Pre-historic Periods in India

Ancient history can be divided into different periods according to the tools used by people then.

1. Paleolithic Period: 2 million BC – 10,000 BC

2. Mesolithic Period: 10,000 BC – 8000 BC

3. Neolithic Period: 8000 BC – 4000 BC

4. Chalcolithic Period: 4000 BC – 1500 BC

5. Iron Age: 1500 BC – 200 BC

Prehistoric Period – Palaeolithic Period (Old Stone Age)

This is further divided into three:

1. Lower Palaeolithic Age: up to 100,000 BC

2. Middle Palaeolithic Age: 100,000 BC – 40,000 BC

3. Upper Palaeolithic Age: 40,000 BC – 10,000 BC

Lower Palaeolithic age

• Hunters and food gatherers; tools used were axes, choppers and cleavers.

• One of the earliest lower Palaeolithic sites is Bori in Maharashtra.

• Limestone was also used to make tools.

• Major sites of lower Palaeolithic age

  • Soan valley (in present Pakistan)

  • sites in the Thar Desert

  • Kashmir

  • Mewar plains

  • Saurashtra

  • Gujarat

  • Central India

  • Deccan Plateau

  • Chotanagpur plateau

  • North of the Cauvery River

  • Belan valley in UP

• There are habitation sites including caves and rock shelters.

• An important place is Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh.

Middle Palaeolithic age

• Tools used were blades, pointers, scrapers and borers.

• The tools were smaller, lighter and thinner

• Important middle Palaeolithic age sites

  • Belan valley in UP

  • Luni valley (Rajasthan)

  • Son and Narmada rivers

  • Bhimbetka

Upper Palaeolithic age

• Emergence of Homo sapiens

• A lot of bone tools, including needles, harpoons, blades, fishing tools and burin tools.

• Major sites of Upper Palaeolithic age

  • Belan

  • Son

  • Chota Nagpur plateau (Bihar)

  • Maharashtra

  • Orissa and

  • The Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh

• Paintings at Bhimbetka site belong to this age.

Prehistoric Period – Mesolithic Period (Middle Stone Age)

• Major climate change happened.

• Climate became warmer and more humid.

• Rainfall increased and so more availability of flora and fauna.

• Domestication of animals and plants were seen for the first time.

• Started 12000 years ago.

• First animal to be domesticated was the wild ancestor of the dog.

• Sheep and goats were the most common domesticated animals.

• Hunting and food gathering continued.

• First human colonization of the Ganga plains.

• Microliths have been excavated.

• They are small stone tools that were probably stuck to stones to be used as saws and sickles.

• Major sites:

  • Brahmagiri (Mysore)

  • Narmada

  • Vindhya

  • Gujarat

  • UP

  • Sojat (Rajasthan)

  • Bhimbetka

  • Godavari Basin

  • Sarai Nahar Rai

• Tools used were blades, crescents, triangles, trapezes, spearheads, knives, arrowheads, sickles, harpoons and daggers.[/su_box]

Prehistoric Period – Neolithic Period (New Stone Age)

• Starting of agriculture

• Moving from nomadic to settled life

• Wheel discovered. Ragi, wheat and horse gram were cultivated

• They knew to make fire

• Knew pottery

• Also, shows first intentional disposal of the dead

• Important sites:

  • Inamgaon

  • Burzahom (Kashmir)

  • Mehrgarh (Pakistan)

  • Daojali Hading (Tripura/Assam)

  • Hallur (AP)

  • Paiyampalli (AP)

  • Chirand (Bihar)

  • Evidence of houses[/su_box]

Prehistoric Period – Chalcolithic Period (Copper Age/Bronze Age)

Indus Valley Civilization (2700 BC – 1900 BC)

• Other settlements at

• Brahmagiri Navada Toli (Narmada region)

• Chirand (Ganga region) and

• Mahishadal (West Bengal)[/su_box]

Prehistoric Period – Iron Age

• Arrival of the Aryans: Vedic Period

• Jainism, Buddhism

• Mahajanapadas: the first major civilisation on the banks of the river Ganga after the Indus Valley.