PALAEOLITHIC CULTURES OF INDIA

The idea of three age system(stone, bronze and iron) was first put forward in the late 18th century and early 19th century by the Danish scholars P.F.Suhm and Christan Thomsen.The Palaeolithic period or the Old Stone Age constitutes the longest phase of Prehistory and covers the whole range of the Pleistocene epoch from about 2 m.y.a to 10,000 BP.

The Palaeolithic Age is divided into three cultural phases, Early or Lower Palaeolithic, Middle Palaeolithic and Late or Upper Palaeolithic. The division was suggested by Edouard Lartet based on progressive improvement in tool-types. The Lower Palaeolithic period was marked by the use of heavy pebble tools(chopper-chopping and hand-axes), the Middle Palaeolithic by flake tools and Upper Palaeolithic by sharp blades and burins.

CHRONOLOGY:

The earliest fossils relating to human evolution have been found in the shiwalik hills covering India and Pakistan. These fossils are skulls called Ramapithecus and Shivapithecus which are considered 2.2 million years old. The evidence of earliest stone tools in India comes from Riwat, south-east of Rawalpindi in Pakistan. Based on the Palaeomagnetic dating done by Rendell and Denell, the tools date back to around 2 m.y.a. Most of the early Paleolithic tools in India belongs to a period around 6,00,000 to 1,50,000 BP while those of Middle and Upper Palaeolithic Ages are dated between 1,50,000 to 40,000 BP and 40,000 to 10,000 BP, respectively.

TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGY:

Prehistoric man, who was primarily interested in fabricating stone tools having pointed ends or sharp cutting edges(as they did hunting and gathering), came to learn the art of making desired tools gradually through hit and trial method. There were basically three tool making techniques prevalent during the prehistoric period.1) Based on direct percussion 2) Based on indirect percussion 3) Based on pressure application.

Direct percussion

Indirect percussion

In direct percussion technique, a stone or pebble was hit perpendicularly on the edge of another stone to produce a big and massive flake with wide angles or zigzag edges. Flakes were those pieces which were removed from a large block either by hard hammer(stone) or soft hammer(bone, wood), while core tools were those from which flakes were removed.

In indirect percussion technique, the pressure on the core is put indirectly through an object to take out the flakes of desired shape or size. The pressure technique, on the other hand, is done by putting pressure at one specified point to make flakes jump out of the core.

The Early Palaeolithic period is marked by two types of tool cultures. First, the Soan or Sohan culture, named after River Soan, a tributary of the Indus in Potwar plateau of northern Pakistan and they are represented by pebble- based tools called chopper-chopping tools. Second, the Acheulian culture, named after the site of St. Acheul(France). They are characterised by the tools called hand-axes and cleavers. The Acheulian tools were once known as the '' Madrasian'' Culture as hand-axes were first found near Madras.

The choppers are worked on one side (unifacial) while the chopping-tools are worked on both sides (bifacial). Later another tool type called hand-axe was used. It was basically a core-tool and was produced by knocking off flake systematically from several directions but unlike the modern hand-axe, it was used by hand rather than a handle. Cleaver is a flat tool made from a big rectangular flake and has a broad axe like cutting edge.

The choice of raw material used for tool-making varied from region to region and depended upon its availability. In the Early Palaeolithic period quartzite was used over much of the country, basalt was used in Maharashtra and limestone in the Hunsgi region of Karnataka. Though the materials were different yet they show a remarkable similarity.

The Middle Palaeolithic period was marked by a further advance in tool making technology. These tools were smaller and thinner than those of Early Palaeolithic and were made with fine-grained material like agate, chert and Jasper. The chopper-chopping tools and hand-axe became rare and new tools were mostly scrapers, borers and points. These were basically the flake tools and were first identified by H.D. Sankalia in 1956 at Nevasa in Maharashtra.

The Upper Palaeolithic period notices a further reduction in size and weight of tools. The tool types can be described as flakes and burins. Burin is a chisel like tool made on a blade-like flake. It has a sharp and straight cutting edge of the modern screwdriver and could be used for making grooves in a wooden or bone handle to fix the blades.According to Allchin, the main advantage of the Upper Palaeolithic tools was that being lighter they could be carried over a long distance.The use of bone tools formed an important feature of the Upper Palaeolithic period in Europe, but in India, these are only reported from the cave called Muchchatta Chintamani Gavi at Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh.

