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Prehistoric human colonization of India
V N MISRA
G-2, B Wing, Ganga Park, Mundhwa Road, Pune 411 036, India
(Email, misravn@vsnl.net)
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.
With the introduction of iron technology about 3000 years ago, the focus of development shifted eastward into
the Indo-Gangetic divide and the Ganga valley. The location of the Mahabharata epic, which is set in the
beginning of the first millennium B.C., is the Indo-Gangetic divide and the upper Ganga-Yamuna doab (land
between two rivers). Iron technology enabled pioneering farmers to clear the dense and tangled forests of the
middle and lower Ganga plains. The focus of development now shifted further eastward to eastern Uttar Pradesh
and western Bihar which witnessed the events of the Ramayana epic and rise of the first political entities known
as Mahajanapadas as also of Buddhism and Jainism. The second phase of urbanization of India, marked by trade,
coinage, script and birth of the first Indian empire, namely Magadha, with its capital at Pataliputra (modern
Patna) also took place in this region in the sixth century B.C. The imposition by Brahmin priests of the concepts
of racial and ritual purity, pollution, restrictions on sharing of food, endogamy, anuloma (male of upper caste
eligible to marry a female of lower caste) and pratiloma (female of upper caste ineligible to marry a male of
lower caste) forms of marriage, karma (reaping the fruits of the actions of previous life in the present life),
rebirth, varnashrama dharma (four stages of the expected hundred-year life span) and the sixteen sanskaras
(ceremonies) on traditional occupational groups led to the birth of the caste system – a unique Indian
phenomenon.
Keywords. Bronze age; caste system; chalcolithic; early historic human evolution; hunter-gatherers; iron age; megalithic;
mesolithic; neolithic; palaeolithic; urbanization
________________
Abbreviations used: BP, before present; ca, circa; IAR, Indian Archaeology Review; NBPW, northern black polished ware;
OCP, ochre-coloured pottery; PGW, painted grey ware; TL, thermoluminiscense.
J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001 | 491–531 | © Indian Academy of Sciences 491
492 V N Misra
As a consequence of the expansion of agriculture and loss of forests and wildlife, stone age hunter-gatherers
were forced to assimilate themselves into larger agriculture-based rural and urban societies. However, some of
them resisted this new economic mode. To this day they have persisted with their atavistic lifestyle, but have had
to supplement their resources by producing craft items or providing entertainment to the rural population.
1. Introduction study of non-industrialized societies, especially those

practising hunting-gathering, fishing, primitive cultivation
Humankind’s past is divided into two broad periods: the and pastoralism, known as ethnoarchaeology, contributes
prehistoric and the historic. The prehistoric period to interpreting the archaeological record.
belongs to the time before the emergence of writing and The story of man began in the Miocene period, around
the historic period to the time following this event. twenty million years ago, when the great apes, from whom
Modern humans, evolved in Africa and have lived on our the humans evolved, flourished in large areas of the Old
planet for about 150,000 years. However, they learnt World. Proto humans appeared in the Pliocene period,
writing only about 5000 years ago. This means that only around five million years ago, and their cultural evolution
about 0⋅1% of humankind’s past is known through the largely took place during the Pleistocene period, which
written word. In fact, knowledge of writing diffused very began about two million years ago. While biologically
slowly and even today a large section of humanity remains humans differ from the other apes in their upright posture,
illiterate. Further, before the invention of printing techno- ability to walk on two feet or hind limbs, extremely
logy in the medieval period, written documents were few versatile hand, and an unusually powerful brain, cultu-
and far between, and many of them have been lost due to rally they differ in their ability to manufacture and use
being written on perishable materials like tree bark, palm tools.
leaf, papyrus and cloth. This means that the story of The prehistoric period is divided into three ages,
humankind has to be reconstructed largely with the help of namely the stone, bronze and iron ages. These ages,
non-literary or archaeological sources. These sources com- besides being technological stages, also have economic
prise objects – tools, weapons, ornaments, structures and and social implications. The Stone Age is divided
artistic creations which were produced and used by humans into three periods, namely palaeolithic, mesolithic and
and which have survived the ravages of time. neolithic. As the name suggests, the technology in
Man differs from other creatures in his ability to learn, these periods was primarily based on stone. Economically
accumulate knowledge and pass it on to future genera- the palaeolithic and mesolithic periods represent the
tions. He has learnt to use various raw materials available hunting-gathering stage while the neolithic represents
in nature – stone, wood, bone, clay, metal, etc. – for the stage of food production, i.e. plant cultivation and
shaping them into useful objects for satisfying his needs. animal husbandry. The palaeolithic period is further
Objects made of comparatively durable materials survive divided into three sub-periods, namely lower, middle
for varying lengths of time and constitute the main source and upper.
of information for knowledge of the human past. A point which needs to be emphasised is about
Like other creatures, humans too have had to adapt chronology. Chronology is of two types, relative and
themselves to the environment in which they live. How- absolute. Relative chronology dates prehistoric events in
ever, unlike other beings, they have done so with the aid relation to other events and geological deposits. It only
of technology and material culture (material objects like tells us if a particular event is earlier or later than another
tools, weapons, utensils, houses, clothes, ornaments, etc). event. Absolute chronology, on the other hand, dates
Moreover, since the environment – landscape, climate, events and phenomena in solar calendar years. This
flora and fauna –tends to change over time, archaeologists chronology is based on physical techniques and methods
have to reconstruct past environments as well. The biologi- like radiocarbon, K/Ar, fission tracks, thermolumini-
cal remains of men have contributed to the understanding scence, TH230/U234 and dendrochronology. While dendro-
of not only his biological evolution but also cultural chronology is applicable only to a period of a few
evolution. Archaeology, thus, is a multi-disciplinary study thousand years and only in the few areas where old wood
involving disciplines like geology, palaeontology, palaeo- samples have been preserved, radiocarbon dating can date
botany, biological anthropology and archaeological che- events up to sixty thousand years old. The other methods
mistry. Further, since cultural changes take place at an can, however, date events belonging to the entire pre-
uneven pace in different regions, in many parts of the historic period. However, their application is dependent
world, particularly in India, prehistoric ways of life have on the availability of suitable materials like volcanic ash
survived more or less unchanged into modern times. The and rock at archaeological sites.
J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

Prehistoric human colonization of India 493
2. Earliest human colonization of south Asia dated. The Mission members did not find evidence of an
independent Sohanian tradition although they found
The early human colonization of south Asia is represented artefacts of Acheulian and other traditions (Allchin 1981;
largely by an abundance of stone tool assemblages. The Dennell et al 1988).
oldest known tools, comprising simple cores and flakes, However, investigations in the Indian Siwaliks appear
have been reported from the Siwalik hills at Riwat, near to conform to de Terra and Paterson’s observations in
Rawalpindi in Pakistan. They have been dated to two Pakistan. Five terraces comparable to those of the Indus-
million years on the basis of magnetic polarity strati- Sohan in the Potwar region have been recognized in the
graphy (Rendell and Dennell 1985; Rendell et al 1987). valleys of the Sutlej, Beas and Banganga rivers in
This exciting discovery made in 1985 has not yet been the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh region. Pebble tools of
corroborated by more findings from other sites and for the Sohanian style have been collected by Lal (1956) and
present it stands in spatial and temporal isolation. The Karir (1985) on these terraces. Mohapatra (1976), who
earliest reliable stone tool assemblages belong to two discovered both Sohanian and Acheulian sites in the
distinct cultural and technological traditions, namely Hoshiarpur-Chandigarh sector of the Siwaliks, has argued
(i) the Sohanian and (ii) the Acheulian. that the Acheulian and Sohanian populations inhabited
distinct environments; the former occupying the flat
surfaces of the Siwalik frontal range and the latter the
2.1 Sohanian culture duns or valleys of the Himalayan flank. Using magnetic
polarity data from the Upper Siwalik beds, Mohapatra has
The Sohanian culture is named after the river Sohan (or dated the Sohanian tradition from the Mindel-Riss
Soan), a tributary of the Indus, and was found at a number interglacial (300–400,000 B.C.) to the end of the Pleisto-
of sites in the Siwalik hills in northwest India and cene. However, according to him the Acheulian tradition
Pakistan. It was first reported by de Terra and Paterson cannot be older than 200,000 B.P. because it is only
(1939) over sixty years ago. These scholars distinguished around this time that the range (Siwalik range or hills)
three developmental stages of the Sohanian culture. The became sufficiently stable to support human population.
artefacts of these stages were found in river terraces
which were correlated with the phases of the four-fold
Pleistocene glaciation identified by them in the Himalayan 2.2 Acheulian culture
and the Siwaliks. The earliest stage of the sequence,
namely early Sohan on Terrace 1 (T1) was found cutting 2.2a Geographical distribution: The first effective colo-
the boulder conglomerate of the second glacial age in nization of the subcontinent was accomplished by the
the Potwar plateau. They also found Acheulian tools makers of the Acheulian culture, named after the French
in the same deposit, though at discrete localities. They site of St. Acheul. The remains of this culture have been
dated T1 to the second interglacial age. The faunal found extensively from the Siwalik hills in the north to
remains from this deposit included horse, buffalo, areas near Chennai in the south (Misra 1987a). The areas
straight-tusked elephant and hippopotamus, suggesting devoid of the Acheulian occupation are the Western Ghats
an environment characterized by perennial water sources, and the coastal region running parallel to them, northeast
tree vegetation and grass steppes. T2, with gravel at the India and the Ganga plains. Heavy rainfall and dense
base and loess on top and dating to the third glacial vegetation in the Western Ghats and northeast India
period, yielded Acheulian and Late Sohan A indus- probably inhibited early man from colonizing these regions.
tries from the basal gravels. Late Sohan A comprised In the case of the Ganga plains, the non-availability of
refined pebble choppers and Levallois flakes. The stone and the swampy environment may have discouraged
overlying loess produced Late Sohan B industry, early man from occupying them. Acheulian hunter-gatherer
characterized by Levallois flakes and blades and by the populations adapted themselves to a wide variety of
complete absence of Acheulian elements. The fauna of ecozones. These include the semi-arid regions of western
this horizon included horse, bovids, camel and wolf Rajasthan, Mewar plain, Saurashtra, Gujarat alluvial
(Wadia 1928; p. 287). plain, subhumid dry as well as moist deciduous woodland
Recent research in the area by the British Archaeo- zone in central India, semi-arid Deccan plateau, Chota
logical Mission to Pakistan has shown de Terra and Nagpur plateau and the Eastern Ghats, north of the
Paterson’s geological, climatic and archaeological sequences Cauvery river (Misra 1989; also for detailed bibliography).
to be untenable. The Sohan terraces turn out to be erosional Acheulian sites are particularly densely concentrated
features rather than depositional terraces. Archaeological and are richer in central India and the southern part of the
materials found by de Terra and Paterson (1939) cannot Eastern Ghats. These regions today receive adequate
be associated with any specific deposits nor can they be rainfall, have perennial rivers, a thick vegetation cover

494 V N Misra
and are rich in wild plant and animal food resources. manufactured) are found buried in these deposits,
Chemical analysis of the sediments yielding Acheulian suggesting that their makers camped along the pools and
assemblages in rock shelter III F-23 at Bhimbetka in lakes. They also camped on exposed gravel beds where an
Madhya Pradesh suggests that conditions during the unlimited supply of fine-grained quartzite for making
Acheulian occupation were as humid as, if not more than, tools must have been a strong attraction. The climate
they are today (Rajaguru 1978). Therefore, both plant and during this period was essentially semi-arid but it fluctuated
animal life must have been abundant. Faunal fossil several times between cool and dry and warm and wet.
evidence from the alluvium of the Narmada, Godavari and During cool and dry phases extensive and thick deposition
their tributaries supports this inference (Badam 1979). On of sand sheets and dunes took place, while during warm
the northern Deccan plateau Acheulian sites are com- and wet phases the dunes were stabilized. Acheulian
paratively sparse. A plausible explanation for this pheno- groups occupied the stable dune surfaces. The density of
menon is that basalt which was the rock used for tool Acheulian sites around Didwana strongly implies that
making in this region is highly susceptible to weathering plant and animal life must have flourished in abundance.
and therefore many of the sites that did not get buried in In peninsular India, Acheulian artefacts are usually
the alluvium may have been destroyed (Mishra 1982). found buried in boulder and pebble gravels of the
Within these broad ecozones, the Acheulian people Chambal, Son, Mahanadi, Narmada, Godavari and
occupied a variety of microhabitats. In the semi-arid Krishna rivers and their tributaries. These gravels are
region of western Rajasthan sites, now buried in fine- believed to have been deposited during semi-arid climate
grained alluvium around Didwana in Nagaur district, with intermittent, erratic rainfall when there was sparse to
Acheulian hunter-gatherers camped along lakes and pools no plant cover (Williams and Royce 1983). The gravels
in the wide flood plains of shallow meandering streams, are invariably covered by fine silt and silty clay which are
on the surfaces of extensively exposed older gravel beds usually devoid of archeological material due to the fact
and on stable sand dunes (Misra 1987b; Misra and that these sediments were deposited by low energy
Rajaguru 1986). In the Vindhya hills of central India they streams which were incapable of carrying coarse material,
occupied rock shelters as at Bhimbetka (Wakankar 1975; including artefacts. Acheulian occupations contemporary
Misra 1978). Acheulian assemblages similar to those to the deposition of the fine sediments are probably
found in the excavations of the rock shelters have also represented by the numerous surface sites found in central
been found at open-air sites like Barkhera near Bhimbetka India and the Eastern Ghats.
and at Putlikarar (Jacobson 1985), both in Raisen district Faunal remains have been preserved in Acheulian-
of Madhya Pradesh. It would appear that the rock shelter bearing gravels in peninsular rivers like the Narmada,
and open-air sites represent seasonal camping places of Godavari and their tributaries (Badam 1979). These
the same populations, the former being used during the comprise wild boar (Sus namadicus), cattle (Bos namadi-
rainy season and the winter and the latter during cus), elephant (Elephas hysudricus and Stegodon insignis-
the summer months. Over most of the country, however, ganesa), horse (Equus namadicus) and hippopotamus
the Acheulian hunter-gatherers lived in the open along (Hexaprotodon namadicus). These animals indicate the
perennial as well as seasonal streams. existence of both forest and open grassland environments
and the availability of plentiful water round the year.
2.2b Palaeoenvironment: The Pleistocene period in There is little doubt that all these animals formed a source
which Palaeolithic colonization took place was marked by of food for the Acheulian populations but whether they
significant climatic and environmental changes. The best were hunted or scavenged or exploited can be ascertained
evidence of such changes and human responses to them only when their remains are found in association with
comes from the semi-arid zone of western Rajasthan archaeological material in undisturbed occupation contexts.
(Misra 1987b; Misra and Rajaguru 1986). In the sandy
plains which have low rainfall and are devoid of flowing 2.2c Technology: Acheulian tool assemblages comprise
drainage, mighty rivers, which must have had their origin choppers, chopping tools, polyhedrons, spheroids, discoids,
in the Himalaya, flowed during the early and middle handaxes, cleavers, scrapers, denticulates, notches, flakes,
Pleistocene. These rivers laid down extensive and thick blades and cores. Though our knowledge of most of these
boulder beds in Nagaur and Jodhpur districts. The beds tool types is imperfect, it is certain that they served a
were subsequently tectonically up lifted. The new streams variety of functions like hunting, butchering and skinning
that came into existence were shallow and anostomising, of animals, breaking bones for extraction of marrow,
flowing in wide flood plains marked with numerous pools digging of roots and tubers, processing of plant foods, and
and lakes. They deposited marls and calcareous clays in making of wooden tools and weapons.
pans or shallow depressions. Acheulian artefacts in mint On the basis of stratigraphy, typology and technology,
condition (the fresh condition in which the tools were two developmental stages can be recognized in the

