criticisms of Marshall's association of the seal with a proto-
Shiva icon, it has been interpreted as the Tirthankara Rishabhanatha by
Jains and Vilas Sangave or an early Buddha by Buddhists.
• Historians such as Heinrich Zimmer and Thomas McEvilley believe that
there is a connection between first Jain Tirthankara Rishabhanatha and the
Indus Valley civilisation.
• Marshall hypothesised the existence of a cult of Mother Goddess worship based
upon excavation of several female figurines and thought that this was a
precursor of the Hindu sect of Shaktism.
• In contrast to contemporary Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilisations, Indus Valley
lacks any monumental palaces, even though excavated cities indicate that the society
possessed the requisite engineering knowledge. This may suggest that religious

INDU
ceremonies, if any, may have been largely confined to individual homes, small
temples, or the open air. Several sites have been proposed by Marshall and later

A B
scholars as possibly devoted to religious purpose, but at present only the Great Bath at

M
I
Mohenjo-daro is widely thought to have been so used, as a place for ritual
purification.
H
• The funerary practices of the Harappan civilisation are marked by their diversity, with
evidence of supine burial (Corpse lying on its back) fractional burial (in which the
body is reduced to skeletal remains by exposure to the elements before final
interment), and even cremation.
ØLate Harappan

• Around 1800 BCE signs of a gradual decline began to emerge, and by around
1700 BCE most of the cities had been abandoned. Recent examination of human
skeletons from the site of Harappa has demonstrated that the end of the

U
Indus civilisation saw an increase in inter-personal violence and in infectious

IND
diseases like leprosy and tuberculosis.

B
Ø"Aryan invasion":

HIM A
• In 1953 Sir Mortimer Wheeler proposed that the invasion of an Indo-
European tribe from Central Asia, the "Aryans", caused the decline of the
Indus Civilisation. As evidence, he cited a group of 37 skeletons found in
various parts of Mohenjo-daro, and passages in the Vedas referring to
battles and forts.
• However, scholars soon started to reject Wheeler's theory, since the skeletons
belonged to a period after the city's abandonment, and none were found near the
citadel.
• Subsequent examinations of the skeletons by Kenneth Kennedy in 1994 showed that
the marks on the skulls were caused by erosion, and not by violence.

DU
• The Cemetery H culture has the earliest evidence for cremation; a practice dominant

IN
B
in Hinduism today. The Cemetery H culture was located in and around the Punjab

HIM A
region in present-day India and Pakistan. It was named after a cemetery found in
"area H" at Harappa. Remains of the culture have been dated from about 1900 BC
until about 1300 BC.

• Climate change and drought: Suggested contributory causes for the localisation of
the IVC include tectonic disturbances, earthquakes, changes in the course of the river,
and climate changes, changes in patterns of rain fall.
• As of 2016 many scholars believe that drought and a decline in trade with
Egypt and Mesopotamia caused the collapse of the Indus Civilisation.

• According to Giosan et al. (2012), the IVC residents did not develop irrigation
capabilities, relying mainly on the seasonal monsoons leading to summer

U
floods. As the monsoons kept shifting south, the floods grew too erratic for

IND
sustainable agricultural activities. The residents then migrated towards the

B
A
Ganges basin in the east, where they established smaller villages and isolated

IM
farms. The small surplus produced in these small communities did not allow

H
development of trade, and the cities died out.

Post-Harappan:

• Previously, scholars believed that the decline of the Harappan civilisation led to
an interruption of urban life in the Indian subcontinent.
• However, the Indus Valley Civilisation did not disappear suddenly, and many
elements of the Indus Civilisation appear in later cultures.
• In the aftermath of the Indus Civilisation, regional cultures emerged, to varying
degrees showing the influence of the Indus Civilisation. For instance, the Ochre
Coloured Pottery culture expanded from Rajasthan into the Gangetic Plain.

DU
• David Gordon White, among others "have emphatically demonstrated" that

IN
M A B
Vedic religion derives partially from the Indus Valley Civilisations.

I
• As of 2016, archaeological data suggests that the material culture classified as

H
Late Harappan may have persisted until at least 1000–900 BCE and was partially
contemporaneous with the Painted Grey Ware culture.
• Harvard archaeologist Richard Meadow points to the late Harappan settlement
of Pirak, which thrived continuously from 1800 BCE to the time of the invasion
of Alexander the Great in 325 BCE.
26. What kind of society may be reconstructed from the archaeological evidences
of Harappan culture? (20M, 2019)

27. Town planning in Harappan culture (10M, 2018)

INDU
28. Discuss the significance of Harappan Civilization sites from India.
(15M,2015)

M A B
HI
29. Describe what is known of Harappan Religion. Have some of its elements
continued into later Hinduism? Discuss. (20M,2014)
PREHISTORIC ROCK ART
• The distant past when there was no paper or language or the written documents is called
as the Prehistoric period.

