Stone Age and Palaeolithic Man

Stone Age began roughly 600,000 years ago

Approximately 100,000 years later, humans started crafting crude stone tools

Fossilized remains of these tools have been discovered in various countries

It is hypothesized that Java Man in Asia originated during this era

Physically resembled apes

Named Pithecanthropus which translates to "ape-man" in Greek

Dr. Eugene Dubois located fossilized remains in Java in 1891-92, marking the beginning of studying man's development

Evidence suggests humans began using stone tools around 50,000 BC, during the fourth Ice Age

People from this time are referred to as Palaeolithic Man

The Upper Palaeolithic Period commenced roughly 35,000 BC

The Aurignacian era started within this epoch at 30,000 BC, and has abundant fossil evidence

It is also known as the Pleistocene Phase

Represents the end of the fourth glacial period

The Earth's northern hemisphere had alternating cold and warm periods

The southern hemisphere experienced alternating wet and dry climates

This phenomenon is called Ice Age and Interglacial Periods, with wet climates classified as Pluvial Periods

Evidence of 4 ice ages and 3 interglacial periods have been discovered so far

Five ice ages have been identified in northern India

Their impact stretched into Southern India

Northern Indian epochs correlate with East Asia

Southern Indian epochs link to Western Europe and Africa

Prehistoric human history is intimately tied to these ice ages

Tools found from each era are globally consistent across different human societies

From 50,000 BC, Palaeolithic humans began using primitive stone implement

From 35,000 BC, marks the Late Paleolithic Age

From 30,000 BC, the Aurignacian Era occurred

From 15,000 BC, the Middle Stone age period

From 10,000 BC, a New Stone Age, marked by handmade pottery, and sharper tools/weapons

From 5,000 BC, marks the Bronze Age, with potter's wheel etc

2,000 BC a time when iron was being used

Remnants of the early Stone Age have been discovered in the Son Valley

More were found in the Kurnool district of Madras

Examples were also found in Srinagar, Kashmir, and the Andaman Islands

More developed Stone Age relics have been discovered across numerous locations

Artwork from this era exists as prehistoric rock art

The study of India's early history started with foreign scholars' interest in Vedic literature

Credit for focusing on Indian prehistoric art goes to the European interested in the country's mysterious art and culture

The Asiatic Society of Bengal was founded, enthusiastically starting historical investigations

The work was limited to literary research

Difficult terrain hindered discovery/study of prehistoric India

Discovery of prehistoric art took time

Excavation work for the Sindh civilization was uncovered during railway construction from Karachi to Lahore

Events in Europe marked the beginning of the concept of prehistoric man

Darwin's work "Origin of Species" in 1859

Sir John Evans, Falconer, and Prestwich discovered stone tools made by prehistoric man

Fossils were found near Abbeville, Europe

Publication of Lyell's article "Geological evidence ofantiquity of man" in 1863

Theory suggests common prehistoric human cultural evolution

Although India had transport in the 19th century, there was little progress in finding prehistoric India

Real progress was only made after 1920

In 1922, under the supervision of Sir John Marshall, the excavation of Harappa was started by Shri Dayaram Sahni

Continued until 1934

During 1926-28, excavation of Balochistan strengthened the concept of the spread of the Sindh civilization

Sir Orl Stein and Hargreaves gathered evidence

From 1927-31, Shri N.G. Majumdar and Rakhal Das Bandyopadhyay

Miles Burkitt and Yale & Cambridge Universities began work

Interest grew in prehistoric rock paintings

A decade after the first research on prehistoric paintings in Spain and France, the discovery of rock paintings in India began

Carlisle and Cockburn share the credits for this

In 1880, Carlisle found cave paintings in the Kaimur hills near Mirzapur

He did not publish images

Discovery of the rhinoceros hunting scene which was published also

Karkaban has a second article in 1889 edition of Journal of The Royal Asiatic Society

Includes replicas of cave paintings from Bhaldaria, Lohri, and Lakhaniya

They believe that the best artwork took place in the rock shelters of the southern Kaimur range

F. Faucett published in 1892 details of prehistoric paintings discovered near Bellary

In 1901, they introduced the Edakal cave paintings

These existed as Rock Carvings

C.A. Silvarad published a descriptive article on the rock paintings of Banda district in 1907

Published line drawings of horsemen on foot and bullock carts without wheels

Thought the paintings were about 3000 years old and may have been linked to the New Stone Age

In 1910, C.W. Anderson discovered the major rock paintings of Singhanpur

Percy Brown mentioned it in the first edition of his Indian Painting printed in 1917

Compared prehistoric places art from other countries

Details were published in Panchanan Mitra's Prehistoric India in 1923

Stone pieces tested proved the art was ancient

Artwork locations consist of:

Mirzapur area

Banda area

Raigarh area

Panchmahdi area

Hoshangabad area

Bhopal area

Caves in the area that are painted are:

Writing 1

Writing 2

Lohri

Khodava

The value of this area is enhanced greatly by the paintings

The Kaimur Hills, where Indian cave paintings were first recognized, are situated in this very region

The cave's interior ceiling and walls are adorned with diverse depictions of hunting scenes, animal images, and dance-music scenes, illustrating the early inhabitants