Lithic / Stone Age - Pre Historic Period

Lithic/Stone Age (30,00,000 BC - 1,000 BC) : Human used the tools made up of stones to kill the animals and fulfill their hunger. 

It is divided into three parts -

Paleolithic Age/Old Stone Age (30,00,000 BC - 10,000 BC) : 

• Life style (Hunters & Food Gathers)
• Tool and Weapons (Chopper , Chopping , Hand Axe , Cleavers , Flake Tools , Blade Tools)

Mesolithic Age/Middle Stone Age (9,000 BC - 4,000 BC) :

• Life Style (Hunter & Herders)
• Tools & Weapons (Microliths Implement)

Neolithic Age/New Stone Age (7,000 BC - 1,000 BC) :

• Life Style (Food Producer)
• Tools & Weapons (Polished Implement)

Paleolithic Age/Old Stone Age (30,00,000 BC - 10,000 BC) :

• Paleolithic - Paleo (Old) & Lithic (Stone)
• Robert Bruce Foote - Father of India Pre-Historic Archaeology
• Pallavaram-Chingelput(Tamil Nadu-1863) - Discovered a Paleolithic implement "a Hand Axe in a gravel pit"
• Arun Sonakia (1982) - Discovered a woman skull from Hathnora (Narmada river , Hoshangabad , Madhya Pradesh) and it's belong to the category of Homoerectus 
• Depended on hunting and nature 
• Did not know to grow grain and vegetables
• Food was not cooked
• Clothes not sewn and no house
• Did not familiar with use of fire
• Ate raw meat (Flesh)
• Discovered the fire (Strikings together of the two pieces of quartzite stone produced a spark)
• They wrapped the skins of the animals as well as the barks of trees and larges leaves on their bodies as clothes
• Men neither knew animal husbandry and crop cultivation nor making of potteries
• The man of this age were mainly of Negreto Race
• Unaware of funeral rites of the dead person

Paleolithic Implements :

Lower/Early Paleolithic Age (30,00,000 BC - 1,00,000 BC) : Chopper , Chopping , Hand Axe & Cleaver

• Lower/Early Paleolithic Implement (People used quartzite Stone) - divided into two parts 
• Chopper/Chopping Pebble Culture (Sohan Culture) - Found firstly from Sohan River Valley of West Punjab (Pakistan)
• Hand Axe Culture (Madrasian Culture) - Found firstly at Badmadurai & Attirampakkam of Madras

Middle Paleolithic Age (1,00,000 BC - 40,000 BC) : Implement made of Flake

• Tools are Borers , Scrapers & Burin made of Flake
• It's is also know as "Flake Culture"
• Precious stones like Chert , Zasper , Flint were also used
• The artifacts found on river Narmada & places South of Tunghbhadra

Upper/Later Paleolithic Age (4,000 BC - 10,000 BC) : Flake Blade

• Implement were made from Flake-Blade in which Burin is the most important
• It's also known as "Flake-Blade Culture"
• Bone-horns made implement aslo found
• Discovery of fire (Homoerectus) - Evidence found from China (Choutu-Gojian Cave)
• Ice Age started (10000 BC)

Some Paleolithic Sites are :

• Lingsugur , Karnataka - First Paleolithic Sites
• Bhimbetka , Madhya Pradesh - Most Famous Sites
• Adamgarh , Madhya Pradesh - Rock Shelter painting and earliest evidence of domestication

Mesolithic/Middle Stone Age (9000 BC - 4000 BC):

• Mesolithic : Meso (Middle) & Lithic (Stone)
• John Evan discovery of mesolithic archaeology material in India (excavated Sakkar & Rohri , Sindh)
• Started developing Artificial Shelters & Herders
• End of Ice Age (9000 BC)
• Domestication of Animals - First Dog and Second Horse and other sheep , goat , cow , buffalo etc (Evidence found in Madhya Pradesh - Adamgarh & Rajasthan - Baghore)
• Dependent largely on hunting , fishing & food gathering
• Tools made of Microliths/Pigmy(1 to 8 cm)
• Started using of fire
• Cultivation of plants around 7000-6000 BC
• Rock painting found from Bhimbetka
• Site found in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Central and Eastern India & South of Krishna River
• People were aware of burial process of the dead bodies
• Discovery of Bow Arrow
• Learned to make Utensils from clay (Evidence - Allahabad , Uttar Pradesh)

Neolithic/New Stone Age (7000 BC - 1000 BC):

• Neolithic : Neo (New) & Lithic (Stone)
• Dr. Primrose , discovery of archaeological material in India (discovered polished stone knives & Arrow head from Lingasur - Karnataka in 1842)
• Begining of farming & development of Permanent Settlement
• Started Agriculture (Evidence found from Mehargarh(Pakistan)- Wheat & Barley ; Koldihawa Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh) - Paddy)
• They used to live a life of a farmer
• Started growing cotton (Mehargarh Pakistan)
• People started wearing cloth
• Lived in huts that had made on the ground by bamboos and smearing of clay
• In 4000 BC , Invented Potter Wheel
• Chopani Mando provide earliest evidence of the use of Poltery

Chalcolithic Age (3500 BC - 1000 BC) :

• Chalcolithic : Chalco (Copper) & Lithic (Stone)
• It's a transition age between the Neolithic and Bronze Age
• It's also known as Copper-Stone Age/Neolithic-Chalcolithic Age
• First men used the metal was Copper(5000 BC)
• Men had familiar with the use of Gold , Silver and at last with the use of Iron

Iron Age (1000 BC - 500 BC) :

• Men used the Implement of Iron that age is known as "Iron Age"
• Iron Age in the World context began about 1300 BC
• It's use in India also began around this period
• Aryan of Early Vedic Period (Rigvedic Period) had no knowledge of Iron
• "Lohit Ayas" used in the sense of Copper Metal
• "Krishna/Shyama Ayas" used in the sense of Iron Metal
• Use of Iron tools for Agriculture was began around 800 BC - 700 BC in India

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