PRE-HISTORY

 

  PRE HISTORY

AN INTRODUCTION TO PRE HISTORY

RECONSTRUCTING THE PAST

History period is a period for which we have a written records and evidence. History is based on facts, for which there is evidence. The long history of man is divided into two periods, namely, 

1.The Prehistory Period.

2.History Period.

Radiation Theory

Radiation theory holds that modern humans evolved from Homo erectus, fairly recently, in Africa, and then peopled the Earth by migrating along different routes.It is supported by the genetic evidence of modern human populations. In Radiation theory Human DNA from all races and regions of the Earth is nearly identical, implying that our species has a fairly recent and common point of origin.

Theory of Parallel Evolution

  In the parallel evolution of another theory holds that modern human they are from several other dispersed Homo erectus populations, at roughly the same time. Some intermingling of these regional populations was going on. The fossil evidence supports this theory.

Evidence of Hominid Fossil

Africa is said to be the cradle of the human race. Anthropologists have unearthed the oldest human skeletons in East Africa, in places such as Hadar, Olduvai, Laetoli, etc. One of the best preserved human remnants is a female skeleton found at Hadar in Ethiopia. Anthropologists assembled about 40% of the young girl that was given the nickname "Lucy". Lucy belongs to the Australopethicus category.
The discovery of such a fossil at Hathnora (near Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh) in the Narmada valley by a geologist in 1982.

THE PRE -HISTORY PERIOD

Ancient  history  of  India

Prehistory is a term used to describe the period before written history. Prehistorians typically use a three-age system to divide up human prehistory.

1.The Stone Age

2.Bronze Age

3.The Iron Age

THE STONE AGE

Scientists believe that the Earth was formed about 4.5 billion years ago. Stone Age began roughly 3.4 million years ago, ended in some parts of the world 5,000 years ago, they were ended in other regions too. During the stone age, our ancestors went through many different stages of biological and cultural evolution. From the dawn of our species to the present day. A man by nature is a social animal. He cannot live alone. It was the beginning of the earliest societies.

           Stone Age humans were early ancestors used tools and weapons made out of stone. They use this tools to hunt for life. Bonobos are capable of flaking and using stone tools in order to gain access to food in an experimental setting use. In fact, the earliest tools were used by homo genus,  The stone age is contemporaneous with the evolution of the genus homo. During 2010, fossilized animal bones bearing marks from stone tools were found in lower Awash valley in Ethiopia by archaeologist name Shannon McPherson. The oldest known stone tools have been excavated from the site of West Turkana, NorthWestern Kenya, and date to 3.3 million years old.

1.Paleolithic Age

2.Mesolithic Age or the Middle Stone Age

3. Neolithic Age

4. Chalcolithic Age

 PALEOLITHIC AGE

About two million years ago, there existed a geological period known as the Pleistocene period. The term “Paleolithic” is derived from the Greek word meaning “Old stone”.This period witnessed ice covering the entire earth's surface. The period of the evolution of man when he started living together with his fellow being, attained the art of speaking and started making tools from stone for his use. A culture then developed known as the palaeolithic culture. . The palaeolithic culture has been divided by the archaeologists into three phases, namely,

1.Lower Palaeolithic.

2.Middle Paleolithic

3.Upper Palaeolithic

• In this period people were hunters-gatherers. They subsisted on animals like chinkara, spotted deer, antelope, wild boar, ox, bison, nilgai, sambar, tortoise, a large variety of birds, honey and on plant food (root, leaves, fruits and seeds).

                    While the animals like goat, buffalo, ox, pig, wild bear, etc., were of the Indian origin, the animals like camel and horse, and hippopotamus and elephant migrated to India from North-America and Central Africa.

• The rock paintings and rock carvings provide some information regarding the subsistence pattern of this period. The paintings were not found in lower and middle Palaeolithic phases. The earliest paintings correspond to the upper Palaeolithic phase. The paintings were drawn in green and dark red colours, primarily of bison, tigers, Rhinoceros, boars and elephants in about two to three metres length. The remarkable feature of these paintings is that they show the Palaeolithic people lived in small groups and subsisted on animals and plant products. Bhimbetka is noted for continuous succession of paintings of different periods.The Palaeolithic sites are spread in practically all parts of India except the alluvial plains of the Indus and Ganga.

