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ANCIENT HISTORY (Stone Age to 700 A.D.)

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ANCIENT HISTORY (Stone Age to 700 A.D.) www.gradeup.co ANCIENT HISTORY (Stone Age to 700 A.D.) Stone Age Palaeolithic Period( old stone age) The word ‘Palaeo’ means old & ‘lithic’ means stone; during this period early man used tools made of stone for activites like hunting, taking out flesh from animals etc. Thus it is known as stone age. It is the prehistoric period which ranges from 5 lakh years to 6000 years ago. Man 1st appeared on earth in early Pleistocene period in Africa. India was inhabited later & first evidence of man is obtained from Bori, Maharstra( 1.4 million years ago) The stone age is divided into three phases : Lower Palaeolithic Age: 500,000 BC to 100,000 BC • Developed in India in pliestocene period of Ice age • Also known as acheulian culture • Use of unpolished, rough and crude stone tools like hand axes, choppers, blades, burins and scrapers. • Remains found throughout the country exept alluvial plains of Indus, Ganga and Yamuna rivers • evidence of art in the form of paintings. • Some major sites: o Soan valley (in present Pakistan) o Sites in the Thar Desert o Kashmir o Nagaur & Didwana • Major findings (Didwana & Nagaur) o Hand axes found at Didwana, Rajasthan, similar to those from the Shiwalik Range, yield slightly younger dates of about 400,000 years ago. o Discovery of stone tools – hand axes and cleavers o Use of materials like quartzite & quartz for making tools o Mainly hunter gatherer culture o No knowledge of housing, domestication, agriculture and pottery o Note- Evidences of both lower & middle palaeolithic period Middle Palaeolithic Age: 100,000 BC – 40,000 BC • Mainly characterized by use of flakes; showing regional variations • Major tools- varieties of blades, points, borers & scrapers made of flakes • progressive diminution in the size of stone artifacts began • Tools become sharper & lighter • Important sites: www.gradeup.co o Belan valley in UP o Luni valley (Rajasthan) o Son and Narmada rivers o Bhimbetka o Tungabhadra river valleys o Major sites in Rajasthan a. Luni valley b. Didwana c. Budha pushkar Upper Palaeolithic Age: 40,000 BC – 10,000 BC • End of ice age & climate began transition towards becoming warm & humid • 1st appearance of Homo Sapiens • Marked by appearance of new flint industries • Use of blade & burins; scrapers • Tools characterized by larger flakes than earlier periods • Emergence of small communities having seasonal habitation which coincided with change of seasons • Settlements developed near permanent source of water marks the faint beginning of longer term settlements in place of nomadism • Evidences of early human rock art; themes- group hunting, day to day mundane events, birds( absence of perching birds) • Some important sites: o Bhimbhetka (South of Bhopal) o Belan o Son o Chota Nagpur plateau (Bihar) o South eastern Rajasthan & river bains like mahi etc • Important sites in Rajasthan : o Chittorgarh, Kota & river basins of Sabarmati, Mahi, kadamli & wagoon o Discovery of Ostrich egg shells in many sites Mesolithic Age ( 10,000 BC to 5000 BC) • It is an transitional stage characterised by warm & humid climate • Marked by movement of Humans to new places along changes in flora & fauna • Characterised by distinct tools known as Microliths • People mainly engaged in hunting, fishing & food gathering; in its last phase began the domestication of animals • Marked by important changes in the society o Transition from primitive hunting & stone using culture to metal using & food producing economy by acculturation o Beginning of customs like intentional disposal of the dead; such burials found in Rajasthan, langhnaj in Gujarat etc. o Rock paintings showing themes like wild animals, hunting, events related to human life like sex & child birth • Important sites www.gradeup.co o Rajasthan o Southern UP o Central & Eastern India o South of Krishna river Major findings ( Rajasthan): Bagor • On the bank of river Kothari in Bhilwara District. • Biggest Mesolithic Site in India. • Excavated by Virendranath Mishra • Inhabitation- 5000 years from 5th Millenium BC • The lithic repertoire at Bagor is perhaps one of the richest in the world. • Distinctive microlith Industry; could be used as coomponents of arrowheads, axes, knives, harpoons etc • Tools includes backed blades, points, crescents, triangles; • People mainly lived on hunting & pastoralism; with some form of rudimentary agriculture in later half of this period • stone paved habitational floors • numerous bones of wild species and human burials. • Flake types such as scrapers or burins are totally absent in this industry. • the crest guiding blades common in most of the known microlithic industries in India are also conspicuously absent in Bagor • evdiences of 1st domestication