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South Asian Stone Age

February 16, 2024

The South Asian Stone Age covers the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods in the Indian subcontinent. Evidence for the most ancient Homo sapiens in South Asia has been found in the cave sites of Cudappah of India, Batadombalena and Belilena in Sri Lanka.[1] In Mehrgarh, in what is today western Pakistan, the Neolithic began c. 7000 BCE and lasted until 3300 BCE and the first beginnings of the Bronze Age. In South India, the Mesolithic lasted until 3000 BCE, and the Neolithic until 1400 BCE, followed by a Megalithic transitional period mostly skipping the Bronze Age. The Iron Age in India began roughly simultaneously in North and South India, around c. 1200 to 1000 BCE (Painted Grey Ware culture, Hallur, Paiyampalli).

Pre Historic Sites of Middle Krishna-Tungabhadra River Valley of South India are probably the efficient paleolithic cultural area's as per the evidences found over the valley
Belan Valley Cave Paintings at Panchmukhi Hill in Sonbhadra

Homo erectus edit

Further information: Acheulean, Soanian, and Riwat

Homo erectus lived on the Pothohar Plateau, in upper Punjab, Pakistan along the Soan River (nearby modern-day Rawalpindi) during the Pleistocene Epoch. Soanian sites are found in the Sivalik region across what are now North India, Pakistan and Nepal.[2] Biface handaxes and cleaver traditions may have originated in the middle Pleistocene.[3] The beginning of the use of Acheulian and chopping tools of the lower Paleolithic may also be dated to approximately the middle Pleistocene.[4]

Neolithic Stone Age (7000 BCE - 5500 BCE) finds were excavated from Pinjore in Haryana on the banks of the stream (paleochannel of Saraswati river) flowing through HMT complex,[5][6] by Guy Ellcock Pilgrim who was a British geologist and palaeontologist, who discovered 1.5 million years (15 lakhs) old prehistoric human teeth and part of a jaw denoting that the ancient people, who were intelligent hominins dating as far back as 1,500,000 ybp Acheulean period,[7] lived in Pinjore region near Chandigarh.[8] Quartzite tools of lower Paleolithic period were excavated in this region extending from Pinjore in Haryana to Nalagarh (Solan district) in Himachal Pradesh.[9]

The coming of Homo sapiens edit

Main article: Peopling of India

Analysis of mitochondrial DNA dates the immigration of Homo sapiens into the subcontinent to 75,000 to 50,000 years ago.[10][11] Cave sites in Sri Lanka have yielded the earliest non-mitochondrial record of Homo sapiens in South Asia. They were dated to 34,000 years ago. (Kennedy 2000: 180). For finds from the Belan in southern Uttar Pradesh, India radiocarbon data have indicated an age of 18,000-17,000 years.

 
Zebu like animals in the Tharia Cave Paintings, Balochistan, Pakistan
 
Bhimbetka rock painting, Madhya Pradesh, India.
 
Ketavaram rock paintings, Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh (6000 B.C.)
 
Stone Age writing of Edakkal Caves in Kerala, India (6,000 BCE)

At the rock shelters of Bhimbetka there are cave paintings dating to c. 30,000 BCE,[12][13] and there are small cup like depressions at the end of the Auditorium Rock Shelter, which is dated to nearly 100,000 years;[14] the Sivaliks and the Potwar (Pakistan) region also exhibit many vertebrate fossil remains and paleolithic tools. Chert, jasper and quartzite were often used by humans during this period.[15]

Neolithic edit

Further information: Bhirrana and Mehrgarh

The aceramic Neolithic (Mehrgarh I, Baluchistan, Pakistan, also dubbed "Early Food Producing Era") lasts c. 7000 - 5500 BCE. The ceramic Neolithic lasts up to 3300 BCE, blending into the Early Harappan (Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age) period. One of the earliest Neolithic sites is Lahuradewa in the Middle Ganges region and Jhusi near the confluence of Ganges and Yamuna rivers, both dating to around the 7th millennium BCE.[16][17] Recently another site along the ancient Saraswati riverine system in the present day state of Haryana in India called Bhirrana has been discovered yielding a dating of around 7600 BCE for its Neolithic levels.[18]

In South India the Neolithic began by 3000 BCE and lasted until around 1400 BCE. South Indian Neolithic is characterized by Ashmounds since 2500 BCE in the Andhra-Karnataka region that expanded later into Tamil Nadu. Comparative excavations carried out in Adichanallur in the Thirunelveli District and in Northern India have provided evidence of a southward migration of the Megalithic culture.[19] The earliest clear evidence of the presence of the megalithic urn burials are those dating from around 1000 BCE, which have been discovered at various places in Tamil Nadu, notably at Adichanallur, 24 kilometers from Tirunelveli, where archaeologists from the Archaeological Survey of India unearthed 12 urns containing human skulls, skeletons and bones, husks, grains of charred rice and Neolithic celts, confirming the presence of the Neolithic period 2800 years ago. Archaeologists have made plans to return to Adhichanallur as a source of new knowledge in the future.[20][21]