• Piecing together of information deduced from old tools, habitat, bones of both animals

IN U
and human beings and drawings on the cave walls scholars have constructed fairly

D
accurate knowledge about what happened and how people lived in prehistoric times.

M A B
I
Prehistoric Period: Paleolithic Age, Mesolithic Age, and Chalcolithic Age

H
• The drawings and paintings can be categorized into historical periods.
Ø Period I- Upper Paleolithic
Ø Period II - Mesolithic and
Ø Period III - Chalcolithic.
PREHISTORIC ROCK ART BASED ON THE STUDY OF
BHIMBETKA PAINTINGS
PALEOLITHIC AGE ART

U
The prehistoric period in the early development of human beings is commonly

D
•

N
known as the ‘Old Stone Age’ or ‘Palaeolithic Age’.

A B I
M
The Paleolithic period can be divided into three phases:

I
•

H
Lower Palaeolithic
Middle Palaeolithic
Upper Palaeolithic

• We did not get any evidence of paintings from lower or middle paleolithic age yet.
• In the Upper Palaeolithic period, we see a proliferation of artistic activities.
• Subjects of early works confined to simple human figures, human activities,
geometric designs, and symbols.
•

INDU
Continuous occupation of the caves from more than 60,000 to 1000 years ago

A B
Thus, it is considered as an evidence of long cultural continuity.

M
•

•
HI
Consists of nearly 500 painted rock shelters in five clusters.

These rock shelters were discovered in 1957.

• One of the oldest paintings in India and the world (Upper paleolithic). Bhimbetka
(1) UPPER PALAEOLITHIC PERIOD:
• Paintings are linear representations, in green and dark red, of huge animal figures,
such as Bisons, Tigers, Elephants, Rhinos and Boars beside stick-like human
figures.

IN U
Mostly they are filled with geometric patterns.

D
•

M A B
Green paintings are of dances and red ones of hunters.

HI
(2) MESOLITHIC PERIOD ART:
• The largest number of paintings belongs to this period.

• Themes multiply but the paintings are small in size.

• Hunting scenes predominate

• Hunters in groups armed with barbed spears pointed sticks, arrows, and bows.
• Trap and snares used to catch animals can be seen in some paintings.
• Mesolithic people loved to paint animals.

U
• In some pictures, animals are chasing men and in others, they are being chased by
hunter men.

B IND
A
Animals painted in a naturalistic style and humans were depicted in a stylistic

M
•

I
manner.
•

•
H
Women are painted both in nude and clothed.
Young and old equally find places in paintings.
• Community dances provide a common theme.
• Sort of family life can be seen in some paintings (woman, man, and children).

• One of the most spectacular images from this period is that of a large animal with
an enormous face, horns like a bull and hair on its back in shelter III- F19 on bull
rock. According to archeologist V.N. Misra, it is probably a mythological scene.

(3) CHALCOLITHIC PERIOD ART:

INDU
Copper age art.

M A B
I
•

•
H
The paintings of this period reveal the association, contact and mutual exchange
of requirements of the cave dwellers of this area with settled agricultural
communities of the Malwa Plateau.

• Pottery and metal tools can be seen in paintings.

• Similarities with rock paintings: Common motifs (designs/patterns like cross-
hatched squares, lattices, waves etc)
• Men are seen grazing animals which is an evidence of domestication of animals.

• The difference with rock paintings: Vividness and vitality of older periods

U
disappear from these paintings.

B IND
• Some of the general features of Prehistoric paintings (based on the study of

H M
Bhimbetka paintings)

I A
Used colours, including various shades of white, yellow, orange, red ochre,
purple, brown, green and black.
• But white and red were their favourite.

• The paints used by these people were made by grinding various coloured rocks.
• They got red from haematite (Geru in India).

• Green prepared from a green coloured rock called Chalcedony.

• White was probably from Limestone.

NDU
Some sticky substances such as animal fat or gum or resin from trees maight be

I
M A B
used while mixing rock powder with water.

•
HI
Brushes were made of plant fiber.

It is believed that these colours remained thousands of years because of the

chemical reaction of the oxide present on the surface of rocks.

• Paintings were found both from occupied and unoccupied caves.

• In many rock art sites, the new paintings are overlapped on top of an older
painting.

INDU
In Bhimbetka, we can see nearly 20 layers of paintings, one on top of another.

A B
It shows the gradual development of the human being from period to period.

M
•

•
HI
Scenes were mainly hunting and economic and social life of people.