Acheulian industries. The first and chronologically earlier and Yedurwadi in Karnataka are more than 350,000 B.P.
stage is characterized primarily by such core tools as (Mishra 1992). It is likely that with the refinement of
choppers, polyhedrons spheroids, handaxes, a low pro- dating techniques and their application to more sites, the
portion of crudely made cleavers and flake tools, antiquity of the lower Palaeolithic will go back to the
predominant use of stone hammer technique, and absence lower Pleistocene i.e. between 2⋅0 and 0⋅7 million years.
of Levallois technique (Levallois is the name of a The upper limit of the Acheulian culture is equally
technique of making stone tools and the name is after a uncertain. However, since at many sites the Acheulian
French place where stone tools made by this technique grades into the middle Palaeolithic and since the absolute
were first found). This stage is represented at sites like dates of the middle Palaeolithic sites range from ca.
Singi Talav near Didwana in Rajasthan (Gaillard et al 150,000 to ca. 20,000 B.P., it is quite likely that the
1986); Chirki-Nevasa in Maharashtra (Corvinus 1983), Acheulian tradition persisted, at least in some areas, well
Hunsgi-Baichbal valleys (Paddayya 1982, 1991), Anagwadi into the upper Pleistocene.
(Pappu 1974) in Karnataka, and Kortallayar valley in A hominid cranium (around 200,000 years old) has
Tamil Nadu (Pappu 1996). The second and later stage is been discovered in the Acheulian bearing gravels of the
marked by low proportions of bifaces, high ratio of Narmada river at Hathnora in Madhya Pradesh. This
cleavers to handaxes, very high proportion of flake tools cranium represents an advanced stage of Homo erectus or
like scrapers, and extensive use of soft hammer, Levallois early stage of Homo sapiens (Henry de Lumley and
and discoid core techniques. This stage is best represented Sonakia 1985; M A de Lumley and Sonakia 1985;
in the rock shelters at Bhimbetka (Misra 1978) and open- Kennedy and Chiment 1991).
air sites (Jacobson 1985) in Raisen district of Madhya
Pradesh, Tirupati valley in Andhra Pradesh (Murty 1966;
Gaillard et al 1986) and Hunsgi-Baichbal valleys in 2.3 Middle Palaeolithic
Karnataka (Paddayya 1991; Paddayya and Petraglia
1997). 2.3a Geographical distribution: The Acheulian culture
The raw material used for tool making varied regionally slowly evolved into the middle Palaeolithic by shedding
according to the geology of the area. In western Maha- some of the tool types and by incorporating new forms
rashtra dyke basalt or dolerite was the only rock available. and new techniques of making them. In western Europe,
Over the rest of the country quartzite was the preferred the Near East, north Africa and central Asia, the middle
rock and occasionally quartz was also used. In the Hunsgi Palaeolithic culture is associated with the physical
valley in Karnataka limestone was the main material but remains of Neanderthal man (Homo sapiens neander-
occasionally basalt and granite were also used. Coarse- thalensis). Though no physical remains of Neanderthal
grained granite was also used in northern Bundelkhand. man have been found in India, stone tools very similar to
those found with this hominid species in Europe and other
2.2d Chronology: Our knowledge of the antiquity and regions occur widely in the subcontinent. The middle
duration of the lower Paleolithic culture is far from Palaeolithic culture developed during the upper Pleisto-
satisfactory. Members of the British Archaeological cene, a period of intense cold and glaciation in the
Mission to Pakistan have reported three handaxes from northern latitudes. Areas bordering glaciated regions
two localities in the Rawalpindi area of the Siwaliks experienced strong aridity. That is perhaps the reason why
which are dated to between 700,000 and 400,000 years on middle Palaeolithic sites are comparatively sparse. In
the basis of magnetic polarity stratigraphy (Rendell and general, however, the middle Palaeolithic populations
Dennell 1985). Volcanic ash associated with Acheulian occupied the same regions and habitats as the preceding
tools at Bori in Maharashtra has been dated by potassium/ Acheulian populations. Middle Palaeolithic stone tool
argon method but the dates ranging from 1⋅4 myr to assemblages have been found in the Luni valley (Misra
75,000 years present a confusing picture. Application 1961), around Didwana (Misra and Rajaguru 1986), and
of Th230/U234 and thermoluminiscence techniques to at Budha Pushkar (Allchin et al 1978), all in western
Acheulian sites of Umrethi in Saurasthra (Marathe 1981) Rajasthan; at numerous sites in the valleys of the Belan
and 16R locality at Didwana in Rajasthan (Misra and (Sharma 1980; Jayaswal 1989); at Son (Ahmed 1966;
Rajaguru 1986; Raghavan et al 1989) has given dates Sharma and Clark 1983) and Narmada (Khatri 1962;
ranging from 390,000 years to 150,000 years. Th230/U234 Supekar 1968) and their tributaries in central India, in the
dates obtained on travertine from Kaldevanhalli and on Chota Nagpur plateau (Ghosh 1970), the Deccan plateau
Elephas molar from Sadab and Elephas and Bos molars (Sankalia 1956) and the Eastern Ghats (Murty 1966;
from Tegehalli in the Hunsgi-Baichbal valleys in Karnataka Misra 1989, also for bibliography). Like the Acheulian,
range from 350,000 to 166,000 B.P. Dates obtained on the middle Palaeolithic occupations also occur at open-air
calcrete from the Acheulian site of Nevasa in Maharashtra sites along perennial as well as seasonal streams and on

496 V N Misra
hill slopes in most parts of the country, on dune surfaces Coastal areas of southeastern Tamil Nadu, Saurashtra and
in western Rajasthan and in the rock shelters in central Kutch developed quartz and carbonate dunes as a result of
India. the lowering of the sea level. During terminal Pleistocene
southwesterly monsoons became weak and the sea level
2.3b Technology: Middle Palaeolithic tools were pri- decreased by scores of metres.
marily made on flakes and blades. They comprise side The rich fossil record from the peninsular rivers
scrapers of various types, end scrapers, denticulates, provides a good picture of the fauna of this period.
notches, points and borers. They were made by finely Findings from the Belan and Son valleys, southern part of
trimming the edges of flakes and blades. Many of these Allahabad, the Mahanadi valley in central India and
scraper forms are believed to have been used for Manjra, Godavari, Ghod and Krishna valleys in the
manufacturing wooden tools and weapons and also for Deccan include Bubalus bubalis, Bos namadicus, Hexa-
processing animal hide. Some of the points are thought to protodon palaeindiucs, Cervus sp. and Canis sp. This
have been hafted in wooden shafts for use as spears. Tools fauna suggests the existence of grassland environment
became smaller, thinner and lighter. Improved and with pockets of forests and swamps. The discovery of
economical techniques of removing flakes from cores ostrich egg shells at over 40 sites in Rajasthan, Madhya
such as Levallois and discoid core were used extensively. Pradesh and Maharashtra, several of them dated by 14C,
There was also a significant change in the choice of raw shows that ostrich, a bird adapted to arid climate, was
material for making tools. While quartzite, quartz and widely distributed in western India during the later part of
basalt continued to be used, in many areas they were the upper Pleistocene (Kumar et al 1988).
replaced or supplemented by fine-grained siliceous rocks
like chert and jasper. Factory sites at chert outcrops occur 2.4b Geographical distribution ( figure 1): Because of
at many places in central India and Rajasthan. The smaller the arid climate and consequently sparse vegetation and
size of the tools is partly due to the small size of the animal life during this period, human populations were
natural nodules of chert and jasper. faced with restricted food resources. This is confirmed by
the limited number of upper Palaeolithic sites in the arid
and semi-arid regions. However, excellent archaeological
2.3c Chronology: Several thermoluminiscence and Th230/
evidence of this period comes from the Belan and Son
U234 dates from 16 R dune profile at Didwana range from
valleys in the northern Vindhyas (Sharma 1980; Jayswal
150,000 to 100,000 B.P. Over twenty radiocarbon dates
1989; Sharma and Clark 1983), Chota Nagpur plateau in
obtained mostly on shell and bone from sites in the
Bihar (Ghosh 1970), upland Maharashtra (Sali 1989),
northern Deccan and central India range from 40,000 to
Orissa and from the Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh
10,000 B.P. This shows that middle Palaeolithic assem-
(Murty 1968, 1981a; Nanda 1984; Raju 1988).
blages persisted over a long period of time from the
terminal middle Pleistocene to the greater part of the
2.4c Technology: The upper Palaeolithic tool assem-
upper Pleistocene (Misra 1989).
blages are essentially characterized by blade and burin
tools and show a marked regional diversity with respect
2.4 Upper Palaeolithic to the refinement of techniques and standardization of
finished tool forms. The principal artifact forms in these
2.4a Palaeoenvironment: The upper Palaeolithic culture assemblages are scrapers (side, convex, notch, end, steep,
developed during the later part of the upper Pleistocene. round, convergent, etc.), flake-blades, blades and cores;
The climate of this period was characterized by extreme backed blade variants (straight back, curved back, backed
cold and aridity in the high altitudes and northern knives, points, lunates, triangles and trapezes); burins,
latitudes. In northwest India extensive formation of sand unifacial, bifacial and tanged points and choppers.
sheets and sand dunes took place and the drainage became Scrapers made on flakes suggest continuity of the middle
almost totally defunct due to the westward shift of river Paleolithic tradition. Parallel-sided blades struck from
courses. Quaternary sediments like fluvial and colluvial standardized prismatic cores are common in the Thar
deposits of upland Maharashtra and Manipur, aeolianites desert, Belan and Son valleys, Bhimbetka shelters,
and calcarenites of Saurashtra, Kutch and Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra plateau and the Eastern Ghats. There is
and oolitic limestones of the continental shelf of the considerable regional diversity in tool forms and in the
Arabian Sea have been dated by 14C and U/Th decay proportion of flakes and blades. The backed blade
series methods (Baskaran et al 1986; Fontugne and component among finished tools is conspicuous in the
Duplessy 1986; Kale and Rajaguru 1987). Well-dated hinterland riverine ecosystems of the Eastern Ghats.
geomorphic data suggests that the vegetation cover over The food procurement technologies and behaviour
most of the country thinned out during this period. reflected among the tribal populations of the country –

Figure 1. Palaeolithic sites in India.

498 V N Misra
particularly of central India and the Eastern Ghats – show example, in the case of rock shelters in central India while
that prototypes of traps, snares and nets must have been the Palaeolithic occupations occur only in a few shelters,
used during the upper Palaeolithic times. The various evidence of Mesolithic culture occurs virtually in each
types of scrapers were probably used for wood and one of the several thousand shelters either in the form of
bamboo work. Simple blades and backed blades could human habitation or paintings or both. Similarly, in the
have been used as inserts for spear points, arrow points, arid and semi-arid regions of western Rajasthan and
fishing arrows, barbed fish-hooks, thrusting spears, slicer Gujarat, which are extensively covered by sand dunes,
knives and daggers. The large crescentic backed blade Mesolithic artefacts are present virtually on every one of
with blunted arc and straight and damaged cord, common the thousands of dunes. A significant fact is that the first
in the Eastern Ghats, was probably used for wood work. human colonization of the Ganga plains took place during
Another striking feature in this region is the presence of this period as testified by the presence of more than two
bored stones and grinding slabs. Similar bored stones are hundred archaeological sites in Allahabad, Pratapgarh,
being used by the Yanadi (Andhra Pradesh) fishermen as Jaunpur, Mirzapur and Varanasi districts of Uttar Pradesh
net sinkers in riverine fishing and the heavier ones are (Sharma et al 1980). Similarly, the effective colonization
used by the Voda Balije (Andhra Pradesh) and other of the deltaic region of West Bengal (Lal 1958) and West
groups for marine fishing. Upper Palaeolithic occupations Coast, particularly around Mumbai (Todd 1950) and in
in the Eastern Ghats are invariably associated with Kerala (Rajendran 1983), took place during this period
permanent water bodies, suggesting that acquatic foods (Misra 1997).
must have been an important resource during this period. The explanation for this dramatic increase in human
The grinding stones are likely to have been used for settlements lies in the increased rainfall and its effect on
processing plant foods like wild rice (Murty 1981a). the growth of plant and animal life at the beginning of the
Holocene period, the evidence for which is provided by
2.4d Religion and art: Continuity of culture from the the pollen data from the salt lakes of western Rajasthan
upper Palaeolithic to present times is especially seen in (Singh et al 1974), deep weathering of sand dunes in
the sphere of religion. At the site of Baghor II in the Son Rajasthan and Gujarat (Misra 1978) and presence of wind
valley archaeologists found a rectangular stone rubble blown black clay deposits in central Indian rock shelters
platform with a triangular stone with natural concentric (Allchin et al 1978; Misra and Rajaguru 1986; Joshi
circles installed in the centre. Similar stones installed on 1978). This led to the availability of increased food
stone platforms are today worshipped as mother goddesses resources all over the country and contributed to the
by tribal communities in the area. The Baghor structure growth of population.
probably represented the earliest shrine in India and
suggests a remarkably long continuity of mother goddess
worship (Kenoyer et al 1983). 3.2 Technology
The earliest evidence of art, in the form of ostrich egg
shell pieces engraved with cross-hatched designs from The technology of the Mesolithic period is primarily
Patne (Sali 1989), comes from this period. based on microliths. These are tiny tools made from
microblades of one to five cm length, by blunting one or
2.4e Chronology: A number of radiocarbon dates from more sides with steep retouch. The main tool types are
upper Palaeolithic sites, available from Madhya Pradesh, backed blades, obliquely truncated blades, points,
Rajasthan and Maharashtra, suggest the duration of crescents, triangles and trapezes. These microliths were
the upper Palaeolithic from 30,000 B.P. to 10,000 B.P. used as components of spearheads, arrowheads, knives,
(Misra 1989). sickles, harpoons and daggers. They were fitted into
grooves in bone, wood and reed shafts and joined together
by natural adhesives like gum and resin. Evidence for
3. Mesolithic such hafting comes from later sites in India and from
Mesolithic and Neolithic sites in the Near East, Africa and
3.1 Geographical distribution and Europe (Misra 1974). The use of bow and arrow for
palaeoenvironment hunting became common in this period, which is evident
from many rock paintings in central India (Wakankar and
The upper Palaeolithic period was succeeded by the Brooks 1976; Neumayer 1983; Mathpal 1985). Small
Mesolithic. The subsistence economy of this period con- flake tools like side, end, round and thumb-nail scrapers,
tinued to be based on hunting and gathering. There was a and burins also form part of these industries. Bifacial
marked growth in human population as is attested by the points made by pressure flaking are a characteristic
significantly increased number of sites (figure 2). For feature of the Mesolithic industries of coastal dunes of

southern Tamil Nadu (Zeuner and Allchin 1956) and Sri also occur at several sites. These new technological
Lanka. Bored stones, which had already appeared during elements led to enhanced efficiency in hunting, collection
the upper Palaeolithic, became common during the and processing of wild plant foods (Misra 1976a). Heavy-
Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods. These are believed to duty tools like choppers and core scrapers have been found
have been used as weights in digging sticks and as net occasionally at Mesolithic sites in Orissa (Ota 1986;
sinkers. Similarly, shallow querns and grinding stones Mohanty 1988) and along the West Coast (Todd 1950).
Figure 2. Mesolithic sites in India.