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Kennedy, K. A. R.; Deraniyagala, S. U.; Roertgen, W. J.; Chiment, J.; Disotell, T. (April 1987). "Upper Pleistocene Fossil Hominids From Sri Lanka". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 72 (4): 441–461. doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330720405. PMID 3111269.
  2. ^ Parth R. Chauhan. Distribution of Acheulian sites in the Siwalik region 2012-01-04 at the Wayback Machine. An Overview of the Siwalik Acheulian & Reconsidering Its Chronological Relationship with the Soanian – A Theoretical Perspective.
  3. ^ Kennedy 2000, p. 136.
  4. ^ Kennedy 2000, p. 160.
  5. ^ Manmohan Kumar : Archaeology of Ambala and Kurukshetra Districts, Haryana, 1978, Mss, pp.240-241.
  6. ^ Haryana Samvad, Oct 2018, p38-40.
  7. ^ Early Pleistocene Presence of Acheulian Hominins in South India
  8. ^ Pilgrim, Guy, E. 'New Shivalik Primates and their Bearing on the Question, of the Evolution of Man and the Anthropoides, Records of the Geological Survey of India, 1915, Vol.XIV, pp. 2-61.
  9. ^ Haryana Gazateer, Revennue Dept of Haryana, Capter-V.
  10. ^ Alice Roberts (2010). The Incredible Human Journey. A&C Black. p. 90.
  11. ^ James & Petraglia 2005, S6.
  12. ^ Doniger, Wendy (2010) [First published 2009]. The Hindus: An Alternative History. Oxford University Press. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-19-959334-7.
  13. ^ Jarzombek, Mark M. (2014) [First published 2013]. Architecture of First Societies: A Global Perspective. John Wiley & Sons. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-118-42105-5.
  14. ^ Archaeological Survey of India, Government of India. "World Heritage Sites - Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka". Archaeological Survey of India, Government of India. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  15. ^ "Chert: Sedimentary Rock - Pictures, Definition, Formation". geology.com. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  16. ^ Fuller, Dorian (2006). "Agricultural Origins and Frontiers in South Asia: A Working Synthesis" (PDF). Journal of World Prehistory. 20: 42. doi:10.1007/s10963-006-9006-8. S2CID 189952275.
  17. ^ Tewari, Rakesh et al. 2006. "Second Preliminary Report of the excavations at Lahuradewa, District Sant Kabir Nagar, UP 2002-2003-2004 & 2005-06" in Pragdhara No. 16 "Electronic Version p.28" 2007-11-28 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ "Haryana's Bhirrana oldest Harappan site, Rakhigarhi Asia's largest: ASI". Times of India. 15 April 2015.
  19. ^ Sastri, Kallidaikurichi Aiyah Nilakanta (1976). A History of South India. Oxford University Press. pp. 49–51. ISBN 978-0-19-560686-7.
  20. ^ Subramanian, T. S. (2004-05-26). . The Hindu. Archived from the original on 2004-07-01. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
  21. ^ Zvelebil, Kamil A. (1992). Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature. Brill Academic Publishers. pp. 21–22. ISBN 978-90-04-09365-2. The most interesting pre-historic remains in Tamil India were discovered at Adichanallur. There is a series of urn burials. seem to be related to the megalithic complex.