The figure of flora, fauna, human, mythical creatures, carts, chariots etc. can be
seen.
30. OLDUVAI GORGE (2019,10M)
• The Olduvai Gorge or Oldupai Gorge in Tanzania is one of the most important
paleoanthropological sites in the world. A steep-sided ravine in the Great Rift
Valley that stretches across East Africa, it is about 48 km (30 mi) long, and is

IN U
located in the eastern Serengeti Plains within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area

D
about 45 kilometres (28 miles) from Laetoli, another important archaeological
site of early human occupation.

M A B
HI
• Olduvai Gorge is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• The area preserves a nearly continuous record of human evolution and climate
change between 2 and 1 million years.
• It creates a complete history of biological and cultural evolution of humans. Acts
as a classic site for the whole world as an index to understand biological and
cultural evolution of man.
• The Olduvai Gorge is an area where several important hominid fossils and Stone
Age tools were discovered, indicating that at least three distinctly different
ancestors to humans had once coexisted in the area.
• Man is considered to have evolved in Africa and one site we can narrow
down as the site of human evolution is Olduvai Gorge.
• The British/Kenyan paleoanthropologist-archeologist team Mary and Louis

DU
Leakey established and developed the excavation and research programs at

IN
B
Olduvai Gorge which achieved great advances of human knowledge and world-
renowned status.

HIM A
• Homo habilis, probably the first early human species, occupied Olduvai Gorge
approximately 1.9 million years ago (mya); then came a contemporary
australopithecine, Paranthropus boisei, 1.8 mya, followed by Homo erectus, 1.2
mya. Our species Homo sapiens, which is estimated to have emerged roughly
300,000 years ago, is dated to have occupied the site 17,000 years ago.
31. DISCUSS WITH EXAMPLES THE MEGALITHIC CULTURE OF INDIA
IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT (2019,20M)
• Megaliths, derived from Latin meaning large stones, are monuments which lasted
from the Neolithic Stone Age to the early Historical Period (2500 BC to AD 200).

DU
Constructed either as burial sites or commemorative (non-sepulchral)

IN
B
(Sepulchral=sad/gloomy) memorials, these structures are the earliest surviving
man-made monuments we know of.

HIM A
• The burial sites are of different types such as dolmenoid cists (box-shaped stone
burial chambers), cairn circles (stone circles with defined peripheries) and
capstones (distinctive mushroom-shaped burial chambers found mainly in Kerala).
• The urn (Rounded vase) or the sarcophagus (coffin) containing the mortal remains
was usually made of terracotta.
 DOLMENOID CIST

INDU
M A B
HI
 CAIRN CIRCLES

INDU
M A B
HI
 CAP STONES

INDU
M A B
HI
• Non-sepulchral megaliths include memorial sites such as menhirs (Long standing
stone). “Constructing a menhir is one of the simplest things man could have done.
• In India, the majority of the megaliths belong to the Iron Age (1500 BC to 500
BC), though some sites precede the Iron Age, extending up to 2000 BC.

DU
• Around 2200 megalithic sites are found in the Indian peninsular, concentrated in

IN
M A B
the states of Maharashtra (mainly in Vidarbha), Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala,

I
Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

H
• Even today, a living megalithic culture endures among some tribes such as the
Gonds of central India and the Khasis of Meghalaya.
• Korisettar, a retired professor of archaeology at Karnatak University says the
megaliths were built for the elite or the ruling class and that the very idea of
burying the dead along with burial goods indicates a strong belief in life after death
and possibly rebirth among megalithic people.
 MENHIRS

INDU
M A B
HI
• Paddy husk found in burial sites shows the commitment of the people towards
ensuring the dead a comfortable afterlife. They also believed in some idea of a
soul.
• Gond people used to connect the past and the present. Their beliefs and traditions

IN U
help in creating a clear picture of the megalithic culture. “The Gond people

D
believe in life after death, they believe that every human being has two souls: the

A B
life spirit and the shadow. The life spirit goes to bada devta but the shadow still

M
HI
stays in the village after the erection of the stone memorial. Gond people believe
that the first and foremost duty of the shadow spirit is to watch over the moral
behaviour of the people and punish those who go against the tribal law,” notes a
paper by S. Mendaly on the living megalithic culture of the Gonds of Nuaparha in
Odisha.
• The massive endeavour of constructing megaliths required the active involvement
of the community, “Experiment on the reconstruction of a burial from Vidarbha

DU
suggests that 70 to 80 individuals were required to construct a burial having 13.5m

IN
M A B
diameter with a deposit of 80 to 85 cm in two and a half to three days without any

HI
leisure… Participation in construction by the community members could be social
norm without labour charge. If not by any labour charge, a feast was probably
prepared to honour the labour force provided by community members.
32. NATUFIAN CULTURE (2020,10M)

Discovery: Dorothy Garrod coined the term Natufian based on her excavations
at Shuqba cave (Wadi an-Natuf), the type site of Natufian culture, in the
western Judean Mountains.

