India’s Archaeological world is truly amazing to say the least. It’s a treasure trove that has yet to be explored completely. India contains mesmerizing archeological sites within its fold. The proper study of Indian archeological period can not be contained to any single period. We can start getting the idea of rich culture and sites of Indian archeology by dividing it into five periods of Stone Age, Indus Valley, Neolithic-Chalcolithic, Megalithic-Early Historic and Late Historic periods.
Paleolithic refers to beginning of the Stone Age in India whereas Middle Stone Age or Mesolithic signifies end of this period. Geological era of Middle Pleistocene gives us a clue about Paleolithic. Places like Hunsgi (Karnataka), Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh), Kulina (Orissa), Pallavaram (Tamil Nadu), Didwana (Rajasthan) etc bear the testimony of Paleolithic sites in India. However, the number of Paleolithic sites are far outnumbered by the Mesolithic sites because of the huge presence of later in many parts of the country. Mesolithic period refers to world of 10,000 years ago when gathering food, fishing and hunting were established social practices. This period is better known for few samples of rock paintings whose themes were taken from ritual scenes and hunting.
Mesolithic period was followed by the Neolithic-Chalcolithic Age which was a fairly advanced period in terms of agricultural techniques and developed state of rural life of India. This age goes back to 3rd and 2nd millennium B.C. the archelogical sites in India with distinct proofs of this period are; Utnur (western Andhra Pradesh), Inamgaon and Walki (Maharashtra), Pandu-Rajar-Dhibi (West Bengal), Navdatoli (Madhya Pradesh), Ahar, Balathal and Gilund (eastern Rajasthan), Golbai (Orissa), Budhihal, Sangankalur, Maski and Brahmagiri (Karnataka) Chirand (Bihar) etc.
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