of animals • The animals identified are claimed to indicate almost 80 percent domesticated species and include sheep/goat, buffalo, humped cattle, pig, black buck, chinkara, chital, sambhar, hare, fox and mongoose. These even include some aquatic fauna like tortoise and fish. Tilwara • On the bank of river Luni in Barmer district. • Site excavated under the direction of VN Mishra the site in 1971 • two distinct phases: The early phase & The later phase • The early phase - Mostly Mesolithic settlement • The later phase: - Yields bits of iron, Glass beads and several wheel-made potteries. - Circular arrangements of stones on the ground indicate habitation structures. - Fire hearths, charred bones and other habitational debris clearly indicate a late desert settlement of Mesolithic culture. ▪ Trapeze, lunates, points besides numerous parallel-sided blades and fluted cores form the industry. - Evidence of animal husbandry is found here. www.gradeup.co Neolithic period ( 5000 BC to 1000 BC) • Also known as Neolithic revolution as it is marked by transformative changes in the mode of life of people • Man becomes sedentary in nature and hence develops interpersonal relationships to consolidate a form of cooperative existence. • development of permanent dwellings • use of polished stone implements for the 1st time • cultural advances such as pottery making, domestication of animals • the cultivation of grain and fruit trees • Practise of weaving also begun • Important sites- Mehrgarh, located along bolan river in Pakistan; earliest Neolithic settlement of Indian subcontinent • Cultivation of cotton for the 1st time • Domestication of cattle, sheep , goat etc • Cultivation of wheat & Barley • Other sites- burzahom- j&k, Chirand (Bihar) etc • No significant site of neolthic period has been discovered yet in Rajasthan. Chalcolithic Age • The period is marked by use stone – metal; copper was the 1st metal to be used by man( End of the Neolithic period saw the use metals) • Technologically it applies to pre-harappans; in various parts of the country appeared after Harappan civilization. • They were primarily rural communities residing in in hilly areas where rivers are available nearby • They knew the art of copper smelting • They used wheel turn black and red pots and were the first to use painted pottery • Major sites- Southeastern Rajasthan, western part of Madhya Pradesh Western Maharashtra and southern and Eastern India; jorwe culture; kayatha culture etc. • Some of the major chalcolithic cultures in Rajasthan are: Ahar - Banas Culture (3000 to 1500 BC) • Also known as Banas Culture/ tamravati and dhoolkot • Lies mainly in the river valleys of Banas and its tributaries ; in South Eastern Rajasthan • About 90 sites of this culture have been discovered; important among them are gilund, Aahar, Ojiana, balathal, pachamta • Provides the evidence of early farming rural communities who were contemporary to the the Indus valley civilizations • A small chopper made of thin sheet of copper is an important antiquity of Ahar culture. • Faience of Harappan type is also noteworthy to established relationship with other contemporary cultures. www.gradeup.co • They were rural farming communities also engaged in in livestock keeping and hunting • Main crops were wheat, barley, Millets , Bajra and Jawar. • Remakable refinement in Technology ; invention of first wheel industrial activities ; mass production of ceramics ;Metal Works and development of Bead industries • Beads were made in in Shell, bone, Ivory ,semi -precious stones, steatite and Terracotta • Evidences of terracotta bull; names as banasian bull • Houses were square shaped & large made up of stones; walls were made of mud\ mud bricks • They carried on trade with Indus Valley Civilization people • Evidence of rice has been noticed in the form of Impressions on potsherds • Technology • They mainly used copper metal and produced also used polished stone tools and used microliths as well • Evidences of coins & seals dating back to period 3rd BC to 1st BC – a coin having mark of trishul on side & greek god Apollo on the other Gilund • It is located in Rajsamand district and drained by three rivers that is Kothari Banaras and berach • Excavation carried out under BB Lal in 1959 -60 • Use of burnt bricks on large scale • Evidences of two distinct phases- early Ahar phase: 3000- 2000 BC and late Ahar phase: 2000 - 1700 BC • First phase: -represent chalcolithic phase; evidences of few microliths along with copper objects -Evidences of clay lines ovens & chulhas - Residential houses for made of mud brick and plastered with mud -Use of black and red ware pottery -Terracotta figurines search s bull with prominent hump and longhorns are noticeable • Second phase : - Evidence of grey ware pottery -this site remain inhabited in 1st AD also; evidences
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