500 V N Misra
3.3 Settlement pattern and disposal of the dead hunting-gathering as a way of life has not completely
disappeared with many communities all over the country
Increased food security during this period led to reduction including the vicinity of metropolitan cities, continuing to
in nomadism and to seasonally sedentary settlement. This subsist on this economic mode (Malhotra et al 1983;
is reflected in the large size of Mesolithic sites, thickness Misra and Nagar 1994; Nagar and Misra 1989, 1990,
of habitation deposit both in open-air and rock shelter 1993).
sites, and the presence of large cemeteries, particularly in
the Ganga plains. The first evidence of intentional dis-
posal of the dead comes from this period. Mesolithic 4. Emergence of food production and
human burials have been found at Bagor in Rajasthan its consequences
(Misra 1973; Lukacs et al 1982), Langhnaj in Gujarat
(Sankalia and Karve 1949; Ehrhardt and Kennedy 1965), Even though there was steady but slow technological
Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh (Misra 1976a, 1997), and improvement during the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic
Lekhahia, Baghai Khor, Morhana Pahar (Varma 1986), periods lasting over a million or more years, the mode of
Sarai-Nahar-Rai (Sharma 1973; Kennedy et al 1986), subsistence continued to be based on hunting, fowling,
Mahadaha (Sharma et al 1980; Kennedy et al 1992) and fishing and wild plant food gathering. During this long
Damdama (Varma et al 1985; Pal 1992) in Uttar Pradesh. period of interaction with wild animals and plants,
At the last three sites cemeteries containing many humans acquired a thorough knowledge of their beha-
individuals have been found. The dead were buried in viour. This knowledge eventually culminated in the
graves both in extended and crouched position. In some breeding of selected wild animals and cultivation of
cases two individuals were buried in a single grave. The selected wild grasses. This change occurred around
dead were occasionally provided with grave offerings 10,000 years ago in the vast stretch of mountainous and
which include chunks of meat, grinding stones, stone, hilly environment extending from the east coast of the
bone and antler ornaments, and pieces of haematite. Mediterranean to the eastern edge of the Baluchistan
plateau. The first animals to be domesticated were dog,
cattle, sheep and goat and the first plants to be cultivated
3.4 Art
were wheat and barley. This new subsistence economy
based on food production had a lasting impact on the
Another significant feature of the Mesolithic period is art,
evolution of human society and the environment. In the
mostly in the form of paintings. Several thousand rock
humid lands, extending from the middle Ganga valley to
shelters in the Vindhyan sandstone hills in central India
China and Southeast Asia, rice cultivation and domesti-
contain enormous quantities of paintings on their walls,
cation of pig was accomplished probably around the same
ceilings and in niches. They are found in both inhabited
time because rice and pig existed in wild form in this
and uninhabited shelters. The paintings are made mostly
region. The cultivation of yams and taro also took place in
in red and white pigments which were produced from
this region. Domesticated animals proved to be useful not
nodules found in rocks and earth. Pieces of haematite
only for meat but also for milk, hide, agricultural
used for producing pigment have been found at Bhim-
operations, and transport.
betka and other sites. The paintings mostly depict wild
The assured food supply generated by agriculture led to
animals and hunting scenes. There are also scenes of
sedentarization of human settlements and establishment of
fishing, plant food and honey collecting, social and
villages. It increased human population dramatically as
religious life. The paintings throw a light not only on the
also longevity. In the new economy the old people as well
aesthetic sensibilities and artistic creativity of the
as the young, who were unable to contribute to the food
Mesolithic people but also on their behaviour with respect
acquisition during the preceding hunting-gathering stage,
to hunting and food gathering techniques, dwellings, their
became active participants. They could tend cattle, sheep
social and religious activities and contemporary fauna.
and goats and protect crops from pests, especially birds.
In due course, as the efficiency of agricultural production
3.5 Chronology improved, some farmers were able to generate surplus
food. As a consequence, a section of the population were
The Mesolithic period is well dated by a large number of freed from the task of food production and their talents
14
C dates from many sites in western and central India. and energies were diverted to tasks such as the production
These dates range from ca. 10,000 to 2,000 B.P. (Misra of pots, baskets, quarrying of stone, making of bricks,
1989). The hunting-gathering way of life was slowly masonry and carpentry. Subsequently, society saw the
replaced by food production from about 6000 B.C. emergence of other ocupations such as the oil presser,
However, even after several millennia of agriculture, washerman, barber, musician, dancer, priest, etc. The

egalitarian hunting-gathering society thus became divided long distance trade. Period IB saw the appearance of
into occupational groups. The generation of agricultural pottery. With the passage of time the role of hunting
wealth also led to the division of the society into rich and declined and that of agriculture increased
poor and exploiters and exploited. This transition from Period II, dated to later part of the fifth millennium
hunting-gathering to food production has been aptly B.C., is divided into three sub-periods on the basis of
designated as the Neolithic revolution (Childe 1936). changes in ceramic technology. The pottery of sub-period
Around 7000 years ago, extraction and smelting of IIA is handmade, basket-impressed coarse ware. Its
copper began in West Asia and a new raw material was quality improved in sub-period IIB. In sub-period IIC
added for use in technology. In due course, it was found wheel-made pottery made its appearance. The vessels of
that the addition of tin to copper produced bronze which buff to reddish colour were painted in black pigment with
was a stronger metal than copper. The use of bronze for simple straight and curved lines, rows of dots and criss-
tools led to the invention of wheel which revolutionized crosses. The vessel shapes included bowls and globular
transport and pottery production. pots. Sickles made of stone bladelets, set obliquely in
wood handles with bitumen as the adhesive material, may
have been used for harvesting. Discovery of a copper ring
4.1 Mehrgarh, the oldest agricultural settlement and a bead show the emergence of metal technology.
in the Indian subcontinent Terracotta human figurines and bangles also appear in
this phase. Appearance of a new variety of barley, viz.
Agriculture-based Neolithic settlements, which used only Hordeum sphaerococcum, which can be grown only
stone tools, have been known from sites like Rana in irrigated fields, suggests improvement in farming
Ghundai and Kili Ghul Mohammad in the hilly terrain of technology. The presence of cotton seeds suggests the
Baluchistan for several decades. Their beginning was possibility of the use of this fibre for textile manufacture.
dated to ca. fourth millennium B.C. However, excavations Narrow rooms were probably used as granaries.
at Mehrgarh by the French Archaeological Mission to Period III saw a marked increase in the size of the
Pakistan, under the direction of Jean-Francois Jarrige settlement and remarkable development in ceramic
since 1974, have pushed back the antiquity of settled industry. Vessels were now decorated with paintings of
village life in the subcontinent to the seventh millennium birds and animals as also with geometric designs. In the
B.C. They have also provided excellent evidence of agriculture repertoire oats and another variety of wheat
technology, economy, material culture and social orga- were added. There is evidence of stone bead manufacture
nization of the pioneering farmers of South Asia (Jarrige and copper smelting at the site. Architectural remains
1986). The site of Mehrgarh is located on the Bolan river, include a large granary with multiple rectangular cells,
a tributary of the Indus, at the eastern edge of the much larger than the granaries of the preceding periods.
Baluchistan plateau overlooking the Indus plain. Period IV is marked by the emergence of polychrome
The cultural history of the site has been divided into pottery with a tall goblet with wide mouth and a pedestal
eight periods. The earliest period IA, dated from ca. base as a new shape. There is evidence of extensive use of
6,000 B.C. to 4,400 B.C., is characterized by polished timber in the construction of houses, of female terracotta
stone tools, microliths and bone tools. In this phase the figurines with pendulous breasts and of stamped seals of
subsistence economy consisted of a combination of terracotta and bone. The appearance of seals, including
hunting, stock-breeding and plant cultivation. The domes- compartmented ones, in terracotta and stone indicates the
ticated animals comprise cattle, sheep, goat and water emergence of commercial transactions. Period V was
buffalo while the cultivated plants comprise several short-lived and is characterized by a marked decline in
varieties of wheat and barley. The houses were made of polychrome decoration on pottery. Period VI, belonging
mud and mud-bricks. Multiple rooms without doors are to the first quarter of the third millennium B.C., witnessed
believed to have been used for storing grain. The dead an explosion in pottery styles and the first evidence of
were buried under the floors of the houses where people pottery kilns. Pipal leaf and humped bull designs appear
lived. Some of the skeletons which were buried have been on pottery which anticipate Harappan motifs. Similarly,
found sprinkled with red ochre. Necklaces of microbeads terracotta figurines also witnessed proliferation. The
of steatite along with beads of turquoise, lapis lazuli and female figurines show elaborate hairdos. Period VII can
sea shell, stone axes and microliths have also been found be dated to the middle of the third millennium B.C. on the
in the graves. In two cases, bodies of young goats were basis of ceramic similarities with sites in the Indus Valley
also found. There was no pottery at this stage but baskets and Afghanistan. This period is particularly marked by
coated with bitumen were used. The presence of beads the richness and variety of terracotta figurines. Some of
of several materials, which are not available in the the figurines have a red paint in the medial partition of the
immediate vicinity of the site, indicates the presence of hair suggesting the popular practice among Hindu women.

502 V N Misra
Among animal figurines mention should be made of of about one million sq. km, was geographically the
terracotta bulls with prominent humps and rams made in largest of them.
alabaster. Terracotta seals have designs of swastika,
cruciforms and running animals. The discovery of a very 5.1 Geographical extent
large mud-brick platform signifies the emergence of
monumental architecture. The last occupation (period Discovered in 1921–1922 during excavations at Mohenjo-
VIII) at the site is represented by some structures, daro, located on the Indus river in Sindh, and at Harappa,
graves, semi-precious stone beads and a bronze shaft- located on the Ravi, a tributary of the Indus in Punjab
hole axe. (both now in Pakistan), this civilization has received more
The cultural history of period VI onwards at Mehrgarh attention from archaeologists (Indian, Pakistani and
is continued at the nearby site of Nausharo where the foreign) than any other ancient culture of South Asia
habitation starts in the first quarter of the third millennium (figure 3). Extensive and intensive explorations during
B.C. (Jarrige 1990). last eight decades have led to the discovery of more than
1500 sites of this civilization. They are spread over a
large area encompassing Saurashtra, Kutch, the western
4.2 Diffusion of agriculture into the Indus valley plain of mainland Gujarat, northwestern corner of Raja-
sthan, entire Punjab and Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh
The narrow hill valleys of Baluchistan could hardly and southern part of Jammu in India; almost entire
contain the population explosion triggered by the agri- Pakistan, and southern part of Afghanistan. Almost two-
cultural economy, and it was to be expected that this thirds of these sites are located along the dry courses
increase in population would overflow into the vast Indus of the Ghaggar-Hakra and its many palaeochannels
plain. The hills separating the narrow valleys of Balu- in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan states of India and
chistan impeded easy communication and hence the lack the Bahawalpur province of Pakistan. Over 350 sites of
of a uniform culture in this area. As a result, several this civilization have been located in the hyperarid
regional cultures like those of Zhob, Nal and Kulli Cholistan desert of Pakistan which is covered by exten-
developed with their distinctive ceramic styles. There are sive sand dunes, receives hardly any rainfall, and has no
a number of other Neolithic settlements in Baluchistan natural surface water. These sites range from temporary
and north Punjab which show that in the fifth and fourth camps and industrial centres through small villages and
millennia B.C. farmers had started moving to the north towns to large cities (Mughal 1997). Two of the largest
and east. These include the sites of Periano Ghundai, Harappan sites, namely Rakhigarhi in Haryana and
Gumla and Rahman Dheri in the Gomal valley and those Ganweriwala Ther in Cholistan, are located on this dead
of Jhang and Sarai Khola west of Islamabad (Allchin and river. They are more than 100 hectares in size and are
Allchin 1982). comparable to Mohenjodaro, the largest settlement of the
civilization.
5. Indus/Harappan civilization 5.2 Indus civilization and the Rigvedic Saraswati
As we have seen, a variety of crafts like wheel made The Harappan settlements located on the Ghaggar-Hakra
pottery and elaborately decorated ceramics, stone bead and its palaeochannels could have flourished only if the
industry, terracotta animal and human figurines, and Ghaggar-Hakra was a perennially flowing river in the
copper-bronze metallurgy had already appeared in the past. This would have been possible only if it received
village cultures of Baluchistan in the fifth millennium water from the melting of Himalayan glaciers. However,
B.C. By the beginning of the fourth millennium B.C. the seasonal streams which combine to form the Ghaggar
permanent settlements began to appear in the Indus valley in northern Rajasthan, all originate in the Siwalik hills
as also in the valley of the presently dried-up Ghaggar- which have no permanent snow cover. Also, there is no
Hakra river which was flowing parallel to, and east of the opening in the Siwalik mountains – the source of these
Indus. It is in this vast and fertile alluvial plain that rivers – through which Himalayan waters could flow into
the first urban settlements characteristic of the Indus/ the bed of the Ghaggar-Hakra. The wide but shallow bed
Harappan civilization appeared. Indus/Harappan civili- of this river is composed of loam and is lined by sand
zation is one of the three oldest civilizations of the world, dunes on both banks and has many historical settlements
the other two being those of Mesopotamia (present-day on its banks. This dry river has been a subject of curiosity
Iraq) and Egypt. All the three civilizations flourished to geographers and geologists for more than 150 years. In
along large perennial rivers flowing through desert the last quarter of the nineteenth century scholars like C F
environment. But the Indus civilization, covering an area Oldham (1874, 1893) and R D Oldham (1887) had come

Figure 3. Harappan sites.

504 V N Misra
to the conclusion that the present-day bed of the Ghaggar- 1988), Nageshwar (Hegde et al 1990), and Dholavira
Hakra is actually the bed of the ancient river Saraswati (Bisht 1991) in Gujarat. These excavations have produced
which has been eulogized in many hymns of the Rigveda an enormous amount of evidence which provides a com-
as a mighty, perennial and sacred river, flowing from the prehensive picture of this civilization.
mountains into the Arabian sea. In the later epics
(Mahabharata and Ramayana) this river is described as
having disappeared underground. This phenomenon is 5.4 Spatial and temporal variation
consistent with the post-Harappan archaeological history
of the region. These scholars concluded that the Saraswati Early writers on the Indus civilization like Sir John
could have been a perennially flowing river only if the Marshall, M S Vats, E J H Mackay, Stuart Piggott (1950)
waters of the Sutlej or the Yamuna or both flowed in the and Sir Mortimer Wheeler who used data available only
past through the channel of this river rather than through from a handful excavated sites like Mohenjodaro, Harappa
their present channels. There is ample geomorphic, and Chanhudaro, had laid great emphasis on the spatial
archaeological, historical and folkloristic evidence to and temporal uniformity of the civilization. However,
conclusively establish that this indeed was the case (Misra evidence from many sites excavated during the last fifty
1994). years has shown that there was considerable spatial and
For example, there is a complete absence of Harappan temporal diversity in the civilization in key areas like
sites along the present courses of the Yamuna and the town planning, architecture, ceramics, crafts, disposal of
Sutlej, barring some late Harappan sites on the upper the dead and religion.
course of the Sutlej where it flows parallel to the Siwaliks.
Had these two rivers been flowing in their present
channels during the Harappan times, the Harappan people 5.5 Chief characteristics
would have certainly established their settlements along
their banks. On the contrary, there are many sites of the The chief characteristics of the Indus/Harappan civili-
later Painted Grey Ware (PGW) culture along the banks zation are planned cities comprising a citadel for the
of these rivers. This culture is associated with places aristocracy and a lower town for the common people, with
which figure prominently in the story of the Mahabharata roads and streets running at right angles; the city enclosed
epic. The PGW culture is dated by a number of 14C dates by a fortification with impressive gateways; public
to 1000–600 B.C. This implies that the Sutlej and the buildings like the Great Bath at Mohenjodaro, dockyard at
Yamuna had shifted their courses into their present Lothal and granaries at several cities; elaborate drainage
channels before 1000 B.C. leaving the Saraswati (Ghaggar- system comprising public and private drains; houses
Hakra) with steadily shrinking water supply and eventual provided with paved baths; strict enforcement of muni-
desiccation. cipal laws ensuring maintenance of cleanliness and
Because of the important role played by the Saraswati absence of encroachment on public areas; use of both kiln
in the growth and decline of the Indus civilization Gupta and sun-baked bricks in construction; sturdy wheel made
(1996) has renamed it as Indus–Saraswati civilization. pottery, profusely decorated by painted naturalistic and
geometric motifs; uniform chert weights (the Harappan
weights are made of chert which is a fine-grained
5.3 Excavated sites siliceous rock) and measures of metal and ivory; a
uniform script depicted on steatite and other seals and
Nearly fifty sites of this civilization have been excavated tablets, often accompanied by masterly carved animal and
during the last eighty years. The more important among human figures; fine jewellery made of gold, silver,
them are: Mohenjodaro (Marshall 1931), Chanhudaro copper, ivory, shell, semi-precious stones, steatite, faience
(Mackay 1943), Kot Diji (Khan 1964), Amri (Casal and terracotta. Particularly attractive are etched carnelian
1964), Balakot (Dales 1979) and Allahdino (Fairservis beads.
1982) in Sindh; Nausharo (Jarrige 1990) in Baluchistan;
Harappa (Vats 1940) in Punjab; all of them in Pakistan;
Shortughai (Francfort 1989) in Afghanistan; Rupar 5.6 Economy
(Sharma 1956) and Banawali (Bisht 1978) in Haryana;
Kalibangan (Lal and Thapar 1967) in Rajasthan; Alamgir- The agricultural economy of the Harappans was based on
pur (Sharma 1989) and Hulas (Dikshit 1981) in Uttar the cultivation of wheat and barley in the Indus plains and
Pradesh; and Lothal (Rao 1973), Rangpur (Rao 1963), of millets like jowar (Sorghum bicolor), bajra (Penni-
Rojdi (Possehl and Raval 1989), Surkotada (Joshi 1990), setum typhoideum), ragi (Eleusine coracana), little millet
Kuntasi (Dhavalikar et al 1996), Nagwada (Hegde et al (Panicum miliare) and Italian millet (Setaria italica) in

