Ancient India

The Stone Age/Lithic Age 30,00,000 BC to 1,000 BC

By Examguru / 03 Oct, 2023 / Download PDF

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The Stone Age/Lithic Age 30,00,000 BC to 1,000 BC

During the early period of humans, some archaeological evidence was found in which stone implements were found in great numbers. That's why this period is called the Lithic Age, Le Stone Age.

The Lithic Age/the Stone Age is divided into three periods:

  • Paleolithic Age or Old Stone Age

  • Mesolithic Age or Middle Stone Age

  • Neolithic Age or New Stone Age

Name of the period

Period

Life Style

Implements (Tools & Weapons)

Paleolithic

30,00,000 BC – 10,000 BC

Hunter & Food–gatherers

Chopper, Chopping Hand Axe, Cleaver, Fake Tools, Blade Tools

Mesolithic

9,000 BC – 4,000 BC

Hunters & Herders

Microlith Implements

Neolithic

7,000 BC – 1,000 BC

Food – Producer

Polished Implements

I Paleolithic Age or the Old Stone Age (30,00,000 BC–10,000 BC)

  • The term Paleolithic is the combination of two Greek words, Paleo (=old) and lithic (=stone). Thus, the meaning of the Paleolithic Age is "the old stone Age".

  • In India, the credit for the systematic discovery of Paleolithic archaeological materials goes to Robert Bruce (R.B.) Foote, a geologist of the Geological Survey of India (estd. in 1851).

  • He discovered a Paleolithic implement—a hand Axe—in a gravel pit at Pallavaram in the Chingelput district of Tamil Nadu state in 1863. R.B. Foote is known as "the father of Prehistoric Archaeology (India)".

  • In 1982, Arun Sonakia, a geologist in the Paleontology Division of the Geological Survey of India, discovered a woman's skull from Hathnora (a place situated in the Narmada River valley, Hoshangabad district, Madhya Pradesh).

  • This is an important achievement because, due to this, India is placed on the global map of finding sites of hominid fossils. According to Arun Sonakia, this human skull belonged to the category of Homo Erectus.

Paleolithic Human Life

Food

  • The life of Paleolithic people was primitive.

  • They largely depended on hunting and nature-given things. Their food was meat, fruit, or root.

  • They did not know how to grow grain and vegetables. Their food was not cooked, their clothes were not sewn, and they had no houses.

Since they were not familiar with the use of fire, they ate raw meat. After a long period, sometime between 2,00,000 BC and 1,00,000 BC, they discovered fire (controlled fire or innovation of the fire).

The discovery of fire was accidental. The striking together of two pieces of quartzite stone produced a spark which, when it touched dry leaves and twigs, burst into a flame. This is the way they learnt to make a fire.

Now with the help of fire, they were in a position to cook flesh (of animals) and to keep predator animals away from their places of rest. Thus, the discovery of fire made a significant difference to man, and it can be regarded as a major discovery.

Covering the Body (Clothes)

  • Primitive man had little care about clothes. When the weather was warm, little clothing was required.

  • In rainy or winter season, they wrapped the skins of the animals as well as the barks of trees and large leaves around their bodies as clothes.

Dwelling

  • They had no certain dwelling places and used to live as wanderers.

  • When in need, they used to take shelter in caves, forests, leafy branches of large trees, and down trees.

  • In some caves, like Bhimbetaka, etc, remains of paintings are found which are ascertained with the last phase of the Paleolithic Age, i.e., Upper/Later Paleolithic Age.

  • This clarifies that rock paintings had begun in the Upper/Later Paleolithic Age.

Only Food-Consumers

  • In this primitive age of civilization, men neither knew animal husbandry and crop-cultivation (agriculture) nor the art of pottery making.

  • In this age, men were food-gatherers, and for their food supply, they largely depended on nature.

  • It means they were consumers only of foodstuffs. They couldn't become food producers yet.

There were no specific differences in the lifestyles of men and wild animals. The men of this age were mainly of Negreto race.

Disposal of the Dead Person

They were unaware of the funeral rites of the dead person. They left the dead person in an open space without performing any rituals, where the corpses of the dead person were consumed by birds and animals.

In other words, they placed the dead body in the open space to be eaten away by the birds and animals.

