Wednesday, 10 May 2017

THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD - An article on history

* The prehistoric prehistoric period in the history of mankind  can roughly be dated from 200000 B.C. to  about 3500-2500 BC, when the first civilization began  to take shape.

*The modern human beings or the Homo Sapiens set foot on the Indian subcontinent somewhere between 50000 BC and 40000 BC and they soon spread through a large part of the sub continent, including peninsular India.

*They continously flooded the Indian subcontinent in waves of migration from what in present day Iran.

*These primitive people moved in group of a few families and lived mainly on hunting and gathering.

STONE AGE

* The age when the prehistoric man began to use stone for utilitarian purpose is called as the Stone Age.

*Stone Age is divided into three  broad divisions- PALEOLITIC AGE or OLD STONE AGE (from unknown till 8000 BC), MESOLITHIC AGE or MIDDLE STONE AGE (from 8000 BC-4000 BC) and NEOLITHIC AGE or NEW STONE AGE (4000 BC-2500 BC) on the basis of the specialization of stone tools, which were made during that time.

PALEOLITHIC AGE


*The human beings living in the Paleolithic Age were essentially food gatherers and depend on nature of food.

*The art of hunting and stalking wild animals individually and later in groups led to these people making stone weapons and tools.

*These kind of tools were generally used to kill small animals and for tearing flesh from the carcass of hunted animals.

*These tools are characteristic of the Paleolithic Age and were very rough.

MESOLITHIC AGE


*In the Mesolithic Age, the stone tools to be made more sharp and pointed.

*To ensure a life that abundance of food and clothing, the stone tools began to appear in increasingly specialized way.

*Apart from hand axes, they also produced crude, stone-tipped wooden spears, borers and burins.

*This period also saw the domestication of animals and cultivation of wild varieties of crops.

*Because of farming, small settlement began to take shape.

*Archaeological exavations have unearthed Mesolithic sites in Chotta Nagpur area of Central India and in the south of the River Krishna.

*Fire was started to produce.

NEOLITHIC AGE

*Neolithic Age (4000 BC-2500BC) or New Stone Age was the last phase of stone age and is characterised by very finely flaked small stone tools, also known as blades and burins.


*Neolithic Age also saw the domestication of cattle, horses, and other farm animals.

*An important invention of this time was the wheel.

*Fire was started to be produced.

CHALCOLITHIC PHASE

*Towards the end of Neolithic period, metals like bronze and copper began to be used.

*This was the Chalcolithic phase (1800 BC-1000 BC).

*Some of the sites of this era are Brahmgiri near Mysore and Navada Toli on River Narmada.






SURAJ GOSWAMI

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