the semi-arid region of Gujarat. At a later stage, probably the eastern side, the two separated by empty space. The
when the Harappans came into contact with the rural citadel was situated on artificially raised ground and
societies of the Ganga plains, rice was also added to their contained habitational structures for the ruling classes and
agriculture (Weber 1991). the artistocracy as well as public buildings like granaries
There is evidence of specialized industrial production and the Great Bath at Mohenjodaro. The lower town was
of a variety of items from several sites; for example stone inhabited by the common people. At Dholavira the
beads at Chanhudaro in Sindh and Nagwada in Gujarat; settlement consists of three parts, namely lower town,
shell objects at Nageswar, Nagwada and Kuntasi in middle town and citadel, the citadel itself consisting of
Gujarat; and copper-bronze objects from Ganeshwar in two parts. The society comprised of farmers, artisans,
Rajasthan (Lal 1997; Kenoyer 1998). The Harappans had traders, administrators, priests and workers. The religion
a vast and elaborate trade network covering a large area of the Indus people is thought to have been centred
from western India to West Asia, both overland and by around the worship of the mother goddess, a male deity
sea. There are depictions of boats on Indus seals and believed to be a proto type of Shiva in his form of
tablets, very similar to those still in use on the Indus river Pashupati or lord of the beasts and the pipal tree.
as well as in coastal trade between India and the Persian However, there seems to have been regional variation in
Gulf countries. The discovery of a large brick structure objects of worship and rituals. Clay figurines of mother
(220 × 70 m) at Lothal in Gujarat has been interpreted as goddess are common at Mohenjodaro and sites in
a dockyard for berthing ocean-going vessels. Dholavira, a Baluchistan, but are rare in the Saraswati valley and in
large settlement located on an island in the Great Rann of Gujarat. At Kalibangan and Rakhigarhi, fire altars with
Kutch and overlooking the Arabian sea towards Karachi, cylindrical clay objects inside them are believed to be of
was also a port city and was probably intended to protect ritual significance.
the sea-borne trade from pirates. In the early days Mohenjodaro and Harappa were
The Harappans obtained raw materials for their manu- thought to be the twin capitals of the Harappan empire.
factures from far off places. These included copper from When Kalibangan was excavated in the 1960s, it was
Khetri region in the Aravalli hills in Rajasthan, semi- interpreted as a provincial capital. Now at least three
precious stones for bead industry from Ratanpura in other cities, Ganweriwala Ther, Rakhigarhi and Dhola-
Gujarat, gold from Kolar mines in Karnataka, and lapis vira, each extending over more than a hundred hectares,
lazuli from Badakhsan in Afghanistan. Harappan seals are known. Each of these big cities is likely to have been a
have been found at a number of sites in Iraq, Iran and the regional commercial, political and administrative centre.
Persian Gulf region. Similarly, Harappan pottery has been
found at sites in Oman in the Arabian peninsula.
Cuneiform inscriptions from Mesopotamia mention the
5.8 Disposal of the dead and biological composition
lands of Dilmun, Magan and Meluhha being involved in
of the population
the sea borne trade. Meluhha is believed to be the domain
of the Indus civilization, particularly the coastal region
The Harappans disposed of their dead usually by burial in
directly connected with West Asian trade. Dilmun has
pit graves. The dead body was laid in an extended form
been identified with the island of Bahrain in the Persian
and buried with many items mainly clay pots, which
Gulf where distinctive type of seals, sharing features of
originally must have contained food and drink. There are
Indus and Mesopotamian seals and known as Persian Gulf
instances of graves being lined with bricks and wooden
seals, have been found. Magan is thought to refer to the
coffins having been used. There are also rare examples of
Makran coastal region of southeastern Iran and adjoining
pot burials containing fragmentary bones. Large ceme-
Baluchistan. The discovery of a large brick-built tank at
teries containing many burials have been found at
Lothal, identified as a dockyard, confirms the presence of
Harappa, Lothal and Kalibangan.
sea borne trade (Ratnagar 1981; Chakrabarti 1990). The
In terms of their biological composition the Harappan
Harappans also had trading with contemporary hunting-
populations were very close to the contemporary popu-
gathering communities (Misra 1976b; Possehl and Kennedy
lations of various Harappan regions. Early studies on
1979).
human skeletons were almost exclusively concerned with
metrical analysis and classification of populations into
5.7 Society racial categories. In recent years the emphasis has shifted
to understand the adaptation of individual populations to
Harappan society was stratified on economic and social their natural and social environments and in learning
bases. The layout of the Harappan cities consisted of two about their nutritional patterns and disease (Kennedy
parts, a citadel on the western side and a lower town on 1984, 1992; Lukacs 1992; Lovell and Kennedy 1989).

506 V N Misra
5.9 Script Many factors are believed to have been involved in the
decline and disappearance of this civilization. These
A major enigma of the Indus civilization is its script. It include reduction in rainfall, foreign invasions, tectonic
occurs in the form of pictographic signs on seals, tablets rise of the land leading to blocking of the flow of the
and pottery. On seals the script is associated with masterly Indus river and eventual migration of the people from
carved miniature animal figures. Recently a short ins- Mohenjodaro, environmental degradation due to exces-
cription of large letters has been discovered on the floor sive use of soil and plant resources, and hydrological
of a structure at Dholavira. The number of signs in changes. While all of them played varying roles in
individual inscriptions is very small, from a minimum of different areas, the cessation of the flow of water into the
five to a maximum of seventeen. The script was written Saraswati due to shifting of the courses of the Yamuna
from right to left. In cases where there are two or more and the Sutlej towards southeast into the Ganga and
lines it is boustrophedonic (a style of writing in which one towards southwest into the Indus, respectively caused a
line is written from one direction and the second line from major disaster, leading to abandonment of settlements in
the opposite direction). A remarkable feature of the script the Saraswati valley and migration of population towards
is its uniformity throughout the vast area and long the foothill zone of the Siwaliks, the Yamuna-Ganga
duration of the civilization. A number of claims have been Doab and Gujarat.
made regarding the deciphering of the script but none
has won the acceptance of archaeologists and linguists
(Parpola 1994; Possehl 1996). 6. Emergence of farming societies outside the
zone of the indus civilization
5.10 Origin, growth and decline Explorations and excavations during the last five decades
have thrown a flood of light on the diffusion of farming-
For several decades following its discovery, the origin of based settled village life beyond the domain of the Indus
the Indus civilization seemed mysterious. The cities of civilization. These have led to the discovery of more than
Mohenjodaro and Harappa were known only as fully a thousand sites covering all parts of the country except
developed urban centres from the very beginning. It was the West Coast, including Kerala. These sites can be
believed that the inspiration, if not the actual founders, of divided into two culture groups, namely Neolithic and
the Harappan cities came from Mesopotamia which had Chalcolithic. Elsewhere in the World the Neolithic period
an older history of civilization. However, during the last preceded the Chalcolithic period but in India the two
fifty years excavations at many sites, particularly at flourished simultaneously during fourth to second mille-
Harappa, Kot Diji, Amri, Kalibangan, Mehrgarh and nnia B.C. Both groups of cultures represent a farming-
Dholavira, have revealed the process of the growth of based, settled village way of life but Chalcolithic
urban settlements from small rural societies. The civi- represents a more developed stage. While the subsistence
lization is now seen as a uniquely South Asian deve- base of both groups is fairly similar – being based on a
lopment. Four stages have been distinguished in the combination of plant agriculture, animal husbandry,
development of the civilization. These are: (i) Hakra hunting, gathering, fishing and fowling – the role of
Ware or Ravi phase (3500–3000 B.C.), known from individual components differs from one culture to the
many sites in the middle Ghaggar valley and at Harappa; other. Besides, there are important differences between
(ii) early Harappan phase (3000–2600 B.C.) characterized Neolithic and Chalcolithic with respect to the distribution
by the emergence of several urban features like town pattern, technology, architecture and ceramics. Similar
planning, developed metal technology, and incipient differences also exist between individual cultures within
Harappan script and represented at several sites like each group.
Harappa, Kot Diji, Amri, Kalibangan and Dholavira; The Neolithic cultures have a comparatively restricted
(iii) the mature or urban Harappan phase (2600– distribution, being confined to the Kashmir valley, the
1900 B.C.) characterized by the full growth of urban northern Vindhyas, middle Ganga valley, and eastern,
economy and society and represented at a large number of northeastern and south India. The Chalcolithic cultures
settlements like Mohenjodaro, Harappa, Lothal, Kaliban- have a much wider distribution, being found in the entire
gan and Dholavira; and (iv) late Harappan phase (1900– Ganga valley, eastern Rajasthan, Malwa or western
1500 B.C. or even later) marked by the collapse of the Madhya Pradesh, some parts of Gujarat, western Maha-
urban character and fragmentation of the urban society rashtra, and the northern Vindhyas. With respect to
into small semi-urban and rural settlements, located technology, the main component in the Neolithic cultures
mainly in the upper reaches of the Ghaggar tributaries, consists of ground or polished stone tools like axes, adzes,
Ganga-Yamuna Doab and Gujarat. wedges and chisels while in the Chalcolithic cultures

these types are represented by their copper counterparts. pits for entry and exit, and the walls and floors were
However, microliths, flakes and blades, bone tools, and plastered with lime. Shallow pits were probably used for
stone and terracotta sling balls occur in both groups, as do habitation during summer. Evidence of human occupation
domestic stone objects like querns, rubbers, pestles and in the pits occurs in the form of ovens, charcoal, ash,
hammerstones. The architecture in both groups was very pottery, stone tools, human burials and animal bones.
simple, consisting mainly of wattle-and-daub circular or During the later stage, habitation structures were also
rectangular huts, but some of the Chalcolithic cultures made on the surface. These were made of mud as well as
show incipient settlement planning, impressive multi- mud-bricks.
roomed houses made of semi-dressed stones and mud-
bricks and even defence architecture like ramparts and 7.1b Technology: The technology of the pioneering
moats. In ceramic technology also the Chalcolithic cul- settlers consisted of stone, bone and antler tools. The
tures are more advanced. Neolithic pottery is largely stone tools comprised polished axes and chisels, har-
handmade, coarse clay. It is poorly baked, mostly undeco- vesters, pounders, polishers, querns, grinders and perfo-
rated and appears drab having a limited repertoire of rated discs, the last probably used as maceheads or
shapes and designs. In contrast, the Chalcolithic pottery is weights of digging sticks. The harvesters are rectangular
largely wheel made, of fine fabric having a superior knives with two or more holes on the blunt side, probably
surface finish. It is fired at a higher temperature and is for hafting. This type is unknown outside the Kashmir
hence sturdy. It also has a larger range of shapes and valley in India but is found at north Chinese Neolithic
decorative motifs. sites. The bone and antler tool industry was sophisticated
These early village cultures constitute the basis of and produced harpoons, spatulae, needles, awls, spear-
present-day Indian rural society which, but for the points, arrowheads, daggers and scrapers. Other items of
replacement of copper-stone technology by that of iron material culture are beads of semi-precious stones,
and the transformation of ancestral occupational groups terracotta bangles and cowrie shells.
into castes, has not significantly changed over the last six
thousand years. They also form the foundation of the 7.1c Economy: The subsistence economy of the Neo-
present-day linguistic-cultural regions of India. lithic people was based on a combination of plant
cultivation, animal husbandry and hunting-gathering.
Among the cultivated crops, seeds of wheat (Triticum
7. Neolithic cultures
sp.), barley (Hordeum vulgare), common pea (Pisum
arvense L.) and lentil (Lens culinaris) have been found.
Several regionally distinct Neolithic cultures have been
The domesticated animals include cattle, sheep, goat, pig,
identified in the Kashmir valley, the northern Vindhyas
dog and fowl. The wild animals include red deer, Kashmir
and the middle Ganga valley, eastern India, northeast
stag, ibex, bear, wolf, hedgehog, beaver and rodents.
India and south India (figure 4). These are briefly
described below.
7.1d Pottery: The earliest settlers were unfamiliar with
pottery but after some time they learnt its manufacture and
7.1 Kashmir valley use. The pottery is largely handmade though in the later
stage wheel-made pots also appear. Some of the hand-
7.1a Dwellings: In the Kashmir valley nearly forty Neo- made pots have mat impressions on their bases, suggest-
lithic sites have been discovered. They are located on the ing that they were placed on mats for drying. The vessel
elevated Karewa deposits overlooking rivers and lakes. Of shapes comprise jars, vases, globular pots, basins, dishes-
them two, namely Burzahom (IAR 1960–1961, p. 11; on-stand and bowls. Occasionally, the pots are decorated
1961–1962, pp 17–21; 1962–1963, pp 9–10; 1964–1965, with paintings. Of special significance is a globular pot
p. 13; 1965–1966, p. 19; 1968–1969, p. 10; 1971–1972, with painting of a horned deity, very similar to specimens
p. 24; Kaw 1989) and Gufkral (IAR 1981–1982, pp 19– from Kot Diji and Gumla in Pakistan. This find, along
25) have been excavated. The finds from these exca- with that of a copper hairpin from the upper levels of
vations give a fairly good picture of the life of the Gufkral, resembling a specimen from Chanhudaro in
pioneering farmers of the valley. The Neolithic people Pakistan, suggests contact between the Kashmir Neolithic
lived in pits dug into the compact Karewa loess, obviously and the Harappan civilization.
to protect themselves from the freezing winds during
winter. Post-holes around the mouth of the pits were 7.1e Disposal of the dead: The Neolithic people buried
probably intended to provide a roof thatched with birch their dead, practising both primary and secondary burial.
and hay of which charred remains have actually been In a primary burial the body was placed in a crouched
found from the pits. Steps were cut into the walls of the position and sometimes dogs were buried with the master

508 V N Misra
Discovery of semi-precious stone beads in some graves 7.2 The northern Vindhyas and the middle
shows that the dead body was buried wearing necklaces. Ganga valley
In secondary burials bones were sometimes treated with
red ochre. Graves of animals like dog, wolf and ibex have 7.2a The ethnographic scene: Historically this region is
also been found. of crucial importance. It is the meeting ground of three
Seven uncalibrated C14 dates from Burzahom give a major linguistic-cultural streams of the country, namely
time bracket of 2400–1500 B.C. for the Neolithic culture the Indo-Aryan, Dravidian and Austro-Asiatic. The bulk
of Kashmir. of the populations especially of the Ganga valley, speaks
Figure 4. Neolithic and chalcolithic cultures of India.

languages derived from Sanskrit, like Hindi, Oriya and and West Bengal, and the Gadabas, Saoras and Bondos
Bengali. However, some of the tribal communities like the of Orissa speak languages belonging to the Austro-Asiatic
Gonds of southern Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar family (figure 5).
and Orissa, and the Oraons of Chota Nagpur plateau of Geographically, the region consists of two contrasting
Bihar and West Bengal speak Gondi and Kurukh res- environments. The Ganga valley in the north is a vast,
pectively, which belong to the Dravidian family. Other flat alluvial plain with a moderate slope from northwest
tribes like the Kols, Musahars and Korwas of southern to southeast. It receives ample rainfall, is drained by
Uttar Pradesh, the Mundas and Santhals of Bihar, Orissa many perennial rivers, has extremely fertile soil and is the
Figure 5. Language families and principal languages of India.