Paleolithic Implements

Based on differences in stone implements, the Paleolithic period is divided into three ages:

  • Lower/Earlier Paleolithic Age

  • Middle Paleolithic Age

  • Upper/Later Paleolithic Age

Name of the age

Period

Implements (Tools & Weapons)

Lower/EarlierEarly Paleolithic Age

30,00,000 BC –1 00,000 BC

Chopper & Chopping ; Hand axe & cleaver

Middle Paleolithic Age

1,00,000 BC – 40,000 BC

Implements made of Flake

Upper / Later / Late Paleolithic Age

40,000 BC – 10,000 BC

Implements made of Fake & Blade

Lower/Earlier/Early Paleolithic implements

Lower Paleolithic people used quartzite (a type of stone) and other stones to make implements (tools & weapons).

Based on implement-type and spread regions, the cultures of the lower Paleolithic period are divided into two parts: Chopper-Chopping Pebble Culture (Sohan Culture) and Hand Axe culture (Madrasian culture)

  • Chopper-Chopping Pebble Culture: The implements of their culture were first found in the Sohan River valley, West Punjab (Pakistan), which is why this culture is also called the Sohan culture.

  • Pebble: A piece of rock whose edges have become smooth & shiny due to friction from the flow of water. 

  • Chopper: Unifacial pebble/single-edged pebble (made by chipping of a pebble to make a single edge)

  • Chopping: Bifacial pebble/double-edged pebble (made by chipping of a pebble to make a double edge).

  • Hand Axe Culture: The implements of this culture were first found at Badmadurai & Attirampakkam of Madras, which is why it is also called 'Madrasian Culture'.

  • HandAxee: Hand axe was generally made by the core and flake method. After breaking the stone into pieces, the larger piece is known as the "core" and the smaller piece as a flake. The first part of a hand axe was made thick, and the front part of a hand axe was made thin. A hand axe was used for cutting and tearing.

  • Cleaver: The cleaver was used to cleave (split) the barks of trees and skins of animals.

  • Scraper: The scraper was used to scrape (flay) the bark of trees and the skins of animals.

Lower/Earlier/Early Paleolithic Sites

State-wise descriptions of Lower/Earlier/Early Paleolithic sites are as follows:

State

River Valley Region (Archaeological Sites)

Punjab (Pakistan)

Sohan River Valley (Pindi gheb, Adiyal, Khasarkalan, Chauntara, Balbal, Garial, Kasalkalan, Riwat, Aurang-zeb, Morga etc), Potwar.

Kashmir

Liddar River Valley (Pahalgam)

Himachal Pradesh

Vyas-Vanganga River valley (Guler, Dehra, Ghali-yada, Kangara, etc), Sirsa River Valley (Nalgar, etc).

Rajasthan

Chambal River Vallev (Sonita, Bhainsorgarh etc). Gambhiri River Valley (Chittorgarh), Berach River Valley (Nagari), Situated in Nagore District-Didwana.

Gujarat

Sabarmati River Valley (Hadol, Padhamali, Birp, ur etc). Hirana River Valley (Umarethi).

Madhya Pradesh

Narmada River Valley [In Hoshangabad district-Hathnora (from where in 1982, Arun Sonakia, a geologist in Paleontology Division of the Geological Survey of India, found a fossil of a woman's skull which is the earliest finding of human remains in India), Situated in Hoshangabad district-Adamgarh & Mahadev-Piparia, situated in Raisen district-Bhim-betaka]: Son River Valley (Sinhawal, Patpara, Baghor, Khetaunhi, Nakajharkhurda).

Uttar Pradesh

Belan River Valley (from Baraundha of Mirzapur district to Belan-Tons juncture of Meza tehsil of Allahabad district).

Bihar

Munger, various sites situated in Rajgir.

Jharkhand

Various sites situated in the Singhbhum, Santhal Parganas, Hazaribagh, and Ranchi districts.

West Bengal

Various sites are situated in Bankura, Purulia, Birbhum, and Midnapur districts.

Odisha

Buhar-Valang Valley (various sites situated in Mayurbhanj district, e.g-Kaliyana).

Maharashtra

Pravara River Valley (Newasa), Godawari River Valley (Gangapur), Pravara-Chirki Nala Valley (Chirki-Newasa), Kukadi River Valley (Bori).

Andhra Pradesh 

Various sites are situated in Kurnool, Chittur, Nagarjunikonda, Nalkonda, Kudappa, Nellore, Prakasham, and Mehboob Nagar districts.

Karnataka

Malprabha-Ghatprabha River Valley (situated in Bijapur district-Anagbadi, situated in Gulbarga district, Hunsgi).

Tamil Nadu

Kortalyar River Valley (Pallavaram-first Paleolithic site from where Robert Bruce Foote, a geologist of the Geological Survey of India, discovered stone implement-Hand Axe: Badmadurai, Attirapakkam, Manajkaran, Budida Manuvanka, Gudiam, etc.)

