It is believed
that the genus Homo evolved in Africa roughly 2.5 M years ago. The Homo Habilis species that emerged were the
first members of the Homo Lineage, and is definitely known to have made and
used stone tools and artefacts. It is known that ‘Homo Erectus’ populations,
which had appeared around 1.8 M years ago, had spread out of Africa and
occupied large regions of Eastern.
India is one of
the oldest inhabited regions on the planet. The Hominid activity in the
subcontinent dates back to over 250,000 years. Significant human activity was
underway in India by the Holocene Period some 10,000 years ago.
What is Proto-history?
Proto-history is a
period between pre-history and history, during which a culture or civilisation
has not yet developed writing skills.
Ancient history
can be divided into different periods according to the tools used by people
then.
Palaeolithic Period:
The Paleolithic
infers to a time period in history from approximately
2.6 million years ago to roughly 10,000 years ago. During this period, man
relied on hunting and had no knowledge of cultivation and home-building. In
Paleolithic itself, the man began to use fire for and started creating art
farms as can be seen in cave paintings dating back to this time. Food items of
the period included meat from animals, fish, fruit, vegetables and legumes. The
tools included hand axes, harpoons, stonetipped spears, bow and arrows.
Paleolithic age is also called as ‘Old Stone Age’. The man began to use fire
for cooking, develop early religions as can be seen in cave paintings dating
back to this time.
Mesolithic Period:
Continuing from
the end of Paleolithic, in early Mesolithic (10,000 BC–8000 BC approximately), major climate change happened.
The climate became warmer, and more humid. People started wearing clothes made
of animal’s skin as well eating cooked food through use of
fire. Components could easily be replaced without discarding the whole tool. Tools were very
small made of stone, probably stuck to stones to be used as saws and sickles. Prominent tools
used were blades, triangles, trapezes, spearheads, knives, arrowheads, sickles,
harpoons and daggers. Some of the tools were used as components of
spearheads, arrowheads, knives, sickles and harpoons. They were fitted into
grooves in bone, wood and reed shafts, and joined together by natural adhesives
like gum and resin. Agriculture had not fully developed till this
period.
The rock painting
of this period is found in Adamgarh, Bhimbetka of Uttar Pradesh and Pratapgarh,
Mirzapur of Rajasthan.
Neolithic Period:
In this Period (around between 8000 BC–4000 BC),
people in several areas around the Earth developed new agricultural methods and
machines, such as the plough pulled by horses or oxen. During this time, people
also began domestication and development of both crops and animals.The results
of these changes made agricultural production much more productive. Food output
increased. More land could be farmed by fewer people or in fewer hours. This
resulted in greatly improved production and the increased availability of food. The change from
hunting/gathering to primitive farming appears so sudden and fast that this
technological change is often characterized as the Neolithic Revolution. The
revolution resulted in the discovery of smelting and the creation of bronze
tools led to the Bronze Age.
They lived in
caves, decorated these by painting scenes of hunting, dancing, etc. They knew
spinning and weaving, as also making of boats. Some tombs of the Neolithic men
which have been discovered show that they used to bury their dead in large
earthen urns.
*Important Neolithic
Sites Inamgaon, Burzahom (Kasmir), Mehrgarh (Pakistan), Daojali Hading
(Tripura/ Assam), Paiyampalli (AP) and Chirand (Bihar).
Chalcolithic Period:
About 4,000 years
ago the man started using bronze along with the stone. Now the man had
developed to a great extent. The population was mainly urban, including the
priests, writers and clerks at this stage. Though the tools excavated suggest that there
was over-lapping in use of stone and the metal, the similarity in the shape and
types of stone and bronze tools shows simultaneous use of the bronze and stone.
Tin mixed with copper was the major material used. That is why, the period is
called as the ‘Bronze age’ (around between 4000 BC–1500 BC).
The Chalcolithic
people made tools, sweapons and bangles of copper, manufactured beads of
semi-precious stones such as carnelian and quartz because spindle whorls have
been discovered in Malwa. Discovery
of cotton, flax and silk threads shows that they knew well the manufacture of
cloth.
During this
period, the discovery of wheel revolutionized the whole system. The
transportation was improved which eventually brought about the complexities in
life of people. The initial commerce was developed.
Iron Age:
The Iron Age was a
period (around between 1500 BC–200 BC)
found at different points around the world where societies recovered from the
collapse of Bronze-Age civilization, developed new tools, and built bigger,
more complex civilizations than ever before. This was a time of
re-organization, but also religious growth. Iron is perhaps
accidentally discovered from a mateorite around 1500 BC and worked upon it to
form ornaments and ceremonial weapons.
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