References edit

  • Kennedy, Kenneth Adrian Raine (2000). God-Apes and Fossil Men: Palaeoanthropology of South Asia. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0472110131.
  • James, Hannah V. A.; Petraglia, Michael D. (December 2005). (PDF). Current Anthropology. 46 (Supplement): S3. doi:10.1086/444365. hdl:11858/00-001M-0000-002B-0DBC-F. S2CID 12529822. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2006.
  • Misra, V. N. (November 2001). "Prehistoric human colonization of India". Journal of Biosciences. 26 (4): 491–531. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.628.6715. doi:10.1007/BF02704749. PMID 11779962. S2CID 26248907.
  • Biagi P, Kazi M M e Negrino F. 1996. An Acheulian workshop at Ziarat Pir Shaban on the Rohri Hills (Sindh - Pakistan). South Asian Studies, 12: 49–62. Cambridge.
  • Biagi P, Kazi M.M, Madella M e Ottomano C. 1998-2000 - Excavations at the Late Palaeolithic site of ZPS2 in the Rohri Hills, Sindh, Pakistan. Origini, XXII: 111–133. Roma.
  • Biagi P. 2003-2004 - The Mesolithic Settlement of Sindh (Pakistan): A Preliminary Assessment. Praehistoria, 4-5: 195–220. Miskolc.
  • Biagi P. 2011 - Late (Upper) Palaeolithic Sites at Jhimpir in Lower Sindh (Pakistan). In Taskiran H., Kartal M., Özcelik K., Kösem M.B. and Kartal G. (eds.) Iş?n Yalç?nkaya'ya Armagan. Ankara University, Ankara: 67–84.
  • Biagi P. and Nisbet R. 2011 - The Palaeolithic sites at Ongar in Sindh, Pakistan: a precious archaeological resource in danger. Antiquity Project Gallery. Antiquity 85 (329): 1–6. August 2011. http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/biagi329/. Cambridge.
  • P. Biagi and E. Starnini 2014 - The Levallois Mousterian assemblages of Sindh (Pakistan) and their relations with the Middle Palaeolithic in the Indian Subcontinent. Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia, 42 (1): 18-32 (Elsevier English edition). Doi: 10.1016/j.aeae.2014.10.002.
  • P. Biagi 2015 - Modeling the Past: The Paleoethnological Evidence. In W. Henke, I Tattersall (eds) Handbook of Paleoanthropology. Springer Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg (2nd revised Edition): 817-843 Doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-27800-6_24-3.
  • P. Biagi 2017 - Why so many different stones? The Late (Upper) Palaeolithic of Sindh reconsidered. Journal of Asian Civilizations, 40 (1): 1-40.
  • P. Biagi and E. Starnini E. 2018 - Neanderthals and Modern Humans in the Indus Valley? The Middle and Late (Upper) Palaeolithic Settlement of Sindh, a Forgotten Region of the Indian Subcontinent. In: Nishiaki Y. and Akazawa T. (eds.) The Middle and Upper Paleolithic Archeology of the Levant and Beyond. Replacement of Neanderthals by Modern Humans Series. Springer, Singapore: 175–197. doi:10.1007/978-981-10-6826-3_12.

External links edit

  • Modern Humans Arrival In South Asia May Have Led To Demise Of Indigenous Populations (ScienceDaily 2005)