Distribution of Palaeolithic Sites:

Palaeolithic Sites are spread almost all over the Indian subcontinent, from the foothills of the Himalayas in the north to Tamil Nadu in the south, and from Peshawar and Sind in the west to Meghalaya (Garo Hills) and Bengal in the east. The only areas which are devoid of Palaeolithic remains are the alluvial plains of Ganges and the Indus and the Western Ghats. It is believed that early man didn't settle here because of the non-availability of stone in these areas.

Early Palaeolithic Sites: In recent years, important evidence of dates for lower palaeolithic context has come from the Potwar plateau and the Shiwaliks. Riwat in the Potwar plateau has reported the pebble tools dating back to 2 m.y.a. Pebble tools of later date are found from various other regions such as Jhelum basin (Dina and Jabalpur), The river terraces of Beas and Benganga (Himachal Pradesh) and Ladakh and Pahalgaon in Kashmir valley. In lower Sindh, stone tools belonging to the lower, middle and upper palaeolithic were found at sites such as Jerruck and Milestone. In Rajasthan, lower, middle, and upper palaeolithic tools have been found around Ajmer and stray finds of lower palaeolithic tools occur in Luni valley. In the Belan valley in Uttar Pradesh, detailed studies have revealed a sequence of stone age industries from the lower palaeolithic to protohistoric period.  Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh has given evidence of lower palaeolithic to the historic period. The river valleys and foothills of the Chhotanagpur plateau, Orissa and Karnataka also show evidence. In Andhra Pradesh, lower palaeolithic tools have been found in inland areas as well as the coastal areas. In Tamil Nadu, there is a stratigraphic sequence from the early palaeolithic to the mesolithic near Chennai.

Middle Palaeolithic Sites: Middle Palaeolithic tools are found in many parts of the subcontinent, prominent among those are Didwana site (Rajasthan), The Hiran valley (Gujarat), Potawar plateau (Pakistan), the Thar region, the Jaisalmer area, Patne in the Tapi valley, the site of Nevasa, Vishakapatnam coast etc.

Upper Palaeolithic sites : Prominent sites are the Sanghao cave, Rohri hills in upper Sindh, Milestone in lower Sindh, in caves and rock shelters of Vindhya, Chopani Mando in the Belan valley, Chotanagpur region, Damin area of the Rajmahal hills, Lalmai hills of Bangladesh, Haora and Khowari river valleys in western Tripura .

Palaeolithic Art and Cults:

Prehistoric art marks the beginning of the history of arts. The prehistoric art was mainly the rock art which included the cave paintings and the petroglyphs such as figurines. In India, there is very little evidence of palaeolithic art partly because most of the evidence have perished over time and partly because much of it remains to be discovered. It has been suggested that some paintings at sites such as Bhimbetka go back to the upper palaeolithic period, but this is far from certain. Dramatic evidence of artistic cum cultic activity come from Cave III F-24 at Bhimbetka, known as 'auditorium cave'. A very damaged upper palaeolithic carved bone object is found at Lohanda Nala in the Belan valley (UP) has been identified by G.R. Sharma as a mother goddess figurine and as a harpoon by Bedarnik and Wakankar. In the upper palaeolithic layer at Baghor(Madhya Pradesh), a rubble-built platform is found with a triangular piece of natural stone in the centre. Some scholars identify it with a place where mother-goddess was worshipped. Moreover, beads made from ostrich eggshells are found from Patne and Bhimbetka rock shelters.

Settlement and Subsistence Pattern:

Palaeolithic Sites in India indicates that human ancestors lived in open-air sites or in rock or cave shelters, wherever possible. The number of cave shelters are very few and are mostly located in Madhya Pradesh (Bhimbetka and Adamgarh area). The sites were mostly near any source of water. According to V.N. Misra, the rock shelters appears to have been occupied only during monsoons and the winters months and in summer months human groups preferred to camp in the open. Thus, these settlements were only a temporary camping sites where hunter-gatherers returned after moving out for food for a short while. The basic social structure of palaeolithic hunter-gatherers may have corresponded in some ways to what anthropologists call a 'band society'. Bands are small communities usually consisting of less than 100 people. They moved from one place to another depending on the animals they hunt and plant food they gather. Status and bonding between them were based on kinship ties.

Reference:

• A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India(From the Stone Age to the 12th Century)f- Upinder Singh
• Prehistory and Protohistory of India-V.K. Jain
• India's Ancient Past - R.S. Sharma
• Early India (From The Origins to AD 1300)-Romila Thapar