510 V N Misra
most densely populated region in the country. The land (Cicer arietinum), khesari (Lathyrus sativus), mustard
immediately to the south of the Ganga, on the other hand, (a form of Brassica campastris), flax/linseed (Linum
consists of a flat rocky plateau and beyond it is the usitatissium) and jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus).
escarpment of the Kaimur range of the Vindhyas. The Among the domesticated animals there is evidence of
hilly and rocky region is covered by dry deciduous forests humped cattle (Bos indicus) and sheep/goat (Ovis/
and is largely inhabited by tribal communities which Capra). There is also evidence of hunting of deer and
include very primitive groups like the Korwas, Musahars antelopes.
and Birhors who still subsist by hunting and gathering; the
Baigas, Koyas, Parajas, Saoras, Bondos, Gadabas,
7.2c Pottery: The most distinctive pottery of this culture
Kondhs and Kharias who practise shifting cultivation, and
is cord-marked ware. It is handmade from coarse clay, is
the Gonds, Mundas, and Santhals who practise primitive
poorly baked and has cord designs on the external surface
plough cultivation. All of them, however, combine a certain
of vessels. These designs are believed to have been pro-
degree of hunting and gathering with agriculture.
duced when the pots were beaten for enlargement by
Even though the tribal population is largely confined to
wooden mallets wrapped with cord. Other wares of this
the hilly and forested tracts, south of the Ganga, the lower
culture are black-and-red ware, black-slipped ware
caste population of the Ganga plains is essentialy derived
(potters apply a coating of clay to the pot and then rub it
from the tribal stock. The deforestation of the Ganga
with some object to produce a smooth and shining
plains, after the introduction of iron technology, the
surface, the coating is known as slip) with occasional
resultant loss of wild plant and animal food resources saw
painting in white, and slipped-plain red ware. The
the assimilation of the hunting-gathering tribal popula-
principal vessel shapes are bowls, basins, vases and
tions into the agriculture-based caste society. They were
dishes.
placed in the lower rung of the hierarchical caste order.
Radiocarbon dates from Sohagaura and Narhan show
Further, hunter-gatherers having omnivorous food habits,
this culture to date to the second half of the second
so-called unhygienic living and occupations, and maxi-
millennium B.C.
mum distance from the religious practices and social
customs of the upper castes, were relegated to the cate-
gory of untouchables.
7.3 Eastern India
Eastern India, east of Allahabad, is also a part of the
vast region where many varieties of wild rice grow
Neolithic artefacts which include pointed butt celts (axes),
extensively. Rice was initially cultivated in this region and
chisels, bar celts, shouldered celts, hammer stones and
till today it continues to be the main food crop.
perforated discs have been found at a number of surface
sites in the Chota Nagpur plateau in Bihar, Orissa and
7.2b Geographical extent and economy: South of the West Bengal since the beginning of the nineteenth
Ganga, ground stone tools have been reported as surface century. Small scale excavations at a few sites in Orissa
finds widely in the hilly tracts of the northern Vindhyas, like Kuchai in Mayurbhanj district (IAR 1961–1962,
particularly in Rewa and Sidhi districts of Madhya p. 36), Golbai Sasan in Khurda district (Sinha 2000),
Pradesh, and Banda and Mirzapur districts of Uttar Kuanr in Keonjhar district (Ray et al 2000) and Sankar-
Pradesh. These are of elongated pointed-butt type, similar jang in Angul district (Yule et al 1990) have provided
to those of south India. Excavations at Koldihwa (Misra more evidence about the Neolithic culture. Kuchai has
1977) and Mahagara (Sharma et al 1980) in the Vindhyas yielded pointed-butt celts and cord-impressed pottery.
and several sites like Sohagaura (Chaturvedi 1985), Golbai Sasan has produced a rich bone tool industry and
Khairadih (Singh 1988), Narhan (Singh 1994), Chirand evidence of circular and rectangular wattle-and-daub
(Varma 1970–71; Roy 1989) and Senuwar (Singh 1991) houses, in addition to stone celts and an extended human
in the middle Ganga plains have placed these tools in a burial. Kuanr has yielded pointed-butt celts, evidence of
proper cultural and chronological context. They have also wattle-and-daub structures and copper bangles. From
yielded evidence of plant cultivation and animal domesti- Sankarjang several human burials were excavated in
cation, microliths, bone and antler tools and terracotta association with bar celts and copper artefacts. Ground
objects. The best evidence for agriculture and domesti- stone tools are also very common as surface finds in
cation comes from Narhan. The cultivated plants include Dhenkanal and Keonjhar districts. They also include
hulled and six-rowed barley (Hordeum vulgare), club miniature celts which were probably intended for some
wheat (T. compactum), bread wheat (T. aestivum), dwarf ritual function. Radiocarbon dates from Golbai Sasan and
wheat (T. sphaerococcum), rice (Oryza sativa), pea (Pisum Sankarjang suggest a duration of 2200 to 700 B.C. for the
sativum), green gram (Vigna radiata), gram/chicken pea Neolithic culture.

7.4 Northeast India district, all in Andhra Pradesh; and Paiyampalli (IAR
1964–1965, pp 22–23) in North Arcot district, Tamil
In northeast India, ground stone celts of shouldered and Nadu have been excavated.
splayed varieties have been collected as surface finds
from many sites in Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and 7.5b Ash mounds: A very distinctive feature of the Neo-
Arunachal Pradesh for more than a century (Dani 1960). lithic culture are ash mounds, which are heaps of ash
These, along with cord-impressed pottery, have also been produced by the burning of cow dung. They are closely
found in the excavations at Daojali Hading (Sharma associated with habitation sites and provide tell-tale
1989), Sarutaru (Rao 1977) in Assam, and Selbalgiri (IAR evidence of the role of cattle pastotralism in the economy.
1967–1968, pp 8) in Meghalaya. The pottery is handmade It is believed that dung from cattle pens was allowed to
and of impure clay. Use of the coil or ring method is seen accumulate and periodically set ablaze, probably in a
in the making of some pots. Many sherds carry imp- ceremonial way as is done at annual cattle festivals in
ressions of cord or string and grooved wooden mallets on south India even today (Allchin 1963; Murty 1989).
their surface, suggesting that the vessels were enlarged Several ash mounds like Utnur in Mahbubnagar district
and shaped by beating with a wooden mallet wrapped with (Allchin 1961) and Palavoy in Ananatpur district (Rami
a cord. Reddy 1976) of Andhra Pradesh; Kupgal in Bellary
In northeast India cord-marked pottery is associated in district (Mujumdar and Rajaguru 1966), Kodekal (Paddayya
the archaeological context with ground stone axes of 1973) and Budihal (Paddayya 1992) in Gulbarga district
shouldered and splayed types. Ethnographically, it is of Karnataka have been excavated.
associated with shifting cultivation, cultivation of yams The ash in the mounds consists of several distinct
and taro, raising of stone and wooden memorials for the layers; in some layers it is soft and loose and in others
dead, and the presence of Austro-Asiatic languages. All heavily vitrified, suggesting that cow dung was burnt at
these traits are also found in south China and southeast varying temperatures. The contents of the ash include
Asia. Anthropologists believe that people speaking Austro- stone and bone tools, animal bones and pottery. At Utnur
Asiatic languages were responsible for the introduction of and Budihal hoof impressions of cattle have been found
this culture complex (Fuerer-Haimendorf 1945). beneath the cow dung, showing evidence of cattle
penning. Besides, Budihal has also produced evidence of
a butchering floor.
7.5 South India
7.5c Economy: The Neolithic people practised an agro-
7.5a Geographical extent: The Neolithic culture of south pastoral economy. The domesticated animals represented
India is best understood among the other Neolithic in the bone record comprise cattle (Bos indicus), buffalo
cultures of India. It is primarily a product of human (Bubalus bubalis), sheep (Ovis aries), goat (Capra hircus
adaptation to the semi-arid environment, marked by low aegagrus), pig (Sus scrofa cristatus), dog (Canis fami-
(600–1200 mm) rainfall. It has been found to be present liaris) and fowl (Gallus sp.) (Thomas 1974). Cattle
in northern Karnataka and western Andhra Pradesh, played a predominant role in the economy as is evident by
although a few sites also occur in southern Karnataka, the abundance of bone refuse. Further evidence comes
coastal Andhra Pradesh and northern Tamil Nadu. Over from the presence of ash mounds, terracotta figurines, and
two hundred sites of this culture are presently known portrayal in the bruisings on rocks near archaeological
(Foote 1916; Paddayya 1973, 1992; Murty 1989). Many sites. The vegetation of the Neolithic landscape is charac-
of them occur on the flat tops, slopes and foot of granitic terized by scrub woodland, savanna woodland, scattered
hills but some are also found on the alluvial banks of shrubby facies and thorny thickets of different vege-
rivers like the Godavari, Krishna, Penneru, Tungabhadra tational series which is ideally suited for keeping sheep/
and Cauvery. Of them Sangnakallu (Subbarao 1948; goat herds. Communities like the Kuruvas and Gollas in
Ansari and Nagaraja Rao 1969) and Tekkalakota (Naga- Andhra Pradesh, the Kurubas in Karnataka and the
raja Rao and Malhotra 1965) in Bellary district, Brahma- Dhangars in Maharashtra even today keep large herds but
giri (Wheeler 1948) in Chitradurg district, Maski (Thapar it does not seem to have been an important component of
1957), Piklihal (Allchin 1960) and Watgal (Deavaraj et al the Neolithic economy. Murty (1989) has used ethno-
1995) in Raichur district, Hallur (Nagaraja Rao 1984) in historical data and has indicated that rearing sheep/goat
Dharwad district, T. Narasipur (Seshadri 1971) and Hemmige herds developed as an offshoot of the agro-pastoral
(Hanumantha Rao and Nagaraju 1974) in Mysore district, Neolithic economy in later (Chalcolithic and historic)
all in Karnataka; Nagarjunakonda (Subrahmanyam et al times.
1975) in Guntur district, Ramapuram (IAR 1980–1981, pp The Neolithic people also cultivated a variety of crops
3–7) and Veerapuram (Sastry et al 1984) in Kurnool on hill tops and in narrow valleys between the hills using

512 V N Misra
rainfed gravity-flow irrigation as also on alluvial banks of central and western India (figure 3). These include the
rivers. Their main crops were millets, pulses and legumes. ochre-coloured pottery (OCP) culture in the Indo-
These include finger millet (Eleusine coracana), kodo Gangetic Divide and upper Ganga-Yamuna Doab; the
millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum), horse gram (Dolichos Ahar culture in the Mewar region of Rajasthan; the
biflorus), green gram (Vigna radiata), black gram (Pha- Kayatha and Malwa cultures in the Malwa region of
seolus mungo) and hyacinth bean (Dolichos lablab). The western Madhya Pradesh; the Malwa and Jorwe cultures
only cereals known to have been cultivated are barley in western Maharashtra; and the Narhan culture and
(Hordeum vulgare) and rice (Oryza sativa) but they are variants in the northern Vindhyas and the middle and
known only from one site each. lower Ganga valley. These are briefly described below.
7.5d Technology: The technology of the Neolithic people

consisted of ground stone tools like axes, adzes, wedges 8.2 Copper hoards and the OCP culture
and chisels and of microliths and stone blades. At Palavoy
a rich bone tool assemblage comprising axes, blades and
8.2a Copper hoards: Since the beginning of the nine-
points has been found. In the later stages of the culture
teenth century, copper objects were found in groups of
copper and bronze tools also came to be used.
several pieces, at a number of sites in the Indo-Gangetic
Divide (Punjab, Haryana and northeast Rajasthan) and the
7.5e Other traits: The Neolithic people lived in circular
Ganga–Yamuna Doab. Because of their discovery in
or rectangular wattle-and-daub huts with floors having
groups they have come to be known as Copper Hoards.
stone pavings. Large stones were placed around the huts
Almost in all cases they have been found outside
on the outside to protect them from winds. Evidence of a
habitation and as accidental discoveries during operations
burnt hut from Sanganakallu shows that the huts had a
like ploughing, canal digging and levelling of agricultural
thatched roof. The dead – both children and adults – were
land. The hoards comprise a variety of objects like flat
buried in double or multiple clay urns beneath the floors
axes with splayed sides and convex cutting edges,
of their houses. Their pottery was initially only handmade,
shouldered axes, bar celts, double-edged axes, anthropo-
of poor quality and drab grey colour, and consisted of
morphic figures, hooked spear-heads, hatchets, antennae-
jars, spouted vessels and bowls of various sizes, some-
hilted swords, harpoons with barbs and lugged holes, and
times decorated with incised designs. In later stages wheel
rings (Lal 1951; Yule 1985). The objects are very heavy
made, sturdy pottery, occasionally decorated with painted
and unwieldy and do not seem to have any utilitarian
motifs, also came into use. An important new ceramic was
function, most of them probably being objects of rituals.
the black-and-red ware.
There is ethnographic evidence that metal tools and
The Neolithic culture is dated by C14 dating from the
weapons are worshipped by the Gonds of central India
middle of the third millennium B.C. to the beginning of
(Nagar 1983).
the first millennium B.C. Although during this long period
the basic form of the culture remained uniform, there were
8.2b Association with OCP: The archaeological context
changes in the form of improvement in ceramic tech-
and age of these objects continues to be an enigma. In the
nology and introduction of metal tools.
early fifties Lal (1951) carried out small excavations at
Bisauli and Rajpur Parsu villages in Bijnor district of
Uttar Pradesh at spots where copper hoards had repor-
8. Chalcolithic cultures tedly been discovered earlier. While Lal did not find any
new copper objects, he came across weathered OCP, and
8.1 Distinctive features on that basis he suggested a probable correlation between
the hoards and this pottery. OCP has since been found at a
The Neolithic period was succeeded by the Chalcolithic. number of sites, important among them being Jodhpura
The general pattern of life did not change during this (Ghosh 1989a) in Jaipur district, Rajasthan; Lal Qila
period, barring some significant developments. These (Gaur 1989) in Bulandshahr district, Hastinapura (Lal
include a marked increase in the number of settlements, 1955) in Meerut district, Bahadarabad (Sharma 1989) and
introduction of copper-bronze for the manufacture of Ambkheri (Dikshit 1989) in Saharanpur district, Atranji-
tools, weapons and ornaments, improvement in archi- khera (Gaur 1983) in Etah district and Saipai (Wahal
tecture, introduction of wheel-made pottery and diversi- 1989) in Etawa district, and Sringaverapura (Lal 1993) in
fication of wares and profuse decoration of vessels by Allahabad district, all in Uttar Pradesh. The pottery is ill-
painted, incised and applique designs. A number of fired, ochrish red in colour, and heavily weathered, with
Chalcolithic cultures have been discovered in northern, the slip peeling off. It has been suggested that this

condition is a consequence of prolonged waterlogging of and circular houses made of stone, mud-brick and mud.
the sites (Lal 1968). The shapes comprise storage jars, The large houses had massive foundations of stone and
vases, basins, bowls, dishes-on-stand and miniature pots; mud-brick more than a metre in width. Above them stood
they are quite similar to the Harappan pottery shapes. walls of mud as is testified by the enormous mud debris in
Occasionally the pottery is decorated with incised the excavations. The houses were provided with over-
designs, graffiti and paintings in black pigment. Opinion ground and underground grain storage bins and kitchens
about the correct cultural status of this pottery is divided equipped with U-shaped chulhas or ovens and stone
among archaeologists. Some think of it as an independent saddle querns and rubbers for grinding cereals and pulses.
ceramic technique while others think of it as only a poorer At Balathal and Gilund a number of deep silos of various
version of Harappan pottery (Gupta 1972). sizes lined with grass and plastered with lime have been
OCP settlements are small in size and have a thin found, meant for grain storage. The size of the houses,
habitation deposit. This indicates that their habitation was materials and techniques used in their construction, and
of short duration. Because of the small size of excavations the material remains found inside the houses show that
very little is known of the economy and material culture there was economic disparity in the society. At Balathal
associated with this pottery, The available evidence separation of the three structural complexes by a street
comprises cultivation of rice and barley, domestication of and a lane shows incipient planning of the settlement.
cattle, rammed earth floors, post-holes, baked and There is also some evidence to show that the settlement
unbaked bricks, terracotta human figurines and bangles, was enclosed by a stone boundary wall.
and beads of stone and bone. Two thermoluminiscence At Balathal a large sub-rectangular fortified structure,
dates on pottery from Atranjikhera are 2600 and 1200 B.C. with an open area of about 600 sq⋅m inside it, has been
Because of the wide gap between them the correct age of discovered in the centre of the settlement. Made of stone,
this culture remains uncertain (Gaur 1989). mud-brick and mud, its walls have a width of up to seven
metres at the base and up to five metres at the top, and
they rise to a height of four metres. The core of the walls
8.3 Ahar culture is made of mud, mud-bricks and stone, and their sides, up
to 1⋅25 m in width, are made of semi-dressed stones. The
8.3a Geographical setting: This culture is known from fortification was provided with bastions at all four
the Mewar region of southeast Rajasthan. Geographically, corners. The open space inside the enclosure is filled with
the region consists of an undulating rocky plain, with burnt cow dung and ash from the base of the fortification
narrow patches of fertile black soil. It receives an annual to its top. The variations in colour and compactness of the
average rainfall of about 750 mm which is, however, very ash show that the cow dung was burnt several times at
erratic. It is drained by the Banas and its many tributaries varying temperatures. In some places the structure of
like the Khari, Kothari and Berach and their tributaries. burnt cow dung cakes arranged vertically in a slanting
The region produces rich crops of maize, jowar, bajra, position is clearly preserved. Heavily burnt sherds of
pulses, sesame, urid and mung during the summer season Chalcolithic pottery occasionally occur within the ash.
and wheat, barley, gram, common pea, chicken pea, Three human skeletons have also been found within the
pigeon pea, mustard, linseed, sugarcane and cotton during ash. This is unusual because burial as a mode of disposing
the winter season. of the dead is unknown in the Chalcolithic cultures of
Nearly one hundred sites of the Ahar culture, named Mewar, central India and north India. No entrance to the
after the type site within the city limits of Udaipur, have enclosure has been located so far. The function of the
been located in the valleys of river Banas and its structure remains a puzzle. All that can be said is that it
tributaries and subtributaries in Banswara, Udaipur, did not have an utilitarian function; in all probability it
Chittaurgarh, Bhilwara, Bundi and Ajmer districts. Four had a ritual significance.
of them, namely Ahar (Sankalia et al 1969) and Balathal
(Misra et al 1995, 1997) in Udaipur district, Gilund (IAR 8.3c Economy: The economy of the Ahar people was
1958–1959, pp 41–46) in Rajsamand district and Ojiyana based on cultivation, animal husbandry and hunting. They
(unpublished results) in Bhilwara district, have been cultivated wheat (Triticum sp.), barley (Hordeum vul-
excavated. These, especially Balathal, which has been gare), lentil (Lens esculenta Moench), common pea
horizontally excavated for seven seasons (1994–2000), (Pisum arvense L.), finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.),
have provided an excellent picture of the culture of the Italian millet (Setaria italica Beauv.) and panicum millet
Ahar people. (Panicum sp.). The animals domesticated by them include
cattle, sheep/goat, buffalo and pig. Wild animals hunted
8.3b Architecture: The Ahar culture people lived in by them comprise gaur (Bos gaurus), nilgai (Boselaphus
single, double, and multi-roomed rectangular, squarish tragocamelus), chausingha (Tetracerus quardricornis)

