Life of Hunter Gatherer:
The primitive man was a hunter gatherer.
He used to hunt animals and gather fruits and other plant produce for food.
The early man did not live at one place, rather used to move from one place to another.
His means that the early man lived a nomadic life.
Reasons of Nomadic Life:
The food resource at a particular place was exhausted after some time.
Hence, people were forced to move in search of a better place.
Moving from one place to another was also important for hunting.
We know that animals also keep on moving from one place to another.
Most of the plants are seasonal.
They bear fruits or seeds in a particular season.
So, to get constant supply of fruits, roots, seeds, etc. people needed to be on move.
People also needed to move in search of water.
You know that some rivers and ponds become dry during summer.
The Stone Age:
You have read that hunter-gatherers lived during the prehistoric period.
People in this age used stones for making tools.
Due to this, this period is also called the Stone Age.
The Stone Age is divided into three phases:
- Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age
- Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age
- Neolithic or New Stone Age
Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age
The term ‘Palaeolithic’ is made up of two Greek words; ‘Palaeo’ and ‘Lithos’.
The term ‘Palaeo’ means ‘Old’ and the term ‘Lithos’ means ‘Stone’.
Hence, this period is also called the Old Stone Age.
They call the earliest period the Palaeolithic.
This period extends from 2 million years ago to 12,000 years ago.
The tools from this period were crude and had no refinement.
The name points to the importance of finds of stone tools.
This long stretch of time is divided into the Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic.
This long span of time covers 99% of human history
Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age
The period when we find environmental changes, beginning about 12,000 years ago till about 10,000 years ago is called the Mesolithic (middle stone).
Stone tools found during this period are generally tiny, and are called microliths.
Microliths were probably stuck on to handles of bone or wood to make tools such as saws and sickles.
At the same time, older varieties of tools continued to be in use.
Neolithic or New Stone Age
The next stage, from about 10,000 years ago, is known as the Neolithic.
Neolithic Age:
The last phase of the Stone Age is called the Neolithic Age.
This phase began about 10,000 years ago.
This phase marks a significant change in the life of humans because this is the period when man began farming.
Tools of the Neolithic Age:
The tools of the Neolithic Age were much smaller and more refined.
Stone was given better shape and some tools were fitted with handles, e.g. spears, axe, sickles, arrows, etc.
Sites of The Neolithic Age
- Burzahom and Gufkral in Jammu & Kashmir
- Mehrgarh in Pakistan
- Chirand in Bihar
- Daojali Hading in the north east
- Koldihwa in Uttar Pradesh
- Hallur and Paiyampalli in south India
Uses of Stone Tools:
For cutting meat and bones.
For scraping bark (from trees) and hide (from animals).
For chopping fruits and roots.
Some tools were attached to handles; made of wood or bone; to be used as axe or hammer.
Climate Change
You will be surprised to know that a major part of the Stone Age was during the Ice Age.
Ice was all around and there was negligible vegetation on the earth.
After global warming; the Ice Age came to an end about 12,000 years ago.
End of the Ice Age meant clearance of a vast tract of land.
This also meant an ambient temperature for the growth of plants.
More green plants resulted in better availability of food for animals and humans.
This was the period when many modern day mammals must have proliferated.
More animals meant better availability of meat.
After the Ice Age; the plants of the grass family began to grow in most parts of the world.
You must be aware that rice, wheat and corn belong to the grass family.
It means that a major portion of our food comes from the grass family.
This was the period when people may have started using cereals and grains.
Where Did People Live?
Fig: Palaeolithic Sites
This map of India shows some important sites where people lived during the Stone Age. Some major places where people lived during the Old Stone Age are:
- Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh)
- Hunsgi (Karnataka)
- Kurnool Caves (Andhra Pradesh)
Two common factors for these sites are as follows:
- These places are near a river: The presence of a river means that availability of water was not an issue.
- These places are somewhere in the Deccan Plateau: The Deccan Plateau has plenty of stones. Thus, the materials for making stone tools were available in plenty.
Factory Sites:
Places where people could get plenty of stones for making tools were used as sites for making the tools.
Such places are called factory sites.
At some places, people also lived at such factory sites.
Such sites are called habitation-cum-factory sites.
Proofs for Factory Sites:
Historians have found many proofs at factory sites.
They have found much larger stones and some unfinished tools.
These proofs show that these were the locations of factory sites.
Sites – Places where the remains of things were found is called sites. Ex. Tools, pots, buildings etc.
These were made, used and left behind by people.
These may be found on the surface of the earth, buried under the earth, or sometimes even under water.
Making Stone Tools:
Historians have made guesses about the possible methods of making stone tools. There were two possible methods of making stone tools. They are as follows:
Stone on stone:
In this method, a stone was taken in one hand and was hit with another stone to make a particular shape.
The stone which was made into a tool was called the core.
Pressure Flaking:
In this method, the core was kept on a hard surface.
It was then hammered with a bigger stone to make a particular shape.
Discovery of Fire:
The discovery of fire was a major revolution for the human beings.
It changed the human life dramatically.
People may have learnt to use fire after seeing the effects of forest fire.