Palaeolithic sites and the co-found in India

The Palaeolithic tools are not largely found in Kashmir since Kashmir was intensely cold in the Ice age.Near Pahalgam (Kashmir) a hand axe was found.The Sohan Valley and the sites like Chauntra, Adial and Balwal yielded handaxes and choppers.

THE MESOLITHIC AGE OR MIDDLE STONE AGE

The Mesolithic period began around 10,000 B.C.The name "Mesolithic" comes from two separate words, Mesos = Middle and Lithos  = stone, also known as the late Stone Age.  It is the intermediate or transitional stage between the palaeolithic and Neolithic Ages. During this period man started making highly developed tools.The tools of this Age are called microliths (very small stone tools) measuring about 1 to 8 cm arrowheads and spearheads, stone Blades.  Use of bones and ivory was in vogue and various kinds of tools were made. They also make a larger variety of things like bows and arrows and fishing hooks. There was a change in the climate from cold in palaeolithic phase to hot and dry in this phase. The people during the Mesolithic phase depended on animal meat and plant food.


In India, Mesolithic sites have been widely found in Rajasthan, South Uttar Pradesh and Central and Eastern India and in Deccan. For most of this period, the man continued to be food gatherer. It was probably towards the end of the Mesolithic period that he learned about cultivation. The man observed that when seeds fell on the ground and received water, they grew into plants that bore grains.

NEOLITHIC PERIOD

In this Neolithic phase, the man changed his habits from food-gathering to food-producing. He gave up the nomadic life and he took a settled life as a farmer. He improved his stone tools into fine, sharp-edged and polished weapons. He began to domesticate animals for his food instead of hunting them. The burial of animals especially dogs along with the bodies of human beings is reported. The two sites of Gufkral and Burzahom indicate the period of Neolithic culture of Kashmir valley. The Neolithic sites are also reported from Belan Valley. These sites exhibited the cultivation of rice (the earliest evidence of rice cultivation in India. The use of chisels adzes, and celts tools and standardization in pottery.

Important Points about Pre History

PALEOLITHIC AGE (250,000 - 10,000 B.C)

• The term “Paleolithic” is derived from the Greek word meaning “Old stone”
• Paleolithic Culture developed in the Pleistocene period.
• Pleistocene was the period when ice covered the earth's surface.
• The main tools used during this period are handaxes, cleavers, Choppers, flakes, burins, scrapers.
•  Their tools were made up of hard rock called 'quartzite'.
• The palaeolithic sites are spread in practically all parts of India except the alluvial plains of   the Indus and Ganga.
• The people of this age lived on hunting and gathering wild fruits and vegetables.
• Man during this period used tools of unpolished, undressed rough stones and lived in cave rock shelters.
• They had no knowledge of agriculture, fire, or pottery of any metal.
• In the later Paleolithic phase domestication of animals was practised.
• Homo sapiens first appeared in the last of this phase.
• It has been pointed out that Paleolithic men belonged to the Negrito race means little black peoples called ‘negro’.
• The palaeolithic Age in India has been divided into three phases according to the nature of stone tools - Early or lower Paleolithic, middle palaeolithic and upper Paleolithic.
• Lower Palaeolithic phase: The tools used were mainly hand axes, choppers and cleavers.
• Middle Palaeolithic phase: Used of flakes.
• Upper Palaeolithic Phase:  burins and scrappers.
• For more visit Palaeolithic phases.
• The Palaeolithic sites are spread in practically all parts of India except the alluvial plains of the Indus and Ganga.

MESOLITHIC AGE (10,000 - 6,000 B.C)

• The Mesolithic Age began around 8000 B.C.
• It was the transitional phase between the Paleolithic Age and the Neolithic Age.
• The Mesolithic tool are microliths.
• Blade, Mesolithic tools are microliths.
• Blade, core, point, Triangle, Lunate and Trapeze are the main types of Mesolithic tools.
• Important sites of Mesolithic Age are Bagor in Rajasthan, Langhnaj,Sarai Naha Rai, and Birbhanpur.
• Sites like Bhimbetka, Adamgarh and Mirzapur are rich in Mesolithic Art.

The term Neolithic is derived from two Greek words meaning “New stone”.