514 V N Misra
and blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra). Vast quantities of ded eastward into the lower Ganga valley in Bihar and
animal bones, almost all of them charred and broken, West Bengal. The new features are increase in the size of
suggest that meat was an important component of diet and settlements, improvement in architecture, appearance of
was consumed after roasting. The bones were split and wheel-made pottery, diversification of wares, profuse
broken open for the extraction of marrow. There are also decoration of vessels with painted and incised designs,
remains of fish, turtle and molluscs. addition of copper to technology, and appearance of beads
of semi-precious stones, copper, steatite and terracotta
8.3d Technology: The technology of the people was and of terracotta animal and human figurines (Misra
mainly based on copper. Copper objects found at the sites 2000). A large number of Chalcolithic sites have been
include flat axes, choppers, knives, razors, chisels and excavated. These include Kakoria (Misra 1979), Magha
tanged arrowheads. A small quantity of microblades and (IAR 1980–1981, pp 72–73), Koldihwa (Misra 1977),
microliths have also been found but they did not play an Banimilia-Bahera (IAR 1971–1972, pp 39–40), Takiapar
important part in technology. Several well polished bone (IAR 1971–1972, p. 49), Raja Nal Ka Tila (Tiwari and
points have also been found. The ornaments of the Ahar Srivastava 1996–1997) in the Vindhyas and Jhusi (Misra
people comprise beads of semi-precious stones, steatite et al 1996), Kausambi (Sharma 1960), Sringverapura (Lal
and terracotta, rings of copper and petalled ornaments of and Dikshit 1981), Prahladpur (Narain and Roy 1968),
copper and bone. Rajghat (Narain and Roy 1977), Masondih (IAR 1963–
1964, pp 57–58), Sohagaura (Chaturvedi 1985), Narhan
8.3e Pottery: The Ahar people had a rich ceramic tradi- (Singh 1994), Imlidih (Singh 1993; Singh et al 1992),
tion consisting of several fine and coarse wares. The fine Khairadih (Singh 1988), Chirand (Varma 1970–71; Roy
wares include tan ware, thin red ware and black-and-red 1989), Chechar (IAR 1977–1978, pp 17–18), Maner (IAR
ware, and the coarse wares include thick red ware and 1984–1985, pp 11–12), Oriup (IAR 1967–1968, p. 6),
grey ware. The fine wares are made of well-levigated Champa (IAR 1982–1983, pp 15–16), Sonpur (Sinha and
clay, have a slipped and burnished surface, and are well Verma 1970), Taradih (Prasad 1981), Manjhi (Roy 1986),
baked and sturdy. These wares were meant for eating and Senuwar (Singh 1991) and Agiabir (Singh and Singh
drinking. Tan ware has a close affinity to Harappan 1999), Mahisdal (Mukherjee 1989a), Mangalkot (Mukher-
pottery, and the main forms are carinated (projecting jee 1989b) and Pandu Rajar Dhibi (Das Gupta 1964) in
outward and forming an angle) dishes, dishes-on-stand of the Ganga valley.
various sizes, and globular jars with deep grooves
between tall applique ridges on the outside. The thin red 8.4b Chief characteristics: The chief characteristic of
ware mainly consists of convex-sided bowls and lota the Chalcolithic culture represented at these sites are
(tumbler)-like vessels. In the black-and-red ware the main given below.
shapes are straight-sided as well as carinated shallow and
deep bowls. They are painted on both surfaces in white The houses were generally made of wattle-and-daub as
pigment with geometric motifs. The coarse wares are represented by postholes, burnt lumps of clay with
made of coarse clay and are poorly fired. They comprise bamboo and reed impressions, and compact mud floors.
jars and handis (globular cooking pot) of various sizes for They were usually of rectangular shape. At several sites
storage and cooking. The upper part of the vessels is the houses contained hearths and chulhas (ovens) and
treated with a thick bright red or grey slip and is bur- kitchen equipment like querns and mullers.
nished. The vessels are decorated with shallow grooves The ceramic assemblage consists of red, black-and-red,
below the neck and with a variety of incised, applique and and black-slipped wares. All these were made on wheel
cut designs below the grooves on the external surface. from well-levigated clay. The shapes comprise bowls of
Nearly thirty-five radiocarbon dates, mainly from various sizes, including pedestalled and channel spouted,
Balathal, clearly establish the duration of the Ahar culture flat platters, dishes, basins, perforated vessels, jars and
from 3600 B.C. to 1500 B.C. They show Balathal to be vases. The black-and-red and black-slipped wares were
the oldest village in India outside the Indus civilization. painted in white with a variety of geometric designs on
both faces.
The technology of the Chalcolithic people comprised
8.4 The northern Vindhyas and the Ganga valley tools and weapons of copper, stone, bone and antler.
Copper objects include knives, spearheads and arrow-
8.4a Geographical extent: The Neolithic culture of the heads. Bone and antler tools comprise awls, points,
northern Vindhyas and the middle Ganga valley was tanged arrowheads and barbed arrowheads with socketed
succeeded by Chalcolithic culture. During this period the base. Microliths and blade tools have been found at
number of settlements increased considerably and exten- almost all the sites. They include lunates, triangles,

trapezes, blunted back blades, serrated blades, retouched The typical ceramic of the Kayatha culture is the
blades, plain blades and flakes. chocolate-slipped, sturdy and well baked Kayatha ware.
The ornaments of these people comprise beads, pendants, The shapes in this ware are convex-sided jars and cari-
bangles, rings and earstuds. Beads are made of semi- nated dishes, similar to those of the tan ware of the Ahar
precious stones, terracotta, bone, shell, faience (a man- culture. Occasionally the pots were decorated with linear
made substance used for making beads, seals etc.), designs in black pigment. Other wares of this culture are
steatite, copper and occasionally gold. Bangles are made buff ware with paintings in red and combed ware in which
of copper, terracotta and bone. Saddle querns, mullers, the decoration consists of groups of incised wavy lines. In
rubbers, hammerstones, discs of stone and terracotta, fish- addition, there is a handmade grey ware in which the main
hooks, pins, needles and gamesmen are the other objects shapes are handis, basins and storage jars.
used in this period. The Kayatha people used both copper and stone tools.
The economy of the people was based on a combination Copper tools are represented by elongated axes and stone
of plant cultivation, animal domestication and hunting and tools comprise microliths and blades. Kayatha has also
gathering. Cultivated plants include wheat, barley, rice, provided copper bangles, beads of semi-precious stones
jowar, mung, gram, kodo (a coarse millet grown only in and microbeads of steatite. Radiocarbon dates suggest a
tropical countries), lentil, til (sesamum), linseed and pea. period of 2000 to 1800 B.C. for this culture. After a break
Domesticated animals include buffalo, sheep/goat, pig and in occupation, the site of Kayatha was reoccupied by
dog, and wild animals include several species of deer and people whose culture was similar to that of Ahar in
antelopes, and boar. Remains of birds and aquatic Mewar.
creatures like fish and tortoise have also been found at
several sites. 8.5b Malwa culture: More than a hundred settlements
Evidence of disposal of the dead in the form of burial of this culture have been located in the valleys of the
comes only from three sides, Kakoria and Magha in the Chambal, Narmada, Betwa and their tributaries. Of these,
Vindhyas and Sonpur in the Ganga valley. Nagda (Banerjee 1986), Kayatha, Navdatoli (Sankalia
A number of radiocarbon dates from several sites both et al 1958; Sankalia et al 1971) and Eran (Singh 1962)
in the Vindhyas and the Ganga valley range from have been excavated. Navdatoli was horizontally excava-
1500 B.C. to 700 B.C. They clearly show that the colo- ted and has provided the best evidence.
nization of the Ganga valley by farmers took place much The Malwa culture people lived in wattle-and-daub
later than that of western, central south India. houses of rectangular and round shape the evidence of
which is preserved in the form of burnt wooden posts and
clay plaster with bamboo and reed impressions. Round
8.5 Malwa or western Madhya Pradesh huts have diameters varying from 2⋅40 to 3⋅60 m and with
walls from 30 to 60 cm thick. The rectangular structures
In the Malwa region of western Madhya Pradesh, drained were more spacious, ranging in size from 3 × 3 m to
by the Chambal, Narmada, Betwa and their tributaries, 6 × 4⋅5 m. Both had mud walls with wooden posts
two Chalcolithic cultures, namely Kayatha and Malwa, supporting a thatched roof. At Nagda a rampart made
have been found. of mud and mud-bricks has been reported, probably
constructed for protection against floods of the Chambal
8.5a Kayatha culture: Over 40 settlements of the Kayatha river. A defence wall made of mud and having a width of
culture have been found in the northern part of Malwa, 30 m at the base and a height of 6⋅4 m, and with a moat
adjoining the Mewar region of Rajasthan, in the valleys of running parallel to it has been reported from Eran. Nagda
the tributaries of river Chambal. Two of them, namely had multi-roomed houses made of mud and sun-baked as
Kayatha (Ansari and Dhavalikar 1973; Wakankar 1967) well as kiln-baked bricks. One house contained a four-
and Dangwada (Wakankar and Khare 1981) have been armed chulha with provision for three cooking vessels.
excavated. The floors of the houses were rammed hard and multiple
The Kayatha culture people lived in small huts having floor levels indicate that they were periodically repaired
well-rammed floors. They cultivated wheat and probably and relaid. At Nagda a drain built of mud-bricks and
barley and other crops although unfortunately no attempt measuring 2⋅28 × 2⋅13 m and with a height of about 1 m
has been made to recover plant remains. They domesti- has been reported. At Navdatoli a squarish pit enclosed by
cated cattle, sheep and goat. The presence of horse bones mud walls and containing ash and burnt logs of wood has
in the layers of the Kayatha and succeeding Chalcolithic been identified as a sacrificial pit or yajnya kunda
cultures as also a terracotta figurine of a mare at Kayatha (Sankalia et al 1971).
is interesting because it takes back the antiquity of this The Malwa people cultivated cereals, legumes, oil
animal to the late third millennium B.C. seeds and fruits. Cereals comprise bread wheat (Triticum

516 V N Misra
compactum) and rice (Oryza sativa L.). Among the pulses by the Tapti, Godavari and Bhima rivers and their
and legumes are lentil (Lens esculenta), black gram or tributaries has provided the best evidence of the Chal-
urid (Vigna mungo), green gram (Phaseolus mungo) and colithic cultures in India (Dhavalikar 1988). Explorations
khesari (Lathyrus sativus). Oil seed is represented by during the last fifty years have led to the discovery of over
linseed (Linum usitatissimum) and fruit is represented by 150 Chalcolithic sites in this region. Of these, a dozen
ber (Zizyphus jujube). The Malwa people domesticated have been excavated. They are Prakash (Thapar 1967)
cattle, sheep, goat and pig. They also consumed the flesh and Kaothe (Dhavalikar et al 1990a) in Dhule district;
of wild animals like barasingha (Cervus duvauceli), rat, Bahal (IAR 1956–1957, pp 17–18), Tekwada (IAR 1956–
fish, turtle and molluscs. 1957, pp 18–19) Jalgaon district; Daimabad (Sali 1986),
The Malwa people used several ceramics. Their main Nevasa (Sankalia et al 1960) and Jorwe (Sankalia and
pottery was Malwa ware. It is made on wheel and has a Deo 1955) in Ahmednagar district; Apegaon (Deo et al
buff or cream slip and bears painted patterns in dark 1969) in Aurangabad district; Chandoli (Deo and Ansari
brown or black pigment. The main vessel forms are lota, 1965), Songaon (Deo and Mujumdar 1969), Inamgaon
storage jars, bowls and dishes. Of particular interest are (Dhavalikar et al 1988) and Walki (Dhavalikar et al
channel spouted bowls and pedestalled goblets from 1990b), in Pune district. Inamgaon was horizontally exca-
Navdatoli. They have significant parallels at Iranian sites vated over more than a decade and has provided the
and Sankalia (1964) interpreted them as evidence of richest evidence of Chalcolithic culture in India.
Aryan migration from Iran into India. The painted designs The Chalcolithic sequence in western Maharashtra is
are primarily geometric such as triangles and lozenges represented by the following cultures in ascending order
(diamond shaped) but naturalistic designs of animals, (i) Savalda culture (2300–2000 B.C.), (ii) Harappan
birds, dancing human figures and plants are also found. In culture (2200–1800 B.C.), (iii) Malwa culture (1700–
addition, black-and-red ware with paintings in white and 1500 B.C.) and (iv) Jorwe culture (1500–900 B.C.). The
buff ware with paintings in red colour are also found at chief characteristics of these cultures are described below.
Malwa sites.
The technology of the Malwa people consisted of 8.6a Savalda culture: Named after the type site of
copper and stone tools. Copper tools comprise flat celts Savalda in Dhule district, the chronological position of
and spearhead or sword with a mid rib. Such a sword also the culture became clear only from the excavation at
has affinities with specimens from bronze age sites in Daimabad where it underlies the Harappan culture.
Iran, particularly Tepe Hissar and has been interpreted by Detailed evidence of this culture comes from the large-
Sankalia (1963, p. 329, figure 23–24) as another evidence scale excavation at Kaothe. A large number of pits of
of Aryan migration into India. Malwa culture sites, parti- different sizes were found at the site and these have been
cularly Navdatoli, have provided an impressive quantity of classified as dwelling pits, storage pits and pits for
chalcedony blades and a variety of microliths. The blades keeping poultry, on the basis of their size and contents.
were produced by crested guiding ridge technique. The largest dwelling pit was oval on plan and measured
The ornaments of the Malwa people included beads of 5⋅60 m in length, 6⋅65 m in width and 80 cm in depth.
semi-precious stones and rings and bangles of copper. Along the periphery it had 16 postholes, suggesting a
Navdatoli has produced a large quantity of beads as also superstructure. The discovery of a large quantity of
evidence of their manufacture on the site. Other tech- pottery inside the pit suggests that it was used for
nological items are saddle querns, elongated rubbing dwelling. A smaller pit with a diameter of 1⋅20 m and
stones and hammerstones. Terracotta female figurines depth of 1⋅10 m at the southwestern end of the dwelling
found at several sites may be representations of mother pit contained a vast quantity of animal bones, ash,
goddess. A painted male human figure with dishevelled charcoal and other refuse. It may have been initially used
hair and holding a spear in his right hand has been as a silo and later converted into a refuse pit. In the
interpreted by Banerjee (1986) as a proto Siva. Terracotta courtyard of the dwelling pit there were several smaller
bull figurines found at Malwa sites may be associated pits with varying depths. The deep ones may have been
with religious beliefs. used for storing grains and the shallow ones for keeping
Radiocarbon dates from Navdatoli suggest a period of poultry at night. The kitchen was located in a small
1700 B.C. to 1450 B.C. for the duration of the Malwa shallow pit. The two-armed hearth consisted of three
culture. lumps of clay which obviously supported the cooking
vessel. Such hearths made of lumps of clay or stones are
8.6 The northern Deccan still used in the area by nomadic people. The flimsy
nature of the house and a makeshift kitchen suggests that
The northern Deccan or western Maharashtra, particularly the dwellers may have been a semi-nomadic people
the semi-arid region to the east of the Sahayadris, drained staying at the site for short periods.

