STONE AGE (Syllabus GS Paper 1 – History)

Context: New research indicates that the Stone Age a long prehistoric period characterised by the use of stone tools by humans and our ancestors might as accurately be described as the ‘Wood Age’.

Stone Age 

• About: It commenced approximately 3.4 million years ago in modern-day Ethiopia with the use of stone tools and lasted until about 6,000-4,000 BP, covering 99% of human history.
• Divisions of the Stone Age
• Palaeolithic Period: This period, lasting until about 11,650 BP in some regions, is marked by rudimentary stone tools and a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
• Important sites in India: Sohan Valley in West Bengal now in Pakistan; Kurnool Caves, Gichchlur, Nellure in Andhra Pradesh; Nevasa in Maharashtra; Bellan Valley in U.P and Madhya Pradesh, etc.
• Mesolithic Period: It is a transitional phase between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods.
• Important sites in India: Adamgarh (M.P) and Bagor in Rajasthan – earliest domestication of animals. Bhimbetka caves (Madhya Pradesh), Kharwar, Jaora and Kathotia (M.P), Sundargarh and Sambalpur (Odisha), Ezhuthu Guha (Kerala). Langhnaj (Gujarat), Sarai-Nahar-Rai (Pratapgarh U.P), Paisara (Munger Bihar).
• Neolithic Periode: This period began around 12,000 BP in West Asia and is characterised by sttled agriculture and the domestication of animals.
• Important sites in India: Mehrgarh (located in Baluchistan, Pakistan), Burzahom (Kashmir), Gufkral (Kashmir), Chirand (Bihar), and Utnur (Andhra Pradesh).