NDU
Time span: It is a Late Epipaleolithic, or Mesolithic archaeological culture of

I
M A B
the Levant, dating to around 15,000 to 11,500 years ago.

HI
(Note: Mesolithic is an intermediate period followed by Neolithic, some authors
prefer the term Epi-Palaeolithic for hunter gatherer cultures that are not succeeded
by Agricultural traditions / Neolithic revolution. E.g., Natufian culture)

Tools and technology: The Natufian had a microlithic industry centered on

short blades and bladelets. The microburin technique was used. Geometric microliths
include lunates, trapezes, and triangles were used.
Culture and lifestyle:
• People were mainly hunters.
• The culture was unusual in that it supported a sedentary or semi-sedentary
population even before the introduction of agriculture.
• The Natufians supplemented their diet by gathering wild grain; they likely did

U
not cultivate it.

B IND
• Some evidence suggests deliberate cultivation of cereals, specifically rye, by the
Natufian culture, at Tell Abu Hureyra, (One of the major sites of Natufian culture)

IM A
the site of earliest evidence of agriculture in the world.

H
• They had sickles of flint blades set in straight bone handles for
harvesting grain and stone mortars and pestles for grinding it.
• Some groups lived in caves, others occupied incipient villages.
• They buried their dead with their personal ornaments in cemeteries. Carved bone
and stone artwork have been found.
(Note: The terms paleolithic and Neolithic were introduced by John Lubbock in his
work “Pre-Historic times”)
CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF ANTHROPOLOGY
• The first characteristic of anthropology, and perhaps most important of all, is
the use of the comparative method to draw generalizations and through that
understand the human nature.

U
• Studying people on their own terms in their own places or doing naturalistic
fieldwork.

B IND
HI A
• We recognize is that anthropology is both a science and a humanity.

M
• The centrality of the culture concept.
• Anthropology is holistic.
HOLISM IN ANTHROPOLOGY:
Definition: Holism is the idea that all properties of a given system (Physical,
biological, chemical, social, etc.) cannot be determined or explained by its component
parts alone. Instead, the system as a whole determines how the parts behave.
• Anthropological context: Franz Boas pioneered the approach of
historical particularism that emphasised the Discipline’s Holism, His
quest for Holism was directly responsible for American anthropology
going forward, from its European progenitors.

IN U
• Holism is the perspective on the human condition that assumes that mind,
D
body, individuals, society, and the environment interpenetrate, and even

A B
define one another. In anthropology holism tries to integrate all that is

M
HI
known about human beings and their activities. From a holistic
perspective, attempts to divide reality into mind and matter isolate and
pin down certain aspects of a process that, by very nature, resists isolation
and dissection. Holism holds great appeal for those who seek a theory of
human nature that is rich enough to do justice to its complex subject
matter.
• An easier understanding of holism is to say that the whole is greater than the sum
of its parts. Individual human organisms are not just x percent genes
and y percent culture added together. Rather, human beings are what they are
because of mutual shaping of genes and culture and experiences living in the
world produces something new, something that cannot be reduced to the
materials used to construct it.

INDU
• Sally Engle Merry, an anthropologist, got a call from a radio show asking her to

A B
talk about a recent incident that happened in Pakistan that resulted in a gang rape

M
HI
of a young woman authorized by a local tribal council. She explained to them that
it was an inexcusable act and that the rape was probably connected to local
political struggles and class differences. This relates to holism because the gang
rape was authorized by higher authorities because it is a cultural norm for socially
higher class men to feel more empowered over women. This emphasizes the
connection between human actions and their environment and society.
• Anthropology seeks to describe and interrelate all aspects of human life.
• It deals with relationships, for example, between the economy of a population
(whether they are food collectors or producers) and the type of religion, child
rearing, or house types they might have.
• People who produce food may have different opportunities and challenges than

DU
those who collect food, and this will be reflected, for example, in the way they

IN
B
raise their children. We are also interested in the relationships of biology and

HI A
behavior; between diet, nutrition and health; between language culture and

M
thought. Anthropology is holistic in so far as we study all aspects of human life in
relation to each other.
• As stated, anthropology is interested in all aspects of human beings, everywhere
and at all times. This holism and the comparative method, strongly addresses the
need for a universal human science. Collecting the necessary information requires
us, as anthropologists, to conduct research in numerous places in the world,
which in most cases means doing fieldwork.