Middle Paleolithic Implements

  • The chief stone implement material of this age was flint.

  • The implements made from flakes were Scraper, Burin, Borer, etc. Due to the preponderance of implements made from flint, the Middle Paleolithic Age is also called 'Flake Culture'.

  • In the making of these implements, the good quality of quartzite (a type of stone) was used.

  • The precious stone-like Chert, Jasper, and Flint were also used in plenty to make implements.

Middle Paleolithic Sites

State-wise descriptions of Middle Paleolithic sites are as follows:

State

River Valley Region (Archaeological Sites)

Jowajan (Afghanistan)

Sanghao Cave

Punjab (Pakistan)

 Sohan River Valley, Indus River Valley (Rohri)

Jammu Kashmir

 Liddar River Valley (Pahalgam)

Himachal Pradesh

Vyas-Vanganga River Valley, Sirsa River Valley

Rajasthan

Berach-Bagan-Kadmali River Valley, Luni-Jojari-Resiya-Bandi-Sukari Lilary River Valley, Situated in Nagore district-Jayal, Mangalpura, Janana etc. In the eastern front of Thar district-Budha Pushkar

Gujarat

Various sites situated in Gujarat, Saurashtra, Kuchchh

Madhya Pradesh

Situated in Raisen district- Bhimbetaka caves, Situated in Panna district- Pandav Prapat, Situated in Sidhi district- Sihawall, Nakjharakhurd & Patapara, Situated on the bank of the Narmada- Samanpurur

Uttar Pradesh

Situated in Varanashi district-Chakiya tehsil & Sonbhadra; Singroli basin of Mirzapur district; Meza, Karchhana & Baran tehsils of Allahabad district; Various sites situated in Chitrakuta, Banda, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Jhansi, Lalitpur districts.

Jharkhand

Various sites in the Sinhbhum & Palamu districts

West Bengal

Various sites situated in the Purulia district

Odisha

Buhar-Valang Valley

Maharashtra

Khandivalli, Newasa, Bel Pandhari, Suregaon, Kalegaon, Nandumadhameshwar

Andhra Pradesh

Various sites situated in Kurnool, Nagar Junikonda, Nalgonda, Chittur, Kadappa, Nellore, Prakasham, et,c districts.

Karnataka

Various sites situated in Shorapur doab, Bhima river & Hunsgi canal regions of Belgaum, Bijapur, Gulbara, districts

Tamil Nadu

Attiraphakkam, Gudiam etc.

Upper/Later Paleolithic Implements

  • The chief stone implement material of this age was Flake & Blade.

  • The various types of implements were made from Flake-Blade, in which the Burin is the most important.

  • Due to the preponderance of implements made from Flake-Blade, the Upper/Later Paleolithic Age is also called 'Flake-Blade Culture'.

  • In the making of these implements, the precious stones like Chert, Jasper, Flint, etc, were used.

  • In this age, besides stones, bone-horn implements are also found.

  • These implements were made mainly from long bones and horns of animals.

  • Until now, the maximum number of bone-horn-made implements were found from Muchchhatala Chintamanugavi cave shelter of Andhra Pradesh.

Upper/Later Paleolithic Sites

State-wise description of Upper/Later Paleolithic sites is as follows:

State

River Valley Region (Archaeological Sites)

Jowajan (Afghanistan)

Sanghao Cave

Punjab (Pakistan)

Indus River Valley (Rohri)

Rajasthan

Situated in the Ajmer district-Budha Pushkar

Gujarat

Visadi

Madhya Pradesh

Jogdaha, Bhimbetka (finding of some pieces of blue colour stones), Baburi, Rampur, Baghore-I

Uttar Pradesh

Belan River Valley (Finding of a bone-made statue of Matridevi from Lohanda nala region of Meza Tehsil in Allahabad . This is the only statue found from Upper/Later Paleo-lithic sites of India), Son River Valley (a site near Chopan in Sonbhadra district)

Jharkhand

Sinhbhum

Maharashtra

Situated in Jalgaon district-Patne (finding of beads made from egg-shells of ostrich), Bhadne & Inamgaon

Andhra Pradesh

Renigunta, Bemula, Yerragondapalem, Caves (Bila Surganum- remains of Hearth, this is the earliest site of hearth finding in India) of Kurnool, Muchchhtala Chintamanugavi cave shelter (The richest site of bone-horn-made implements remains finding from Upper/later Paleolithic sites of India), Betam Cherla

Karnataka

Situated in Gulbarga district-Shorapur doab doaba region, lying between two rivers, Bijapur district.

Continue learning about the Mesolithic and Neolithic Ages.

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