February 16, 2024
south, asian, stone, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, this, article, lacks, isbns, books, listed, please, help, isbns, citation, september, 2016, this, a. This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article lacks ISBNs for the books listed Please help add the ISBNs or run the citation bot September 2016 This article includes a list of general references but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations September 2016 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message The South Asian Stone Age covers the Palaeolithic Mesolithic and Neolithic periods in the Indian subcontinent Evidence for the most ancient Homo sapiens in South Asia has been found in the cave sites of Cudappah of India Batadombalena and Belilena in Sri Lanka 1 In Mehrgarh in what is today western Pakistan the Neolithic began c 7000 BCE and lasted until 3300 BCE and the first beginnings of the Bronze Age In South India the Mesolithic lasted until 3000 BCE and the Neolithic until 1400 BCE followed by a Megalithic transitional period mostly skipping the Bronze Age The Iron Age in India began roughly simultaneously in North and South India around c 1200 to 1000 BCE Painted Grey Ware culture Hallur Paiyampalli Pre Historic Sites of Middle Krishna Tungabhadra River Valley of South India are probably the efficient paleolithic cultural area s as per the evidences found over the valleyBelan Valley Cave Paintings at Panchmukhi Hill in SonbhadraContents 1 Homo erectus 2 The coming of Homo sapiens 3 Neolithic 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References 7 External linksHomo erectus editFurther information Acheulean Soanian and Riwat Homo erectus lived on the Pothohar Plateau in upper Punjab Pakistan along the Soan River nearby modern day Rawalpindi during the Pleistocene Epoch Soanian sites are found in the Sivalik region across what are now North India Pakistan and Nepal 2 Biface handaxes and cleaver traditions may have originated in the middle Pleistocene 3 The beginning of the use of Acheulian and chopping tools of the lower Paleolithic may also be dated to approximately the middle Pleistocene 4 Neolithic Stone Age 7000 BCE 5500 BCE finds were excavated from Pinjore in Haryana on the banks of the stream paleochannel of Saraswati river flowing through HMT complex 5 6 by Guy Ellcock Pilgrim who was a British geologist and palaeontologist who discovered 1 5 million years 15 lakhs old prehistoric human teeth and part of a jaw denoting that the ancient people who were intelligent hominins dating as far back as 1 500 000 ybp Acheulean period 7 lived in Pinjore region near Chandigarh 8 Quartzite tools of lower Paleolithic period were excavated in this region extending from Pinjore in Haryana to Nalagarh Solan district in Himachal Pradesh 9 The coming of Homo sapiens editMain article Peopling of India Analysis of mitochondrial DNA dates the immigration of Homo sapiens into the subcontinent to 75 000 to 50 000 years ago 10 11 Cave sites in Sri Lanka have yielded the earliest non mitochondrial record of Homo sapiens in South Asia They were dated to 34 000 years ago Kennedy 2000 180 For finds from the Belan in southern Uttar Pradesh India radiocarbon data have indicated an age of 18 000 17 000 years nbsp Zebu like animals in the Tharia Cave Paintings Balochistan Pakistan nbsp Bhimbetka rock painting Madhya Pradesh India nbsp Ketavaram rock paintings Kurnool district Andhra Pradesh 6000 B C nbsp Stone Age writing of Edakkal Caves in Kerala India 6 000 BCE At the rock shelters of Bhimbetka there are cave paintings dating to c 30 000 BCE 12 13 and there are small cup like depressions at the end of the Auditorium Rock Shelter which is dated to nearly 100 000 years 14 the Sivaliks and the Potwar Pakistan region also exhibit many vertebrate fossil remains and paleolithic tools Chert jasper and quartzite were often used by humans during this period 15 Neolithic editFurther information Bhirrana and Mehrgarh The aceramic Neolithic Mehrgarh I Baluchistan Pakistan also dubbed Early Food Producing Era lasts c 7000 5500 BCE The ceramic Neolithic lasts up to 3300 BCE blending into the Early Harappan Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period One of the earliest Neolithic sites is Lahuradewa in the Middle Ganges region and Jhusi near the confluence of Ganges and Yamuna rivers both dating to around the 7th millennium BCE 16 17 Recently another site along the ancient Saraswati riverine system in the present day state of Haryana in India called Bhirrana has been discovered yielding a dating of around 7600 BCE for its Neolithic levels 18 In South India the Neolithic began by 3000 BCE and lasted until around 1400 BCE South Indian Neolithic is characterized by Ashmounds since 2500 BCE in the Andhra Karnataka region that expanded later into Tamil Nadu Comparative excavations carried out in Adichanallur in the Thirunelveli District and in Northern India have provided evidence of a southward migration of the Megalithic culture 19 The earliest clear evidence of the presence of the megalithic urn burials are those dating from around 1000 BCE which have been discovered at various places in Tamil Nadu notably at Adichanallur 24 kilometers from Tirunelveli where archaeologists from the Archaeological Survey of India unearthed 12 urns containing human skulls skeletons and bones husks grains of charred rice and Neolithic celts confirming the presence of the Neolithic period 2800 years ago Archaeologists have made plans to return to Adhichanallur as a source of new knowledge in the future 20 21 See also editHistory of Afghanistan History of Bangladesh