The pottery from Kaothe belongs to three categories. 8.6c Malwa culture: The Malwa culture which is dated
The predominant ceramic is a sturdy red ware of fine by radiocarbon method to 1700–1500 B.C. spread to
fabric with painted designs in black. It shows a strong Maharashtra from central India. At many places the
resemblance in fabric to the Harappan black-on-red Malwa people were the first agricultural settlers in
pottery from the adjoining Gujarat region. The second Maharashtra. At Inamgaon and Daimabad a number of
ceramic is Savalda ware. It is made of coarse clay but houses of the Malwa people have been exposed. They
has a variety of painted motifs which include aquatic consist of low mud walls about 15 cm high, well rammed
creatures like fishes and tortoise. These are shown being floors and a partition wall dividing the house into two
hunted with harpoons and arrows. Other painted motifs parts. Inside the house were two-armed chulhas for
include elephant, bear, birds and reptiles. The characteristic cooking meals and a large fire pit in the courtyard for
forms comprise rimless bowls and high-necked storage jars. roasting meat. In the courtyard there were also pit silos
The third ceramic is Kayatha ware. The presence of this for storing grain. At Inamgaon there were also circular
well-dated ware of central India at Kaothe along with the mud platforms for storage bins. At this site the houses
single C14 date of 1920 ± 80 B.C. has been used by the were of rectangular shape measuring 7 × 5 m. There is
excavator to date the habitation to 2200–2000 B.C. also evidence of round huts and pit dwellings which
A conspicuous feature of this culture is the total probably belonged to a semi-nomadic group.
absence of stone as well as metal tools. Instead, there is a The typical pottery of these people is the Malwa
profusion of bone tools comprising points, punches, awls ware, similar to that found in central India. Besides, there
and knives. The excavation yielded grains of bajra or is a finer variety of thin fabric with painted designs
pearl millet (Pennisetum typhoides). It is important to executed in black. The shapes are similar to those of the
note that bajra and jowar (Sorghum bicolor) are millets main Malwa ware. The Malwa people cultivated barley,
of African origin and they were first introduced into India bred cattle, sheep and goat, hunted wild animals, mostly
in the Harappan culture of Gujarat. This is another deer, and did fishing. They worshipped the mother
indication of the influence of Gujarat on the early settlers goddess and a god surrounded by animals which is
of Kaothe. depicted on a pot from Daimabad. They buried their
The people buried their dead in pits, especially dug for children in two urns in a pit and the adults in an extended
the purpose. The extended skeletons were in either supine form in pits.
or crouching position in north-south direction with head
towards the south. The subsistence agriculture, flimsy 8.6d Jorwe culture: The agricultural colonization of
dwellings with makeshift kitchens, vast quantities of western Maharashtra significantly expanded during the
animal bones and absence of metal and stone tools all Jorwe period which is represented at more than 200 sites
suggest that the Kaothe people led a semi-nomadic from Tapi valley in the north to Bhima valley in the south.
life. They probably lived at the site during the monsoon The Jorwe culture is the most important and characteristic
when they cultivated pearl millet while during the rest Chalcolithic culture of Maharashtra. It is divided into two
of the year they led a nomadic hunting-gathering way of phases, early Jorwe (1500–1200 B.C.) and late Jorwe
life. (1200–900 B.C.) on the basis of structures, subsistence
economy and materials used. A characteristic feature of
8.6b Harappan culture: The evidence of Harappan the Jorwe settlement pattern is the existence of large
presence in western Maharashtra is limited. The most regional centres surrounded by smaller villages. Besides
conspicuous example comes from Daimabad in the form the regional centres, the Jorwe settlements can be classi-
of a bronze hoard consisting of a bull chariot, an elephant, fied into villages – which were in the majority – hamlets,
a rhino and a bison, all made of arsenic bronze. Exca- farmsteads and camps. Most of the settlements are two
vation at the spot, where the bronzes were found, exposed hectares in size and their population may have been
six houses which seem to have formed a single dwelling between 100 and 500 persons. However, larger villages
unit. The houses were made of mud-bricks. The walls are like Bahal and Nevasa may have had populations between
of uniform size and are built at perfectly right angles, 500 and 1000 persons. Sites measuring only 1 ha. or less
betraying architectural skill of the settlers. The largest having a population of 50–100 persons may be classified
room in the complex measured 6⋅30 × 6 m. The complex as hamlets. Smaller sites located within 2 to 3 km of
had several pit silos for storage. The bronzes probably major settlements are probably farmsteads meant for
belong to the occupants of the house. Besides, two cultivation of surrounding land by farmers living in the
terracotta seals engraved with Harappan characters found parent villages. An example of a camp site is a cave at
inside the house also indicate the high status of the Pachad in Raigad district which has a floor area of only
occupants. A number of other late Harappan settlements about 10 sq⋅m. but yielded Chalcolithic pottery (Dhavali-
have been found in the Tapi valley (Shinde 1998). kar 1997, pp 172–175).

518 V N Misra
The largest Jorwe settlement is Daimabad which covers Pottery kilns have been found at Inamgaon and Daimabad.
an area of 30 ha. and is one of the largest Chalcolithic The pots were painted in black on red background with
settlements in the country. Even with a conservative simple geometric motifs. The typical forms are spouted
estimate of 200 persons per ha., the population of Dai- jar and carinated bowl. The addition of a spout to the jar
mabad would have been about 6000 individuals. Prakashe probably was meant to control the flow of water, most
in the Tapi valley, Daimabad in the Godavari-Pravara probably as an adaptation to water scarcity in the semi-
valley and Inamgaon in the Bhima valley were three arid region. Another ceramic is a red/grey ware. It is very
regional centres. The density of settlements is highest in coarse and handmade and was primarily meant for
the Tapi valley and progressively declines from the cooking. The third ceramic is black-and-red ware similar
Godavari-Pravara to Bhima valley, obviously as an in forms and fabric to the same ware of the Ahar culture.
adaptive response to the availability of fertile black soil The main shapes are bowls and some of them bear
for cultivation. paintings in white.
Extensive excavations at Inamgaon have provided a A large number of human burials have been found at
very good picture of the early farmers of the Deccan. A Inamgaon, Nevasa and other sites both in the early and
granary and diversionary channel may be taken as late Jorwe phases. The adults were buried in an extended
examples of public architecture. Over one hundred and position while the children were buried in two urns placed
thirty houses were excavated, the vast majority of them horizontally mouth to mouth in a pit which was dug into
belonging to the Jorwe period. The Early Jorwe houses the house floor or in the courtyard. In the case of adults
were rectangular structures, measuring 5 × 3 m with low the feet were chopped off before burial, probably because
mud walls over which was a wattle-and-daub construction. of the fear of the spirit of the dead coming back to haunt
The houses were built in rows with the longer axis in a the living. The body was laid in a north-south direction
roughly east-west orientation. The floors were made of with the head towards the south. A number of clay pots,
well-rammed alternating layers of black clay and yellow containing food and water, were placed with the dead.
silt. Inside the house there was usually a small oval fire There are also examples of twin burials and an unusual
pit. Outside in the courtyard was a larger fire pit, probably burial of a person in a sitting position inside an unbaked
used for roasting meat. Very often there was a pit silo clay pot. This has been interpreted as the burial of the
plastered with lime for storing grain. chief of the community.
The late Jorwe period witnessed an economic decline. Jorwe people worshipped both gods and goddesses
The rectangular houses of the early Jorwe period were which are represented by baked as well as unbaked clay
replaced by small round huts with a diameter of 1⋅5 to figurines. The goddesses are of two varieties, namely
2 m. Inside the hut there was a fire pit or a two-armed those with head and others without head. The presence of
chulha but no pit silos. This is because the Late Jorwe an applique figure of a human-headed panther on a large
culture belongs to a dry climatic phase when agriculture jar at Inamgaon has been interpreted as proto-Durga
was no longer a reliable occupation and people depended (Dhavalikar 1997, p. 206). Also from Inamgaon are two
more on breeding cattle and hunting and gathering. interesting female figurines. They were found carefully
The Jorwe people reared cattle, sheep/goat, buffalo and buried in a small hole under a house floor. The hole
pig. They cultivated barley (Hordeum vulgare), wheat contained an oval clay receptacle, on the lid of which was
(Triticum compactum), rice (Oryza sativa), jowar (Sor- kept a female figurine and a bull figurine, both of unbaked
ghum bicolor), kulith (Dolichos lablab), ragi (Eleusine clay. Inside the box was another female figurine and
coracana), grass pea (Lathyrus sativus), lentil (Lens escu- below the box was a clay ring which was intended to be
lenta), green gram (Vigna radiata), black gram (Phaseo- the stand in which the female figure from the box could be
lus mungo) and hyacinth bean (Dolichos biflorus). kept in a standing posture. The manner in which these
The technology of the Jorwe people like that of other objects were kept in the hole shows that they signify some
Chalcolithic cultures consisted of both metal and stone. ritual. The female figure which was inside the box has a
Copper objects found at different sites comprise axes, pinched head, curved arms and pendant breasts which
chisels and fish hooks. An antennae-hilted dagger with indicates of fertility. The female figurine which was over
mid-rib from Chandoli is unique and recalls the antennae- the lid has a blind hole in the abdomen and there is a
hilted swords of the copper hoards of north India (Deo similar hole in the back of the bull figurine which was
and Ansari 1965, p. 116, figure 57, No. 9; figure 58, found with it. When a stick is inserted in both the holes,
No. 1). Stone tool technology consisted of blades and the goddess snugly sits over the bull. This may be an early
occasionally microliths made of chalcedony and other representation of the concept of vahana, the mount which
siliceous materials. later on becomes a distinguishing feature of Hindu divi-
The ceramic industry of the Jorwe people was quite nities. The two clay male figurines from Inamgaon probably
advanced. The pottery was wheel made and well fired. represent male deities (Dhavalikar 1997, pp 206–208).

Almost all the Chalcolithic sites of western and central After the introduction of iron technology the geo-
India were deserted between the middle of the second graphical focus of cultural development shifted to the
millennium B.C. and the beginning of the first millennium Ganga plains. The events of the two great Indian epics,
B.C. This abandonment is believed to have been caused namely the Mahabharata and the Ramayana took place
by a drastic decline in rainfall which rendered agriculture in the upper and middle Ganga valley, respectively.
unfeasible. Populations dispersed from permanent villages Subsequent to the epic periods, the focus of cultural
to pursue a nomadic pastoral way of life. These areas development shifted further east to eastern Uttar Pradesh
were reoccupied by settled farmers only in the middle of and Bihar. It is in this region that Buddha and Mahavira
the first millennium B.C. Only in the Ganga valley there is started the revolt against the ritual and animal sacrifice-
a continuity of settlements from the Chalcolithic to the ridden brahmanical religion and preached their message
Iron Age and historic period. of non-violence and righteous conduct. It is also in this
region that the first political entities, the Mahajana-
padas and the first Indian empire, that of Magadha,
9. Introduction of iron technology and developed.
expansion of settled life The principal cultures of the early Iron Age are
described below (figure 6):
The introduction of iron technology was of crucial
importance to the expansion of agriculture-based settled
life, particularly in the subhumid region of the Ganga
valley. Compared to scanty copper deposits, iron deposits 9.1 Black-and-red ware culture
are abundant in India, particularly in Chota Nagpur region
and central India. So long as copper was the only metal Although black-and-red ware as a ceramic is found almost
known to people, tools, weapons, vessels and ornaments all over the country from the Harappan culture in Gujarat
of this metal and bronze were scarce and precious and to Megalithic culture in south India, it is found in a
they were accessible only to the rich and influential distinct stratigraphical context above the OCP and below
members of the society. The common people had to the painted grey ware (PGW) at Noh (Agrawala 1989, pp
depend only on stone tools for their needs. Even in the 318–319) in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan and Atranji-
highly sophisticated Indus civilization, urban families had khera (Gaur 1983, pp 76–119) in Etah district of Uttar
to use stone blades for their domestic chores. Also, copper Pradesh. Because of its distinct stratigraphic horizon this
being brittle, could not be used for clearing dense and ware and the associated material has been given the status
tangled forests of subhumid regions. Therefore, copper- of an independent culture. The earliest occurrence of iron
bronze using cultures were largely confined to arid and has been reported from the horizon of this culture at Noh.
semi-arid regions. The black-and-red ware is made of fine material and is
However, once iron technology was mastered, tools, well baked but unlike its Harappan and Chalcolithic
weapons and vessels of this metal became available to counterparts, it is not painted. The pottery has been found
common people and slowly the stone tools went out of in limited quantities and the shapes represented are bowls
use. The effective end of stone age came only after the and dishes. Other wares associated with it are black-
introduction of iron technology. With the help of iron slipped ware and red ware. Other objects of this culture
tools enterprising farmers cleared the dense forests of the are copper beads and ring, domestic stone objects, beads
subhumid plains of the middle and lower Ganga valley of semi-precious stones and stone blades found at Atranji-
and brought about effective human colonization of this khera. A few burnt bricks have also been reported from
vast fertile region. In the hilly and rocky peninsular India the same site. On the basis of TL dating of pottery, this
iron tools helped in quarrying stone for erecting mega- culture has been ascribed to ca. 1450–1200 B.C.
lithic sepulchral and memorial monuments and sub-
sequently in digging wells and irrigation tanks in hard
rock. The agricultural surplus generated by the combi- 9.2 Painted grey ware culture
nation of iron technology, fertile soil, perennial availability
of water from rivers, lakes and wells, and human The PGW culture is named after the pottery of the same
enterprise led to the emergence of second urbanization in name. This ware was first found at Ahicchatra in Bareilly
the country. While the first urbanization took place during district of Uttar Pradesh. during excavations in 1944
the bronze age and was confined to arid and semi-arid (Ghosh and Panigrahi 1946) but its importance was fully
northwestern part of the subcontinent, the second urba- realized only after its discovery by Lal in the excavations
nization took place in the Ganga valley (Roy 1983) and at Hastinapura during 1950–1951 (Lal 1955). The first
slowly spread to peninsular India. large-scale and effective use of iron in India is associated

