Achulian Culture in India
When our first human ancestor mind started evolving into different stages of technological innovation they first use Stone as the basic, easily available land most efficient tools and weapon to be used for their different needs, for buttering, hunting purposes. stone age has been divided into different stages and period, each characterized by different types of tools and techniques. Stone Age began started 2.5 million years ago for the first time in Africa and , ended in many parts of the world upto 2,000 years ago, even in some other region, indigenous group of tribal people used to use stone tools until even 10th century AD
The stone age cover broad period from Paleolithic (Old Stone Age), Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age), and Neolithic (New Stone Age). British naturalist Sir John Lubbock in 1865 defined the Paleolithic stage as the period in which stone tools were chipped or flaked. He defined the Neolithic as the stage in which ground and polished stone axes became prevalent. These two stages also were associated with different economic and subsistence strategies: Paleolithic peoples were hunter-gatherers while Neolithic peoples were farmers. Archaeologists subsequently identified a separate stage of stone tool working in Eurasia and Africa between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic, called the Mesolithic. This period is characterized by the creation of microliths, small, geometric-shaped stone artifacts that were attached to wood, antler, or bone to form implements such as arrows, spears, or scythes. Microliths began appearing between 15,000 and 10,000 years ago at the end of the Pleistocene Ice Age.
The Paleolithic/Mesolithic/Neolithic division system was first iniciated by C.J. Thmoson in Denmark. but is it now widely use torefer to prehistoric human development in Asia, Africa, and Australasia. Different terminology is often used to describe the cultural-historical chronology of the Americas, which humans did not reach until some point between 20,000 and 12,000 years ago. However, there is a general similarity in the transition from flaked stone tools associated with prehistoric hunter-gatherers to both flaked and ground stone tools associated with the rise of early farming communities. The period in the Americas up to the end of the Pleistocene Ice Age about 10,000 years ago, when most humans were hunter-gatherers, is called Paleo-Indian and the subsequent, post glacial period is known as Archaic.
Paleolithic |
Archaeologists subdivide the Paleolithic into the Lower Paleolithic (the earliest phase), Middle Paleolithic, and Upper Paleolithic (the later phase), based upon the presence or absence of certain classes of stone artifacts.
1. | Lower Paleolithic |
The Lower Paleolithic dates from approximately 2.5 million years ago until about 1,2000 years ago. It includes the earliest record of human toolmaking and documents much of the evolutionary history of the genus Homo from its origins in Africa to its spread into Eurasia. Two successive toolmaking industries characterize the Lower Paleolithic: the Oldowan and the Acheulean.
The Achulian or Lower Paleolithic period , is the first period of prehistory and the longest age. The main feature is the appearance of early humans, a new species is characterized by clearly distinguishing aspects, such as increased cranial capacity, the ability to walk upright or the ability to develop a language or make instruments, among others. The remains of oldest human beings have been found in eastern Africa, where people have found fossils of Australopithecus, Homo habilis and Homo erectus, who spread to other continents. 100,000 years ago, the emergence of a new species, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, began a new period, the Middle Paleolithic. During the upper Paleolithic, stone tools are made increasingly made in more complex technology . In India, the oldest are reported from Isampur in Hungsi , Baichbal Valley of Karnataka and interact with Homo erectus, believe to be the first Prehistoric man in the Indian subcontinent. Isampur is a well know Paleolithic site was excavated by Prof. K. Paddayya from Deccan College ( Post Graduate and Research Institute)Pune. The site has been dated to 1.2 Million Years. There is some other sites like Bori, and Morgaon in Maharashtra has occured very early dates.
The Palaeolithic stone implements in the Indian subcontinent generally occur in two biostratigraphically recognizable gravel horizons. The older gravel bed, characterized by Middle Pleistocene fauna, till now provides the oldest stratigraphic record of Lower Palaeolithic tools represented by hand axes, cleavers, choppers, etc. (CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 84, NO. 2, 25 JANUARY 2003)
Attarimpakam (Tamilnadu),
Isampur
The Acheulian site at Isampur (16°30¢N: 76°29¢E) is set in a 20–30 cm thick calcareous silt above the Bhima Group limestone dated to 1.2 million years by ESR Dating method
Human colonization in India encompasses a span of at least half-a-million years and is divided into two broad
periods, namely the prehistoric (before the emergence of writing) and the historic (after writing). The prehistoric
period is divided into stone, bronze and iron ages. The stone age is further divided into palaeolithic, mesolithic
and neolithic periods. As the name suggests, the technology in these periods was primarily based on stone.
Economically, the palaeolithic and mesolithic periods represented a nomadic, hunting-gathering way of life,
while the neolithic period represented a settled, food-producing way of life. Subsequently copper was introduced
as a new material and this period was designated as the chalcolithic period. The invention of agriculture, which
took place about 8000 years ago, brought about dramatic changes in the economy, technology and demography of
human societies. Human habitat in the hunting-gathering stage was essentially on hilly, rocky and forested
regions, which had ample wild plant and animal food resources. The introduction of agriculture saw it shifting to
the alluvial plains which had fertile soil and perennial availability of water. Hills and forests, which had so far
been areas of attraction, now turned into areas of isolation.
Agriculture led to the emergence of villages and towns and brought with it the division of society into
occupational groups. The first urbanization took place during the bronze age in the arid and semi-arid region of
northwest India in the valleys of the Indus and the Saraswati rivers, the latter represented by the now dry
Ghaggar–Hakra bed. This urbanization is known as the Indus or Harappan civilization which flourished during
3500–1500 B.C. The rest of India during this period was inhabited by neolithic and chalcolithic farmers and
mesolithic hunter-gatherers.
Middle Palaeolithic culture
Upper Paleolithic Culture
Mesolithic culture
Neolithic Culture
Chirand -is a stratified Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Iron Age settlement in the eastern Ganges Valley of Bihar in northern India, between about 2500-AD 30. The Neolithic occupation (2500-1345 BC) contains evidence of small circular huts, and small scale farming of wheat, rice, mung, masur, and peas. Excavations at Chirand have been conducted by the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums in Bihar since the early 1960s. (about.com)
Tekkalakota- is a Neolithic period site in Bellary district, India, where archaeologists found the foundations of circular huts and a small cemetery, and evidence of early cattle and plant domestication, dated 1500 BC. The site was excavated in the 1960s by a team led by M. S. Nagaraja Rao, and by F.R. and Bridget Allchin. More recent studies have been focused on the archaeobotanical materials by Vishnu-Mittre and Savithri Ravi, who identified several early examples of domesticated crops such as hyacinth bean.(about.com)
Koldihwa- Neolithic
archaeological site in Upper Pradesh state of northern India, dated
between 4000-1200 BC. Koldihwa was an agricultural village of circular
uts, with stone axes, bone and stone tools, pottery, and cattle pens;
and early evidence of rice cultivation, found as impressions in ceramic
vessels.
Piklihal- is a neolithic period site in Raichur District, India. Excavated by F.R. and Bridget Allchin in the 1960s, the site was occupied between the late third and early second millennium BC, and has evidence of domesticated cattle, as well as sheep, goats, turtles, and shellfish.