Prehistoric Cultures

Indian prehistory is divided by stone-tool technology into the Palaeolithic (c. 2 million-10000 BCE), Mesolithic (c. 10000-6000 BCE), Neolithic (c. 7000-1000 BCE) and Chalcolithic (c. 3000-900 BCE) phases. The sequence is not a clean national timeline: the same phase begins at different dates in different regions, and phases overlap.

Palaeolithic age

The Palaeolithic is a hunting-gathering age with no agriculture, no pottery and no permanent settlement. Tools are made on quartzite, so Palaeolithic people are sometimes called quartzite men. Robert Bruce Foote discovered the first Indian Palaeolithic tool at Pallavaram near Chennai in 1863, the event that opened Indian prehistoric archaeology.

The only Indian human fossil of the age is the Narmada hominid skull found at Hathnora, Madhya Pradesh, in 1982. The Kurnool caves in Andhra Pradesh yield the earliest bone tools and evidence of fire use in the subcontinent.

Mesolithic age

The Mesolithic is a transitional age marked by microliths - tiny geometric tools hafted onto wood or bone. Its defining social change is the beginning of animal domestication, with the dog first, and the earliest evidence of deliberate human burial.

Microlith = tool under 5 cm, usually geometric, hafted into a composite implement

• Bagor (Rajasthan) - largest Mesolithic site; earliest evidence of animal domestication in India
• Adamgarh (Madhya Pradesh) - domestication evidence alongside Bagor
• Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh) - rock shelters with continuous occupation and the richest rock art
• Sarai Nahar Rai, Mahadaha, Damdama (Uttar Pradesh) - human burials, some with grave goods
• Langhnaj (Gujarat) and Birbhanpur (West Bengal) - regional Mesolithic clusters

Bhimbetka deserves separate attention because it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the anchor of prehistoric rock art questions. Its paintings run from the Upper Palaeolithic to the historic period, use mineral colours dominated by red (haematite) and white, and depict hunting scenes, dancing, animals and later horse riders. Green and yellow appear rarely and mainly in Mesolithic layers.

Neolithic age

The Neolithic brings the decisive economic change: agriculture, permanent settlement, pottery and polished stone tools. It does not begin everywhere at once, and the regional spread is exactly what UPSC tests.

✗ Burzahom is famous for ash mounds  |  ✓ Ash mounds belong to South India; Burzahom is famous for pit dwellings

Chalcolithic cultures

Chalcolithic means copper-stone: the first use of metal, but stone tools continue. These are village farming cultures, mostly outside the Harappan zone and often later than it, which is why 'Chalcolithic' does not simply mean 'pre-Harappan'.

• Ahar-Banas (Rajasthan) - black and red ware, copper smelting, no microliths
• Kayatha and Malwa (Madhya Pradesh) - Malwa ware is the finest Chalcolithic pottery
• Jorwe (Maharashtra) - Inamgaon and Daimabad; Daimabad yielded the famous bronze chariot hoard
• Chirand and Senuwar (Bihar) - eastern Chalcolithic with rice cultivation

A striking demographic finding at Chalcolithic sites is high child mortality, inferred from the large number of child burials at Inamgaon. Diet was cereal-rich but these communities were not urban, had no writing, and used copper rather than bronze in most cases.

FAQ

Which is the oldest farming site in the Indian subcontinent?

Mehrgarh in present-day Balochistan, dated to around 7000 BCE. It shows wheat and barley cultivation, domesticated cattle, sheep and goat, mud-brick houses and later pottery, and it provides the agricultural base from which the Harappan civilisation eventually grew.

Why is Bhimbetka important for UPSC?

Bhimbetka is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with over 700 rock shelters showing continuous human occupation from the Palaeolithic onwards. Its paintings, dominated by red and white mineral colours, are the largest prehistoric art collection in India and appear in both history and culture questions.

What is the difference between Neolithic and Chalcolithic?

Neolithic communities farmed with polished stone tools and had no metal. Chalcolithic communities used copper alongside stone tools. Chalcolithic is not automatically later than Neolithic in every region, and many Chalcolithic cultures are contemporary with or later than the Harappan civilisation.