520 V N Misra
Figure 6. Early iron age sites in India.

with this culture. The PGW culture is found in the Indo- 9.3 Northern black polished ware culture and the
Gangetic Divide and the upper Ganga-Yamuna Doab second urbanization
(ancient Aryavarta and Madhyadesa). Some of the major
sites of this culture are Sardargarh in Ganganagar district, Iron technology accelerated colonization of the middle
Bairat (capital of Virata, one of the kings of the Maha- and lower Ganga valley by farmers from around seventh
bharata period) in Jaipur district, and Noh in Bharatpur century B.C. The characteristic pottery of this period is
district, Rajasthan; Panipat and Varnava (ancient Varna- northern black polished ware (NBPW). The NBPW
vat) in Panipat district, and Ropar in Ambala district, period saw the emergence of cities and first political
Haryana; Purana Qila identified with Indraprastha, a entities known as Mahajanapadas in the Ganga plains in
Mahabharata period city (modern Delhi); Allahpur in the sixth century B.C. The NBPW region is also the location
Ghaziabad district, Lal Qila in Bulandshahr district, of the second major Hindu epic, the Ramayana, and of the
Hastinapura (capital of the Kauravas, one of the two rise of Buddhism and Jainism. This period witnessed the
feuding families in the Mahabharata) and Alamgirpur in second urbanization of India (Ghosh 1973). By sixth
Meerut district, Atranjikhera in Etah district, Ahicchhatra century B.C. a number of these Mahajanapadas had been
in Bareilly district (capital of the eastern Panchalas), assimilated into the first Indian empire known as the
Kampil, ancient Kampilya (capital of the western Magadhan empire with its capital at Pataliputra (modern
Panchalas) and Kannauj in Farrukhabad district, and Patna in Bihar). The Magadhan empire was succeeded by
Jajmau in Kanpur district, all in Uttar Pradesh. Stray finds the Mauryan empire in the fourth century B.C. The best
of the ware are reported from Lakhyopir in Sindh, known Mauryan emperor – Ashoka – expanded the empire
Pakistan; Gondi and Chosla in Bundi district, and Gilund up to Karnataka in the south, Bangladesh in the east and
in Rajsamand district in Rajasthan; Kausambi in Allaha- Afghanistan in the northwest. He also patronized Buddhism
bad district, and Sravasti in Bahraich district Uttar and was responsible for spreading the religion within the
Pradesh; Vaisali in Vaisali district, Bihar; and Ujjain in country as well as outside to Sri Lanka and other
Ujjain district, Madhya Pradesh (Tripathi 1976). countries of Asia. After the long gap between the first and
A number of sites yielding this ware like Bairat, the second urbanizations, lasting about 1500 years,
Panipat, Purana Qila, Hastinapura, Ahicchhatra and Kampil writing appeared again during this period. The script is
figure prominently in the story of the Mahabharata epic known as Brahmi, and the Buddhist and Jaina literatures
and it is therefore, believed that the people of the Maha- in Pali language as also the pillar and rock edicts of
bharata were the same as the PGW people, and they emperor Ashoka were written in this script. Coinage in the
represent the second wave of the Aryans. form of silver punch-marked coins also appeared in this
The PGW was produced from well levigated clay and period.
manufactured on a fast wheel. A thin slip was applied on The NBP is made on a fast wheel from well levigated
both surfaces and the ware was baked at a temperature of clay, free from impurities. It is well baked, with a
600°C under reducing conditions which produced the blackish-grey and occasionally reddish core, and is thin
smooth ashy surface and core (Hegde 1975). The distin- and sturdy. Its most distinctive feature is its strikingly
ctive shapes are dishes with curved sides and sagger (a glossy surface with mirror effect. The normal surface
pottery shape, meaning dish with curved base as opposed colour of the vessels is light to jet black or steel-blue but
to flat base) base and bowls with straight sides. The it occasionally tends to be silvery, golden, brown or
vessels are painted in black pigment on both surfaces chocolate. The most common shapes in the NBP comprise
with geometric patterns like dots, groups of vertical a dish with convex or straight sides and bowl with
lines, concentric circles, bands, strokes of vertical and straight, convex, carinated or tapering sides. The shapes
slanting lines, dashes, chains, loops, spirals, sigmas and are similar to those of the PGW and the ware itself is an
swastikas. Naturalistic patterns like lotuses, leaves, evolved version of the PGW. Only rarely the ware is
bunches of flowers and the sun are also occasionally decorated with painted designs which include horizontal
found. bands, vertical strokes, transverse bands or strokes or
The PGW people cultivated rice and wheat and lived simple circular bands or arches in dark steel-blue, grey,
in wattle-and-daub houses. They were the first people light and deep red, black and dark brown colours. Its
to have definitely used the domesticated horse. The extraordinary high technical quality, limited occurrence
archaeological picture of the culture is far more modest and examples of broken vessels being joined together with
than that depicted in the epics, the Puranas and later copper rivets, fillets or pins are tell-tale signs that the
literature. The culture is dated by radiocarbon to 1000– NBP was ‘deluxe’ ware meant for the elite of the society.
600 B.C. which again is in sharp contrast to the Hindu This pottery is found throughout north India but its main
belief of the Mahabharata battle having ended before occurrence is in the Ganga plains in Uttar Pradesh and
3000 B.C. Bihar. Small quantities of NBP have been found at sites in

522 V N Misra
central India, eastern India, south India and even in belongs to the first millennium B.C. However, the prac-
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It is believed that this pottery tice of building megaliths continued well into the historic
was carried to far off places by Buddhist monks and high period and survives even to this day in a symbolic form
administrative officials. The high technological excellence among the Lingayat community in Karnataka. The earliest
associated with the manufacture of NBP is also seen in the evidence of writing in south India comes from the Sangam
production of steel during this period (Gordon 1958, literature in Tamil language the beginning of which is
p. 155). The NBP period is dated from 600 B.C. to dated to the third century B.C., that is in the later part of
100 B.C. the Megalithic period (Moorti 1994).
The introduction of iron technology greatly accelerated
the expansion of agriculture, particularly in the alluvial
10. Megaliths and the spread of iron plains. This in turn led to the dramatic increase in human
technology to south India population. One of the consequences of these deve-
lopments was increased deforestation and loss of wildlife.
A variety of megalithic monuments, erected as burials or Hunter-gatherers who had lived for several hundred
memorials, are found in the northern Vindhyas in southern thousand years in the forests and grasslands were steadily
Uttar Pradesh, Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and over deprived of the resources of their livelihood. They were
most parts of south India. These monuments include forced to adopt agriculture or occupations associated with
cairns, stone circles, dolmens, dolmenoid cists, port-hole agriculture and get assimilated into the expanding farming
cists, menhirs, and rock cut caves, the last confined to society. Some of them, however, refused to accept the
Kerala (Krishnaswami 1949; Gururaja Rao 1972; Sundara new way of life, perhaps because prized their freedom too
1975). At several places in the northern Vindhyas, much to accept the hard work and discipline involved in
Vidarbha and south India, there are large megalithic fields the farming way of life. However, as wild plant and
containing several hundred burial monuments. In com- animal food resources continued to dwindle under the
parison to the burial sites, the habitation sites are few and pressure of expanding agriculture, the hunter-gatherers
far between, suggesting that a part of the megalithic were forced to explore additional avenues for livelihood.
population may have led a semi-nomadic life. The erec- Many of them, using their traditional skills in the manu-
tion of these burials could be achieved only with the help facture of hunting gear, took to occupations like produ-
of iron tools meant for quarrying and dressing large rock cing items such as rope, stone, etc. required by farmers,
slabs and boulders. Some of the burial types like port-hole entertaining village people through song and dance;
cists (a type of megalithic monument) are very elaborate, distilling and selling illicit liquor, and petty trade in
involving several large dressed slabs and provision of a crockery, cosmetics and trinkets. Some are believed to
hole in one of the slabs for insertion of new dead bodies have taken to crime, committing theft and even resorting
at a later date. to physical violence, including murder (Nagar and Misra
A number of burial sites and a few habitation sites have 1989; Murty 1981a, b).
been excavated, the more important being Takalghat and The British government in the nineteenth century
Khapa (Deo 1970), Mahurjhari (Deo 1973) and Naikund branded the communities indulging in crime as criminal
(Deo and Jamkhedkar 1982) in Vidarbha; Brahmagiri and tribes and established special settlements for them where a
Chandravalli (Wheeler 1948) and Jadigenhalli (Seshadri close watch was kept on them by the police. After
1960) in Karnataka; Nagarjunakonda (Subrahmanyam independence this pejorative lebel has been removed and
et al 1975) in Andhra Pradesh; Adichanallur (Rea 1902), they are now officially designated as denotified and
Amirthamangalam (Banerjee 1956) and Sanur (Banerjee nomadic tribes. Many of them continue to practise hunting
and Soundara Rajan 1959) in Tamil Nadu; and Porkalam and gathering and produce various craft items for the
(Thapar 1952) in Kerala. village people. Hundreds of such groups are found all
The excavations have produced a variety of iron tools, over the country in the vicinity of villages, towns and
weapons and domestic objects in large quantities. Other even metropolitan cities (Misra and Nagar 1989). The
items found in graves consist of pottery, bronze vessels, central and state governments as well as non-government
ornaments of gold and semi-precious stone beads. In organizations (NGOs) are encouraging them to settle
Vidarbha, the practice of horse sacrifice and its burial down by providing them land and grants to introduce
along with its master and its bronze ornaments and other them to agriculture and animal husbandry. The important
equipment like bridle and stirrups, was common. The communities in this category are Kanjars (Nesfield 1883;
characteristic ceramic of the Megalithic culture is black- Nagar and Misra 1990), Sansi, Haburas, Bediyas, Bahe-
and-red ware occasionally bearing graffiti designs. The liyas, Bhantus and Bangalis in the Ganga plains; Sansis
economy of the Megalithic people was based on agri- and Kalbeliyas in Rajasthan; Chharas in Gujarat; Pardhis
culture as well as animal breeding. The Megalithic culture and Kuchbandhias in Madhya Pradesh (Nagar and Misra

1993) and Pardhis and Vaidus in Maharashtra (Malhotra Gujarat, the Vindhya hills in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar
et al 1983). Pradesh, the Satpura hills in Maharashtra and Madhya
It is this process of absorption of the tribal population Pradesh, the Western Ghats in Maharashtra, Karnataka and
into the caste society that can explain the dramatic Kerala, the Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa,
contrasting geographical distributions of the Scheduled the Chota Nagpur plateau in Bihar and West Bengal, and
Tribes and the Scheduled Castes (figures 7 and 8). The the entire northeast India outside the Brahmaputra valley. In
tribal population today is confined to the hilly and contrast, in the alluvial plains of Punjab, Haryana,
forested tracts in the Aravalli hills in Rajasthan and Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa,
Figure 7. Scheduled caste population of India.

524 V N Misra
Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu probably even earlier. This long period has witnessed
and Tripura, the percentage of Scheduled Tribes population many technological, economic and social changes. The
is negligible and that of the Scheduled Castes is very high. process of colonization and development was greatly
This is clearly seen in table 1 (Misra and Nagar 1997): influenced by environmental factors like landforms,
climate, flora and fauna. While the older hunting-gathering
11. Conclusion societies were adapted to hilly, rocky and forested
environments where resources for their way of life were in
Human colonization of South Asia began during the plenty, after the introduction of agriculture the focus of
Pleistocene period, at least half-a-million years ago and development shifted to fertile alluvial plains. The hilly
Figure 8. Tribal population of India.

Table 1. The percentage of scheduled castes and scheduled by alternating cool-dry and warm-wet periods, are parti-
tribes population in the major states of India. cularly marked in northern latitudes, especially in the
State Scheduled caste Scheduled tribe
Thar desert in northwest India.
The end of the Pleistocene Ice Age, around 10,000
Punjab 26⋅9 0⋅0 years ago, saw a sharp increase in rainfall, which
Himachal Pradesh 24⋅6 4⋅6 stimulated the growth of both plant and animal life
West Bengal 22⋅0 5⋅6
and consequently of human population. This period,
Uttar Pradesh 21⋅2 0⋅2
Haryana 19⋅1 0⋅0 known as the Mesolithic, is marked by the introduction
Tamil Nadu 18⋅4 1⋅1 of microlithic technology. Microliths are tools made
Rajasthan 17⋅0 12⋅2 by blunting one or more sides of tiny blades or bladelets,
Karnataka 15⋅1 4⋅9 and they were used as components of tools and
Tripura 15⋅1 28⋅4
Andhra Pradesh 14⋅9 5⋅9
weapons like spearheads, arrowheads, harpoons, sickles,
Orissa 14⋅7 22⋅4 and daggers. The use of bow and arrow as also of food
Bihar 14⋅5 8⋅3 processing equipment like querns and rubbers began in
Madhya Pradesh 14⋅1 23⋅0 this period. This new technology augmented hunting
Kerala 10⋅0 1⋅0 efficiency and provided greater nutrition from the
Jammu and Kashmir 8⋅3 0⋅0
Gujarat 7⋅2 14⋅2
available food resources. The earliest human burials as
Maharashtra 7⋅1 9⋅2 also art in the form of rock paintings are known from
Manipur 1⋅2 27⋅3 this period.
Arunachal Pradesh 0⋅5 69⋅8 Around 8000 years ago agriculture and settled village
Meghalaya 0⋅4 80⋅6 life appeared in the northwestern part of the subcontinent.
Nagaland 0⋅00 84⋅0
Mizoram 0⋅00 93⋅6 The oldest known agricultural settlement is Mehrgarh in
Baluchistan. Agriculture led to a demographic revolution
and emergence of new occupations like pottery, basket-
making, lapidary and metalsmithy. In due course, surplus
and forested regions now turned into refuge zones or areas agricultural production resulted in the development of
of isolation where the hunting-gathering communities trade in raw materials and manufactured goods, diversi-
persisted with their traditional life style, sometimes fication of society into occupational groups and eventually
combining it with slash-and-burn or primitive plough to the emergence of towns and cities. The first cities
agriculture. This situation continues even to this day except appeared in northwest India around 3000 B.C. in the
that the exploitation of mineral resources, particularly iron Indus/Harappan civilization which flourished in the
ores and coal, has brought modern development to some valleys of the Indus and the Saraswati rivers.
localities like Jamshedpur and Bokaro in Bihar, Rourkela Around the same time introduction of agriculture-based
in Orissa, Durgapur in West Bengal, and Bhilai and life began in other parts of the country. This is rep-
Bailadila in Madhya Pradesh, in the refuge zones. resented by a number of Neolithic and Chalcolithic
The precise antiquity of human colonization of the cultures. However, because the technology during this
country cannot be determined due to the scarcity of time was based only on stone and copper-bronze, human
geological deposits of the Pliocene and lower Pleistocene settlements were mainly confined to the semi-arid regions.
and of materials like volcanic rock and ash which can be Introduction of iron technology around 3000 years ago
dated by absolute dating techniques. Almost the entire helped the clearing of dense forests in the subhumid
subcontinent, barring the Ganga plains, northeast India, region of the middle and lower Ganga valley possible.
the Western Ghats, and extreme southern part of the Large-scale human colonization of this region took
peninsula, was colonized by the lower Palaeolithic people. place during the early Iron Age. The focus of deve-
Lower Palaeolithic technology made use of both core and lopment now shifted to the Ganga plains where surplus
flake tools, the most distinctive types being handaxes and agricultural production, made possible by iron techno-
cleavers. The succeeding middle and upper Palaeolithic logy, fertile alluvial soil, perennial availability of water,
cultures are found more or less in the same areas as the and human enterprise produced the second urbanization
lower Palaeolithic. The middle Palaeolithic technology around the middle of the first millennium B.C. and to the
mainly consists of flake tools like scrapers and points and birth of the first Indian empire with its capital at
that of the upper Palaeolithic is characterized by blade Pataliputra (modern Patna in Bihar). Iron tools also
and burin tools. The earliest art in the form of engravings enabled the people to quarry rocks for building megalithic
on ostrich egg shell pieces is known from the upper monuments and for digging wells and tanks in rocky
Palaeolithic. This period saw significant changes in climate terrains of peninsular India. By the third century B.C. the
and environment. These changes, which were characterized urban way of life had spread to most parts of the country,

526 V N Misra
except climatically unattractive regions like the Thar Archaeological Series 5 (Hyderabad: Government of Andhra
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Vats M S 1940 Excavations at Harappa, 2 Vols (Delhi: Govt of Zeuner F E and Allchin B 1956 The microlithic sites of
India) Tinnevelly district, Madras State; Ancient India 12 4–20

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Prehistoric human colonization of India

1. Introduction study of non-industrialized societies, especially those

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

Figure 1. Palaeolithic sites in India.

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

Figure 2. Mesolithic sites in India.

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

5. Indus/Harappan civilization 5.2 Indus civilization and the Rigvedic Saraswati

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

Figure 3. Harappan sites.

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

Figure 4. Neolithic and chalcolithic cultures of India.

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

Figure 5. Language families and principal languages of India.

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

7.5d Technology: The technology of the Neolithic people

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

Figure 6. Early iron age sites in India.

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

Figure 7. Scheduled caste population of India.

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

Figure 8. Tribal population of India.

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

J. Biosci. | Vol. 26 | No. 4 | Suppl. | November 2001

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