India experienced an early development of cultures and civilisations.
Since the Old Stone Age, several groups in India had migrated multiple
times and made cultural adaptations to diverse eco-zones. Each group
evolved its own culture responding to their living experiences in each
place, which eventually led to pluralistic
beliefs and systems. From a
life of foraging through nomadic pastoralism, the settlers in Indus
region reached a matured stage of living in the Bronze Age.
This
chapter focuses on the history of India from the first settlement of
humans in the Stone Age, up to the decline of the Indus Civilisation. It
dwells on the Neolithic cultures as well.
Sources
Archaeological
sources form the bedrock of information for us to understand this long
span of time in Indian history. They include archaeological sites,
geological sediments, animal bones and fossils, stone tools, bone tools,
rock paintings and artefacts. There is no written evidence for this
period. Although the Harappans used a script, it is yet to be
deciphered.environment. Floral evidence found in the form of charred
seeds, pollens and phytoliths (plant stones) helps us to gain knowledge
of farming practiced by Stone Age people.
The human genes also constitute an important source for understanding pre-
historic
migrations. The mitochondrial DNA (mt-DNA) studies provide information
on pre-historic migrations. Scientists are trying to extract ancient DNA
from the bones of the pre- historic era to understand human
dispersals.Language is another important source of history. Indo-Aryan,
Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman language families have
flourished in India. These languages developed
and evolved during the various phases of migrations in Indian history.
The
period before the development of script is called the pre-historic
times. It is also referred to as the Stone Age. When we talk about the
Stone Age, we include the entire South Asia, the region covering India,
Pakistan, Sri Lanka,
Nepal and Bangladesh, as a whole. Human ancestors are likely to have first
evolved
in Africa and later migrated to different parts of the world. The
earliest human ancestor species to migrate out of Africa was the Homo
erectus. Till the end of the 20 th century,the pre-history of India was
considered to have begun within the time span of one million years ago.
But, recent investigations have produced
evidence for the presence of
human ancestors in India between two million and one million years ago.
Generally, the period before the invention of script is broadly divided
into Stone Age,Bronze Age and Iron Age. Hence, the names of materials
that they used (for example, painted grey ware culture or Iron Age
culture) or the
geographical region (Indus) or the first site to be
identified (for example, Acheulian or Harappan) are used to name the
cultures.
Lower Palaeolithic Culture
The earliest lithic artefacts come from different parts of the Indian subcontinent.
During
the Lower Palaeolithic cultural phase, human ancestor species of Homo
erectus is believed to have lived in India. The first Palaeolithic tools
were identified at the site of Pallavaram near Chennai by Robert Bruce
Foote in 1863. He found many pre-historic sites when he extensively
surveyed different parts of South
India. Since then, numerous Palaeolithic sites have been identified and excavated all over India.
VIII th class|Socialscience|important Qustion|Tamil Medium
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