A person may have accidentally dropped a piece of meat in fire and may have tasted the cooked meat for the first time.
People may have learnt to produce fire by rubbing two stones together.
Historians have found traces of ash from Kurnool caves.
This suggests that fire was used by the people who lived in these caves.
Fire could be used for many purposes.
Fire can be used for clearing forest.
It can be used for cooking.
Fire could be used for keeping the wild animals away from human dwellings.
Beginning of Agriculture:
The beginning of farming was the most revolutionary development in the human history.
This marked the beginning of progress towards a settled life.
Historians guess that farming was first discovered by women.
This was possible because women had to live at a place for a longer duration during pregnancy and raising children.
While staying at a place for a long duration; women and children may have observed that seeds develop into plants.
They may have learnt growing plants after that observation.
Benefits of Farming:
Farming meant there was better supply of food.
Additionally, there was less reliance on hunting and gathering.
We know that a plant takes many months to bear fruits and seeds.
So people needed to stay at a place for longer duration to take care of the crop.
This helped humans to live a settled life.
Once food was surplus, people could focus intellectual development during their spare time.
This helped in developing scientific, linguistic and artistic skills.
After the beginning of settled life; communities became bigger and eventually took the form of villages.
It is important to remember that a village is a place where agriculture is the main occupation of people.
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Archaeological Proofs of Farming
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Sites
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Grains and bones
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Mehrgarh (present day Pakistan)
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Wheat, barley, sheep, goat, cattle
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Koldihwa (Uttar Pradesh)
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Rice, fragmentary animal bones
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Mahagara (Uttar Pradesh)
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Rice, cattle (hoof marks on clay surface)
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Gufkral (Kashmir)
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Wheat and lentil
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Burzahom (Kashmir)
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Wheat and lentil, dog, cattle, sheep, goat, buffalo
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Chirand (Bihar)
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Wheat, green gram, barley, buffalo, ox
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Hallur (Andhra Pradesh)
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Millet, cattle, sheep, goat, pig
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Paiyampalli (Andhra Pradesh)
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Black gram, millet, cattle, sheep, pig
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Life of Tribe: People who live close to the nature and follow the primitive ways of life are called tribal. Some of the characteristics of a tribe are as follows:
Members of a tribe live together as small groups.
Tribes usually live near a forest. They depend on forest produce for most of their needs.
People of a tribe worship trees and animals and never exploit natural resources.
A tribe has a rich cultural heritage. They have their own music, sculpture and paintings.
Invention of Wheels:
This was the period when another major discovery took place, i.e. the invention of wheel.
You may be thinking that an intelligent scientist may have invented the wheel but this was not the case.
It must have taken hundreds of years before humans could perfect the design of wheel.
People may have observed wooden logs and rocks rolling down the slopes.
People may have started with using cylindrical logs to move heavy objects.
With gradual passage of time; they may have perfected the design of the wheel.
Wheel gave many benefits to human beings.
Carts could be easily pulled using human power or animal power.
Long distance travels could become much easier.
The craft of pottery also flourished because of potter’s wheel.
Now-a-days; we cannot imagine of a life without wheels.
Almost all machines have wheels of different sizes to move different parts.
Life at Mehrgarh:
Mehrgarh is a prehistoric site; near the Bolan Pass in a small fertile plain.
Remains of houses, potteries, animal bones and burial sites have been found from this site.
Houses were rectangular in shape.
They were made of stone slabs.
A house in Mehrgarh was usually made up of four chambers.
One of the chambers could have been used for storing grains.
Fig: Burial Site
Burial Sites:
Remains of burial sites indicate that people practiced the last rites of a dead person.
Many interesting information have come from burial sites.
In one of the burial sites; archaeologists have found skeletons of goats, along with the skeleton of a man.
This shows that people believed in life after death.
People believed that a person would need some comforts even in the afterlife.
Daojali Hading:
Daojali Hading is in the hills of the Brahmaputra valley.
Archaeologists have found mortar and pestles from this site.
This shows that people practiced grinding of food items.
Archaeologists have also found jadeite from this site.
Jadeite is a greenish rock which was used for making tools.
Historians guess that this may have come from China.
This shows that there was people to people interaction from other parts of the world.
Rock Paintings:
The people of the Stone Age were very good artists as well.
Many cave paintings have been found in the cave dwellings of the Stone Age.
For example; the caves in Bhimbetka show beautiful paintings.
Most the paintings show animals and hunting scenes.
Historians believe that these paintings may have been made as a part of a ritual.
People may have made those drawings before going for hunting.
Another possibility is that people must have got enough spare time to think about the beautiful nature around them.
These paintings also show that people used to live as a community.
Living with the herd has many benefits.
A large group provided better protection against predators.
A group could easily kill a big animal.
This ensured the supply of plenty of food.
Historians guess that usually men went for hunting, while women lived in caves to take care of children.
Women may have focused on collecting fruits, roots and berries.
Some important dates:
The Mesolithic period (12,000-10,000 years ago)
Beginnings of domestication (about 12,000 years ago)
Beginning of settlement at Mehrgarh (about 8000 years ago)
The beginning of the Neolithic (10,000 years ago)
