July, 1969 CALCUTTA MAP OF INDIA SHOWING PREHISTORIC SITES Of ANIMAL PAKI5r REMAINS A AL REMAIN I CULTU BHOLA NATH BAV OF BENGAL INTRODUCTION found in association with the tools of Stone Age «HE unfolding of various cultures at different when man was a tool-maker and as well as those epochs begins rightly from the early stone revealed by excavations of various prehistoric sites ARA81AI'd period when man was a tool-maker. Then the of India and their bearing on Indian culture. culture passed from primitive to advanced food The names of various prehistoric excavations of .sEA collecting stages ; from the stage of food collection Archaeological sites which yielded the animal to that of food production and final~y to urbanisa­ remains along with the remains of human beings tion through a pastoral and pheasant village life. have been shown in Text-fig. 1. Civilization could not make its appearance until an effective food production based on farming of The finds of animal remains associated with the plants and animals had come into existence. In Stone Age tools gives us a picture of the pre­ Text Fig. 1 the reconstruction of prehistoric farming both domestic condition of animals as well as of the environment and climate of that time. aninial and plant remains have played an import­ (1) Mohenjodaro (Larkana district, Sind, now in West Pakistan), (2) Harappa (Montogomery ant part. The remains of early man's wild and The remains of animals recorded from the Stone district, Punjab, now in West Pakistan), (3) Rana Ghundai (North Baluchistan, West domestic animals found along with the artifacts Pakistan). (4) Rupar (Ambala district, East Punjab), (5) Rangpur (Gujrat), (6) Hastinapura Age tools are exclusively wild, while those of other (M~erut district, U.P.), (7) Maski (Raichur district, Mysore State), (8) Taxilla (\-Vest and other excavated materials help us to reconstruct prehistoric sites indicated in the Text-fig. 1, show Pakistan), (9) Nasik (Nasik district, Maharashtra), (10) Newasa (N. Deccan, Maharashtra), the history of domestication, the food habit of the matured stages of civilization and domestication (II) Brahrnagiri (Chitaldrug district, Mysore State), (12) Arikamedu (Pondicherry area), (13) Nagarjunkonda (Andhra Pradesh), (14) Sarnath (Banaras district, U.P.).(l!))kaGibanga human group in question, and something of their of animals with a few exceptions of wild species RAII"""'U... ,.",'II (16) Alamgir"ul" (Meerut. disb-ict economical and social organisations. of Harappa, such as rhinoceros, wolf, wild buffalo The animal remains found in the excavation also and the tiger. of animal remains (fossils) and Stone Age tools and help us to know the geographical, topographical India has been divided into eight broad cultural -1st Century A.D.), (8) Buddhist and Early­ are equated with the middle pleistocene. It is and climatic conditions of the bygone periods. divisions, e.g. (1) Early Stone Culture (150000- historic Culture (600 B.C.-400 A.D.). characterized by a distinctive fauna-Elephas, The history of the various types of animals is 40000 B.C.), (2) Mesolithic or Transitional Cultures ANIMAL REMAINS OF STONE AGE OR revealed through the arts and paintings of the (50000-40000 B.C.), (3) Neolithic Culture (2300- Equus and Bos. A middle pleistocene fauna such PALAEOLITHIC CULTURE (150000-50000 B.C.) as Bos namadicus Falconer has been associated prehistoric people and from the actual bony 1500' B.C.), (4) Indus Culture (2500-1500 B.C.), The animal remains associated with the Early remains. Besides, the animal remains also form (.5) Chalcolithic-cum-Neolithic Culture (1.500-500 with it on the Godavari Site in Western India. Stone Age tools, mainly from the Siwalik Hills valuable dating material. B.C.), (6) Gangetic Civilization (1100-200 B.C.), From the middle pleistocene of Siwalik hills were in the North, the Narbada Valley in the middle, found the bones of Elephas namadicus Falc. & This article deals briefly the prehistoric animals (7) IVlegalithic Culture of Southern India (200 B.C. and Madras in the South, are known for the wealth Cautley in the second Himalayan glacial phase, 102 103 while in the third Himalayan glacial phase the wolf, tortoise and fish. All these including the dog PLATE-I bones of horse, wolf, as well as camel and wild and buffalo seem to be wild according to Prof. ox have been reported (Wheeler, 1939 to 1959). Zeuner's study without any hint of domestication. The great N arbada Valley must have been a The fauna is thus of game, and people were superb hunting ground for the palaeolithic man. primarily hunters and fishers (besides animal bones The animal remains found in the basal gravels remains of fish vertebrae & tortoise shells have and sand of Lower Nal'bada Group are those of been found). It thus indicates that economy of the Eleplzas sp., Hexaprotodon namadicus (wild settlement was predominantly that of hunters and hippopotamus). The basal gravel and sand of food-gatherers. Upper Nal'bada