South Asian Stone Age

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History of South Asia
Stone Age	before 3300 BCE
Mature Harappan	2600–1700 BCE
Late Harappan	1700–1300 BCE
Iron Age	1200–300 BCE
Maurya Empire	• 321–184 BCE
Middle Kingdoms	230 BCE–1279 CE
Gupta Empire	•280–550
Islamic Sultanates	1206–1596
Mughal Empire	1526–1707
Maratha Empire	1674-1818
Sikh Confederacy	1716-1849
British India	1858–1947
Modern States	1947 onwards
Timeline
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The South Asian Stone Age covers the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods in South Asia.

1 Paleolithic
- 1.1 Homo erectus
- 1.2 Homo sapiens
2 Neolithic
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Paleolithic

[edit] Homo erectus

Further information: Acheulian, Soanian, and Riwat

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 ^[2].

[edit] Homo sapiens

Analysis of mtDNA dates the immigration of Homo sapiens to South Asia to 70,000 to 50,000 years ago.^[3] These populations spread further to Southeast Asia, reaching Australia by 40,000 years ago.

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).

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.

Image:Bhimbetka.JPG

Bhimbetka rock painting

Image:EdakkalCaveCarving.jpg

Stone age writing, Edakkal Caves

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.

[edit] Neolithic

Main article: 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.

One of the earliest Neolithic sites in India is Lahuradewa, at Middle Ganges region, C14 dated around 7th millennium BC.^[4]. Recently another site near the confluence of Ganges and Yamuna rivers called Jhusi yielded a C14 dating of 7100 BC for its Neolithic levels.^[5]

In South India the Neolithic began by 3000 BC and lasted until around 1400 BC when the Megalithic transition period began. South Indian Neolithic is characterized by Ashmounds since 2500 BC in Karnataka region, expanded later to Tamil Nadu.

Comparative excavations carried out in Adichanallur in Thirunelveli District and in Northern India have provided evidence of a southward migration of the Megalithic culture^[6] 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.^[7]^[8]

[edit] References

Kennedy, Kenneth Adrian Raine (2000). God-Apes and Fossil Men: Palaeoanthropology of South Asia. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
James, Hannah V. A.; Petraglia, Michael D. (December 2005). "Modern Human Origins and the Evolution of Behavior in the Later Pleistocene Record of South Asia" (PDF). Current Anthropology 46 (Supplement).
Misra, V. N. (November 2001). "Prehistoric human colonization of India" (PDF). Journal of Biosciences 26 (4): 491–531.

^ (Kennedy 2000: p. 136)
^ (Kennedy 2000: p. 160)
^ Petraglia 2005, S6
^ Fuller, Dorian 2006. "Agricultural Origins and Frontiers in South Asia: A Working Synthesis" in Journal of World Prehistory 20, p.42 "Ganges Neolithic"
^ Tewari, Rakesh et al. 2006. "Second Preliminary Report of the excavations at Lahuradewa,District Sant Kabir Nagar, UP 2002-2003-2004 & 2005-06" in Pragdhara No. 16 "Electronic Version p.28"
^ Sastri, Kallidaikurichi Aiyah Nilakanta. A History of South India, pp. 49–51.
^ Subramanian, T. S.. "Skeletons, script found at ancient burial site in Tamil Nadu", The Hindu, 2004-05-26. Retrieved on 2007-07-31.
^ Zvelebil, Kamil A. (1992). Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature. Brill Academic Publishers, pp. 21–22. ISBN 9004093656. “The most interesting pre-historic remains in Tamil India were discovered at Adichanallur.There is a series of urn burials. seem to be related to the megalithic complex.”