SOUTH ASIAN STONE AGE

The 'South Asian Stone Age' covers the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods in South Asia.

Contents

Paleolithic

Homo erectus

Homo sapiens

Neolithic

References

See also

External link

Paleolithic

Homo erectus

Homo erectus lived in South Asia during the Pleistocene Epoch. Biface handaxe and cleaver traditions may have originated in the middle Pleistocene.^[1] The beginning of the use of Acheulian and chopper-chopping tools of lower paleolithic may be dated to approx. the middle Pleistocene ^[1].

Homo sapiens

Cave sites in Sri Lanka have yielded the earliest record of modern homo sapiens in South Asia. They were dated to 34,000 years ago . (Kennedy 2000: 180). mtDNA analysis dates the immigration of Homo sapiens to South Asia to 70 to 60 thousand years ago.
Based on a syntheses of fossil, artifact, and genetic data, Michael Petraglia and Hannah James argue that modern humans arrived there about 70,000 years ago.^[3]
For finds from the Belan in southern Uttar Pradesh radio carbon data have indicated an age of 18-17 tya. Palaeolithic rock art is also well-known.


At the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka humans lived throughout the Upper Paleolithic (10th to 8th millennia BCE), revealing cave paintings dating to ca. 7000 BCE; the Sivaliks and the Potwar region also exhibit many vertebrate fossil remains and paleolithic tools. Chert, jasper and quartzite were often used by humans during this period.

Neolithic

Main articles: Mehrgarh

The aceramic Neolithic (Mehrgarh I, also dubbed "Early Food Producing Era") lasts ca. 7000 - 5500 BCE. The ceramic Neolithic lasts up to 3300 BCE, blending into the Early Harappan (Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age) period.
Comparative excavations carried out in Adichanallur in Thirunelveli District and in Northern India have provided evidence of a southward migration of the Megalithic culture^[4] 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 km from Tirunelveli, where archaeologists from the Archaeological Survey of India unearthed 12 urns with Tamil Brahmi script on them containing human skulls, skeletons and bones, plus husks, grains of rice, charred rice and Neolithic celts, giving evidence confirming it of the Neolithic period 2800 years ago. This proved that Tirunelveli area has been the abode for human habituation since the Neolithic period about 3,000 years ago. Adhichanallur has been announced as an archaeological site for further excavation and studies.^[5][6]

References

★ God-Apes and Fossil Men: Palaeoanthropology of South Asia, , Kenneth Adrian Raine, Kennedy, University of Michigan Press, 2000,

★ Modern Human Origins and the Evolution of Behavior in the Later Pleistocene Record of South Asia, , Hannah V. A., James, Current Anthropology, 2005

★ Prehistoric human colonization of India, , V. N., Misra, Journal of Biosciences, 2001
1.
2.
3. (Petraglia 2005)
4. A History of South India, , Kallidaikurichi Aiyah
Nilakanta, Sastri, , ,
5. Skeletons, script found at ancient burial site in Tamil Nadu T. S. Subramanian
6. Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature, , Kamil A., Zvelebil, Brill Academic Publishers, 1992,

See also

★ Pre History of Sri Lanka

External link

★ Introducing Indian Prehistory