History of Bhutan History of India History of Maldives History of Nepal History of Pakistan History of Sri Lanka Prehistoric AsiaNotes edit Kennedy K A R Deraniyagala S U Roertgen W J Chiment J Disotell T April 1987 Upper Pleistocene Fossil Hominids From Sri Lanka American Journal of Physical Anthropology 72 4 441 461 doi 10 1002 ajpa 1330720405 PMID 3111269 Parth R Chauhan Distribution of Acheulian sites in the Siwalik region Archived 2012 01 04 at the Wayback Machine An Overview of the Siwalik Acheulian amp Reconsidering Its Chronological Relationship with the Soanian A Theoretical Perspective Kennedy 2000 p 136 Kennedy 2000 p 160 Manmohan Kumar Archaeology of Ambala and Kurukshetra Districts Haryana 1978 Mss pp 240 241 Haryana Samvad Oct 2018 p38 40 Early Pleistocene Presence of Acheulian Hominins in South India Pilgrim Guy E New Shivalik Primates and their Bearing on the Question of the Evolution of Man and the Anthropoides Records of the Geological Survey of India 1915 Vol XIV pp 2 61 Haryana Gazateer Revennue Dept of Haryana Capter V Alice Roberts 2010 The Incredible Human Journey A amp C Black p 90 James amp Petraglia 2005 S6 Doniger Wendy 2010 First published 2009 The Hindus An Alternative History Oxford University Press p 66 ISBN 978 0 19 959334 7 Jarzombek Mark M 2014 First published 2013 Architecture of First Societies A Global Perspective John Wiley amp Sons p 28 ISBN 978 1 118 42105 5 Archaeological Survey of India Government of India World Heritage Sites Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka Archaeological Survey of India Government of India Retrieved 4 March 2014 Chert Sedimentary Rock Pictures Definition Formation geology com Retrieved 2023 07 16 Fuller Dorian 2006 Agricultural Origins and Frontiers in South Asia A Working Synthesis PDF Journal of World Prehistory 20 42 doi 10 1007 s10963 006 9006 8 S2CID 189952275 Tewari Rakesh et al 2006 Second Preliminary Report of the excavations at Lahuradewa District Sant Kabir Nagar UP 2002 2003 2004 amp 2005 06 in Pragdhara No 16 Electronic Version p 28 Archived 2007 11 28 at the Wayback Machine Haryana s Bhirrana oldest Harappan site Rakhigarhi Asia s largest ASI Times of India 15 April 2015 Sastri Kallidaikurichi Aiyah Nilakanta 1976 A History of South India Oxford University Press pp 49 51 ISBN 978 0 19 560686 7 Subramanian T S 2004 05 26 Skeletons script found at ancient burial site in Tamil Nadu The Hindu Archived from the original on 2004 07 01 Retrieved 2007 07 31 Zvelebil Kamil A 1992 Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature Brill Academic Publishers pp 21 22 ISBN 978 90 04 09365 2 The most interesting pre historic remains in Tamil India were discovered at Adichanallur There is a series of urn burials seem to be related to the megalithic complex References editKennedy Kenneth Adrian Raine 2000 God Apes and Fossil Men Palaeoanthropology of South Asia Ann Arbor University of Michigan Press ISBN 978 0472110131 James Hannah V A Petraglia Michael D December 2005 Modern Human Origins and the Evolution of Behavior in the Later Pleistocene Record of South Asia PDF Current Anthropology 46 Supplement S3 doi 10 1086 444365 hdl 11858 00 001M 0000 002B 0DBC F S2CID 12529822 Archived from the original PDF on 19 August 2006 Misra V N November 2001 Prehistoric human colonization of India Journal of Biosciences 26 4 491 531 CiteSeerX 10 1 1 628 6715 doi 10 1007 BF02704749 PMID 11779962 S2CID 26248907 Biagi P Kazi M M e Negrino F 1996 An Acheulian workshop at Ziarat Pir Shaban on the Rohri Hills Sindh Pakistan South Asian Studies 12 49 62 Cambridge Biagi P Kazi M M Madella M e Ottomano C 1998 2000 Excavations at the Late Palaeolithic site of ZPS2 in the Rohri Hills Sindh Pakistan Origini XXII 111 133 Roma Biagi P 2003 2004 The Mesolithic Settlement of Sindh Pakistan A Preliminary Assessment Praehistoria 4 5 195 220 Miskolc Biagi P 2011 Late Upper Palaeolithic Sites at Jhimpir in Lower Sindh Pakistan In Taskiran H Kartal M Ozcelik K Kosem M B and Kartal G eds Is n Yalc nkaya ya Armagan Ankara University Ankara 67 84 Biagi P and Nisbet R 2011 The Palaeolithic sites at Ongar in Sindh Pakistan a precious archaeological resource in danger Antiquity Project Gallery Antiquity 85 329 1 6 August 2011 http www antiquity ac uk projgall biagi329 Cambridge P Biagi and E Starnini 2014 The Levallois Mousterian assemblages of Sindh Pakistan and their relations with the Middle Palaeolithic in the Indian Subcontinent Archaeology Ethnology amp Anthropology of Eurasia 42 1 18 32 Elsevier English edition Doi 10 1016 j aeae 2014 10 002 P Biagi 2015 Modeling the Past The Paleoethnological Evidence In W Henke I Tattersall eds Handbook of Paleoanthropology Springer Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2nd revised Edition 817 843 Doi 10 1007 978 3 642 27800 6 24 3 P Biagi 2017 Why so many different stones The Late Upper Palaeolithic of Sindh reconsidered Journal of Asian Civilizations 40 1 1 40 P Biagi and E Starnini E 2018 Neanderthals and Modern Humans in the Indus Valley The Middle and Late Upper Palaeolithic Settlement of Sindh a Forgotten Region of the Indian Subcontinent In Nishiaki Y and Akazawa T eds The Middle and Upper Paleolithic Archeology of the Levant and Beyond Replacement of Neanderthals by Modern Humans Series Springer Singapore 175 197 doi 10 1007 978 981 10 6826 3 12 External links editModern Humans Arrival In South Asia May Have Led To Demise Of Indigenous Populations ScienceDaily 2005 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title South Asian Stone Age amp oldid 1175637621, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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