PALEOLITHIC OR OLD STONE
AGE: (30,00,000 BC – 10000 BC)
* The Palaeolithic Age is the earliest period of the
Stone Age, which developed in the Pleistocene
period or the Ice Age.
* It spread in practically all parts of India except the
alluvial plains of the Indus and Ganga.
* No knowledge of agriculture, house
building, pottery, or any metal.
* Chopper-chopping pebble culture: The implements
of this culture were found first from the Sohan river
valley of west Punjab (Pakistan), also called Sohan
Culture.
* Hand Axe culture: The implements of this culture
were found first in Madurai and Attirampakkam
of Madras, also called Madrasian Culture.
* Quartzite men: Since the stone tools were made of
a hard rock called quartzite, Palaeolithic men are
therefore also called Quartzite men in India.
* Famous sites of the Old Stone Age:
- Soan valley and Potwar plateau.
- Siwalik hills in north India.
- Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh.
- Adamgarh Hills in Narmada Valley.
- Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh.
- Attirampakkam near Chennai.
Lower Paleolithic Age:
(5,00,000 to 50,000 BC) (Homoeractus)
* Evolution: Hunting and food gathering.
Lived in trees and in caves. Learned the use of fire for roasting meat
and warding off animals
* Tools: Simply chopper-chopping i.e., crude and rough
tools prepared out of pebbles. Hand Axes Cleavers and Choppers,.
* Sites: Soan and Sohan River Valley (now in Pakistan),
Didwana, (Rajasthan), rock shelters of Bhimbetka (MP), Hiran Valley (Gujarat), and Belan Valley of
Mirzapur (UP).
Middle Paleolithic Age:
(50,000 to 40,000 BC) (Neanderthal)
* Evolution: Men remained hunters and food gatherers. The language was invented in this period
* Tools: Flake culture: due to excessiveness of
implements made from flakes. Refined and lighter
tools made of harder stone material like flint were
used. Diversified tools based on flakes were used, for
example, blades, pointers, scrapers and borers.
* Sites: Narmada and Tungabhadra river
valleys, Potwar plateau (between Indus and Jehlum),
Sanghao Cave (near Peshawar, Pakistan) and Soan.
Upper Paleolithic Age:
(40,000 - 10,000 BC) (Homo Sapiens)
* Evolution: Homo sapiens first appeared at the end
of this phase. Other hominin species were eliminated by
this time. There is evidence of art in the form of
paintings.
* Tools: Flake-Blade culture: due to excessiveness
of implements made from Flake-Blade. Even More
refined and light tools. These were backed blades with
two cutting edges. Blades, scrapers, and burns could
be fitted in handles; Bone tools like needles, harpoons
were also found.
* Sites: Karnataka, Maharashtra, Central MP, Andhra Pradesh, Southern UP and Chota
Nagpur Plateau. Cave sites of Kurnool and Muchchatla Chintamani Gavi in
Andhra Pradesh. (Only BoneTools )
(To Be Continued)
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