Group are characterized by the remains of Bos namadicLls Falc., Bubalus palaeo­ ANIMAL REMAINS OF NEOLITHIC CULTURE indicLls Falc. & Caut., Elephas namadicus Falc. & (2300-1500 B.C.) Caut., EquuS' namadiCLls Falc. & Caut., Hippo­ The animal remains from the Burzahom site potamus sp. and Sus, Trionyx (a turtle), Uj'SUS near Srinagar in Kashmir in Northern India, and namadicu8 Falc. & Caut., Gervus duvauceU Cuv., N agarjunakonda in Guntm' dis h'ic t, Andhra Rhinoceros unicornis Linn. The presence of these Pradesh are characterized by the true neolithic animals shoviTS that the climate was humid and pattern of culture. surrounding country was wooded. This was followed in Western & Central India by another This culture is characterized by the manufacture S tone Age known as middle palaeolithic or middle of potteries and smooth stone tools and con­ Stone Age or after the type-site-Nevasa­ spicuous by the absence of the metal. "N evasian". The animal remains associated with The animal remains excavated from Burzahom, this culture are Bos namadicus Falc., Elephas Kashmir, (N ath, unpublished report) has revealed 1. arttiquus Falc., rhinoceros, hippopotamus, besides the existence of humped cattle (Bos indicus Linn.), Gervus dUV({LlCeli Cuv. swamp deer) showing buffalo, (Bubalus bubaUs. Linn.), sheep, goat, thereby that the climate at that time was wetter pig, stag and dog. The remains of three kinds of and wooded. A number of caves in which the stages, e.g., the Barasingha (Cervus prehistoric people lived, have been found in the Cuv.); Kashmir deer (Cerous hanglu Wagner) and N arb ada Valley, on the wall of which paintings of the sambar (Rusa unicolor Kerr.) and at least three hunting scenes and the fight of men and beasts breeds of dogs of which dingo-pariah, greyhound have been depicted (PI. I). It is thus evident and mastiff types are very characteristic. From this that it was a period of man's struggle for existence. it is evident that the people were fond of hunting and hunting was their main occupation ANIMAL REMAINS OF MESOLITHIC OR besides practicing a primitive type of agriculhue. TRANSITIONAL CULTURE (50000-40000 B.C.) The small-stone implements called "microlith" At N agarjunakonda in Andhra Pradesh, from the has been reported from a number of sites in the neolithic site (Nath, 1968, p. 9) eleven species of last century. This culture has been discovered in animals were found. The remains are mostly of Northern Gujrat, Tinnevelly in Ivladras, lVIysore domesticated animals, viz., Bos 'indicus L., and small excavation at Birbhanpur in West Bubalus bubalis L., Ovis' vignei Blyth, l'ace domes­ 2. Bengal. The animal remains associated with the tieus and Ga'pra hlrcus aegagrus Erxl. The absence 3. microlith at Northern & Central Gujrat especially of pig, Sus scrota cristatus Wagner is rather that of Sank alia's well-known site in Gujrat surprising. Among wild animals, three species of Hunting scenes depicted on the cave walls of Naramada valley at Langhnaj (Wheeler, 1959, p. 73) included deer, Gervus un.icolor Kerr., Gerow; duvauceU Indian rhinoceros (Rhirwceros unicornis Linn.), Cuv., and Axi8 a·xis (Erxl.), occur. The remains of hog-deer (HyeZaphu8 porcinus Zimm.), Indian wild black-buck (Antilope cervicapra L.), and of the buffalo (Bubalus bubaUs Linn.), axis deer (Axis Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocaimelus Pall.) are also axis Erxl.), nilgai antelope (Boselaphus tmgo­ present. The presence of all these animals in the camelus Pallas), black-buk (AnUlope cel'OiCap1'a neolithic site suggests that the habitational sites at Linn.), bovines, mongoose, pig, horse, dog or that time were situated amidst jungles and undulat- 104 LI PLATE--Tl PLATE--III 2. 2. 6. Sketches of some of the domestic animals of India and other countries. FIG. 1. Dog (greyhound). Sketches of some of the domestic animals of FIG. 2. Dog (mastiff). Jndia and other countries. FIG. 3. - The Australian dingo dog, Canis familiaris dingo Blum. FIG. 1. - The zebu or domestic humped cattle of India, FIG. 4. - The wild a,55, Equus asillus Linn. Bas indicus Linn. FIG. 5. The Mongolian wild horse, Equw caballus FIG. 2. - The Indian domestic buffalo, Bas (Bubalus) przewalskii Poliakov. bubalis Linn. FIG. 6. - The Arabian horse, Equlls caballlls Linn. FIG. 3. - The urial or Punjab wild sheep, Ollis vigllei Blyth. FIG. 4. - The bezoar or wild goat, Capra hircus Linn. FIG. 5. - The unhumped European cattle, Ba,) taurus Linn. FIG. 6. The Indian wild boar, Sus scrofa crista/us Wagner. PLATE--IV ing land, and the settlers were practising pastoral gharial, (Gavialis gangetlcus Gmelin), and some economy tending to'wards food growing. turtles, e.g.) Geoclentys hamiltoni (Gray), Kachuga tectum) Chitra indica (Gray), Tl'ionyx gangeticus ANIMAL REMAINS OF INDUS CULTURE Cuv., Lissemys punctata (Bonn.), etc., indicates (2500-1500 B.C.) that they were probably an ingredient of the food The earliest prehistoric culture of India was the of the inhabitants.