Pre-Historic Cultures Flashcards
Human Settlement in India
Middle Pleistocene (5,00,000 years ago).
1st nomads, then around stone age (Neolithic), man became an agriculturist.
Took 3,00,000 years to go from food-gatherer to food-producer.
History
- Pre-Historic Period:
Paleolithic: Sohan and belan valley
Mesolithic: Son, Belan, Narmada, Tungabhadra valley
Neolithic: Belan valley, Chhota Nagpur plateau, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Central India - Proto-historic Period: (2500BC-600BC)
- Historical period: Post 600BC (Begins after Vedic age)
Paleolithic age:
Means old stone age
Characterized by hunters + gatherers
2 million to 12,000 million years ago
99% of human history
Tools made of stone, wood and bones used to hunt, cut, etc.
First discovery of fire found at Kurnool.
Mostly hunting was prevalent.
Goats, sheep and cattle domesticated around 25,000BC.
Nomadic lifestyle
Climate changes forced them to migrate to warmer climates, development of grasslands and increased herbivores.
Grain bearing grasses like wheat, barley, rice cultivated.
People collected these grains and naturally resorted to grow their own.
Phases of paleolithic age
Early/Lower Paleo (5,00,000-50,000):
Ice age, tools used were hand-axes, cleavers, choppers. Sites were Sohan (pak), hunsgi (Karnataka), caves in Belan, didwana (rajasthan), namada (mp), bhimbetka caves (mp). Some of these were habitation plus factory sites and occupied for long.
Middle paleo (50,000-40,000): use of flakes for blades, points, borers, scrapers as tools. Sites: Sohan, Narmada valley and Tungabhadra river.
Upper (40,000-10,000): less humid, last phase of ice age. Appearance of homo sapiens and flint, caves + rock shelters used by humans.
Mesolithic age
Once winter became warm and dry post 9000BC after ice age, leading to stone age culture. Transitional between paleo and neolithic stone age ( hence also called later stone age).
In India, 8000-4000bc.
Microliths as tools.
Hunting, fishing, gathering, later domestication of animals.
Sites: Chhota Nagpur plateau, central India and South of river Krishna.
Bagor in Rajasthan is a well-preserved site.
Pre-Historic art
Paleo + meso practice.
Sites: bhimbetka
Rock paintings
Art of birds, animals, humans, etc.
Neolithic age
Food Producers
Society involved division of labour (gendered), make head of village (oldest + bravest).
Religion: sky God, earth goddess. Burials occured (for ex- mehrgarh).
Sites:
Kashmir, east india, South India.
Earliest: mehrgarh (Baluchistan, pak) where crops were grown, animal bones also found, rectangular/square houses found.
1st group of people settled in burzahom (j&k) around 2400bc. Lived in Lake side pits and hunted + fished. Stone + bone tools used. Grey pottery used. Dogs were buried with masters.
Then gufkral (cave of the Potter) in j&k. Agriculture + domesticated animals found here.
Chirand (Bihar) -1600bc. Large bone tools.
Mirzapur and allahabad - 6th BC. Rice cultivation.
In South India, near river Godavari from 2500bc to 100pbc. In granite hills, near river banks. Had cattle, sheep, goats, etc.
Used axes, stone blades. Sites in Maski, brahmagiri, hallur, kodekal, sangankallu, tirumakudal narsipur, takkalakota, paiyampalli, utnur, piklihal (here cattle herding was evidenced, also Ash mounds and habitation sites.)
Garo hills and Meghalaya also had Neolithic tools. Daojali Hading, near brahmaputra valley had stone tools, mortars, pestles, etc.
Chalcolithic age
Use of metal (1st was Cooper, later bronze was used).
Ornaments were common.
1800bc to 1000-800bc.
Cultivated barley, wheat, lentil in Western India and rice in South and eastern India.
Earliest settlements in malwa and central India (like Kayatha and Eran). Settlements in West Maharashtra and Bengal last to emerge. None in the Alluvial plains.
Sites: in MP: Eran, Kayatha, Navdatoli.
In Maharashtra, Jorwe, Nevasa and Daimabad, Chandoli, Inamgaon, Songaon, etc.
In East, Chirand, Pandu Rajat Dhibi, Mahisdal, Allahabad.
Fortified locations: Kayatha, Eran, Inamgaon. They had moats.
These people used smaller tools and stone weapons. In Gilund, copper blade industry found. Black and red pottery found here.
Animals used: domesticated animals and hunted deer. Camels also found. Questionable usage of horses and donkeys.
Cultivated a variety of crops and consumed fish greatly.
Houses made of wattle and daub (thatched houses). Mud bricks used sometimes. In Inamgaon, ivens and circular pits found. Large families -> large houses. Stable settlements (Jorwe culture) near Pravara river.
Social inequality symbolised through burials at Chandoli and Nevasa. Some buried with copper jwellery, some with only pots. Economy was agrarian (no urbanization).
Arts: copper smelting, spinning, weaving, spindle whorls found in malwa, cotton and silk found in Maharashtra.
Buried people under the floor of thir house.
Religion: mother goddess figures of terracotta. Bull was a cult symbol in malwa, rajasthan.
Important Chalcolithic cultures
Ahara: Rajasthan, black and red ware with white designs
Kayatha: Chambal, sturdy red slipped ware with chocolate and colour designs
Malwa: Narmada valley + Gujarat, largest Chalcolithic cultures, thick, coarse waes with red/black designs.
Svalda: Maharashtra
Prabhas and Rangpur: Gujarat, derived from Harappan culture. Red ware is a hallmark.
Importance of Chalcolithic cultures
Traces found all over country.
Microliths+ other stone tools + copper.
Black + red wheel turned pots.
First to use painted pottery (ochre coloured).
Founded the 1st villages in India.
Limitations of Chalcolithic cultures
High infant mortality
Supply of copper metal limited.
They didn’t know how to mix copper and tin to make a stronger metal alloy, bronze.
Rural culture+ illiterate
Came after the IVC but couldn’t derive any substantial benefits from its technological knowledge.
Megalithic culture
Iron age
South : megalith builders (graves surrounded by stone pieces).
Traced to 1000BC
Primitive agriculture (ragi + paddy)
Found in Eastern Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu
Kingdoms: Cheras, Cholas, Pandyas
Buried skeletons in urns made of red pottery in pets after death. Also pottery + iron objects
Pit burial surrounded by stone circles in Krishna Godavari valley
By Christian era moved from uplands into fertile river basins and reclaimed marshy deltaic areas
Founded villages and towns, had social classes.
Rise of imperial states in Southern India.
