It is believed that the genus Homo evolved in Africa roughly 2.5 M years ago. The Homo Habilis species that emerged were the first members of the Homo Lineage, and is definitely known to have made and used stone tools and artefacts. It is known that ‘Homo Erectus’ populations, which had appeared around 1.8 M years ago, had spread out of Africa and occupied large regions of Eastern.
India is one of the oldest inhabited regions on the planet. The Hominid activity in the subcontinent dates back to over 250,000 years. Significant human activity was underway in India by the Holocene Period some 10,000 years ago.
What is Proto-history?
Proto-history is a period between pre-history and history, during which a culture or civilisation has not yet developed writing skills.
Ancient history can be divided into different periods according to the tools used by people then.
The Paleolithic infers to a time period in history from approximately 2.6 million years ago to roughly 10,000 years ago. During this period, man relied on hunting and had no knowledge of cultivation and home-building. In Paleolithic itself, the man began to use fire for and started creating art farms as can be seen in cave paintings dating back to this time. Food items of the period included meat from animals, fish, fruit, vegetables and legumes. The tools included hand axes, harpoons, stonetipped spears, bow and arrows. Paleolithic age is also called as ‘Old Stone Age’. The man began to use fire for cooking, develop early religions as can be seen in cave paintings dating back to this time.
Continuing from the end of Paleolithic, in early Mesolithic (10,000 BC–8000 BC approximately), major climate change happened. The climate became warmer, and more humid. People started wearing clothes made of animal’s skin as well eating cooked food through use of fire. Components could easily be replaced without discarding the whole tool. Tools were very small made of stone, probably stuck to stones to be used as saws and sickles. Prominent tools used were blades, triangles, trapezes, spearheads, knives, arrowheads, sickles, harpoons and daggers. Some of the tools were used as components of spearheads, arrowheads, knives, sickles and harpoons. They were fitted into grooves in bone, wood and reed shafts, and joined together by natural adhesives like gum and resin. Agriculture had not fully developed till this period.
The rock painting of this period is found in Adamgarh, Bhimbetka of Uttar Pradesh and Pratapgarh, Mirzapur of Rajasthan.
In this Period (around between 8000 BC–4000 BC), people in several areas around the Earth developed new agricultural methods and machines, such as the plough pulled by horses or oxen. During this time, people also began domestication and development of both crops and animals.The results of these changes made agricultural production much more productive. Food output increased. More land could be farmed by fewer people or in fewer hours. This resulted in greatly improved production and the increased availability of food. The change from hunting/gathering to primitive farming appears so sudden and fast that this technological change is often characterized as the Neolithic Revolution. The revolution resulted in the discovery of smelting and the creation of bronze tools led to the Bronze Age.
They lived in caves, decorated these by painting scenes of hunting, dancing, etc. They knew spinning and weaving, as also making of boats. Some tombs of the Neolithic men which have been discovered show that they used to bury their dead in large earthen urns.
*Important Neolithic Sites Inamgaon, Burzahom (Kasmir), Mehrgarh (Pakistan), Daojali Hading (Tripura/ Assam), Paiyampalli (AP) and Chirand (Bihar).
About 4,000 years ago the man started using bronze along with the stone. Now the man had developed to a great extent. The population was mainly urban, including the priests, writers and clerks at this stage. Though the tools excavated suggest that there was over-lapping in use of stone and the metal, the similarity in the shape and types of stone and bronze tools shows simultaneous use of the bronze and stone. Tin mixed with copper was the major material used. That is why, the period is called as the ‘Bronze age’ (around between 4000 BC–1500 BC).
The Chalcolithic people made tools, sweapons and bangles of copper, manufactured beads of semi-precious stones such as carnelian and quartz because spindle whorls have been discovered in Malwa. Discovery of cotton, flax and silk threads shows that they knew well the manufacture of cloth.
During this period, the discovery of wheel revolutionized the whole system. The transportation was improved which eventually brought about the complexities in life of people. The initial commerce was developed.
The Iron Age was a period (around between 1500 BC–200 BC) found at different points around the world where societies recovered from the collapse of Bronze-Age civilization, developed new tools, and built bigger, more complex civilizations than ever before. This was a time of re-organization, but also religious growth. Iron is perhaps accidentally discovered from a mateorite around 1500 BC and worked upon it to form ornaments and ceremonial weapons.