Ancient Indian History

PERIODISATION OF INDIAN PREHISTORY:

DISCOVERY OF FIRE :

The discovery and use of  fire was very important to early man for several reasons.

They discovered that most animals are afraid of fire. So a campfire gave some protection to the group or tribe.

They could in better locations. The fire, which gave them protection, allowed them to choose places for camping. They no longer had to look for trees to climb into or rocks and cliffs to shelter under.

It kept them warm. This goes with the second reason. They could move into colder climates and hunt the animals that lived there. They could then return to their campfire to warm up.

It was a healthier way of life. Cooked food  is less likely to carry disease. People began to cook their food consistently. As a result, it would have been easier  for the young and old to survive.

It was a more social grouping. They could now gather in larger groups, feeling safer and more secure. This allowed them to exchange stories, and just talk to other people.

 

BHIMBETKA CAVES :

Located about 45  km northeast of Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, these caves were accidently discovered in 1957-58 by Dr. Vishnu Wakankar of Vikram University, Ujjain. Subsequently excavations yielded remains, serially from the Lower Palaeolithic Age to the Early Medieval Ages. The caves have rock paintings, going back to 15,000 yeas ago in vivid and panoramic detail. The most ancient scenes are believed to be commonly belonging to the Mesolithic Age. Executed mainly in red and white, with the occasional use of green and yellow and themes taken from the everyday events, the scenes usually depict hunting, dancing, horse and elephant riders, animal fights, honey collection, decoration of bodies,  disguises, mask, different types of animal, etc. It depicts the detail of social  life during the long period of time. Animals such as  bison, tiger, rhinoceros, wild boar, elephants, monkeys, antelopes, lizards, peacocks, etc. have been abundantly depicted  in the rock  shelters. Popular  religious and ritual symbols also occur frequently. The colors used by the  cave  dwellers were prepared by combining manganese, hematite, soft red stone and wooden charcoal. Perhaps, animal fat and extracts of leaves were also used in the mixture. The superimposition of painting shows that the same canvas was used by different people at different times.

INVENTION OF WHEEL:

The wheel is probably the most important mechanical invention of all time. Nearly every  machine built since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution  involves a single, basic principle embodied in the wheel. It’s hard to imagine any mechanized system that would be possible without it. From tiny watch gears to automobiles, jet engines and computer disk drives, the principle is the same. Based on diagrams on ancient clay tablets, its earliest known use was a potter’s wheel that was  used at Ur in Mesopotamia as early as 3500 BC. The first use of the wheel for transportation was probably on Mesopotamia chariots in 3200 BC. It is interesting to note that wheel may have had manufacturing applications before they were used on vehicles.

It is easy to assume that the wheel would have simply “happened” in every culture when it reached a particular level of sophistication. However, this is not the case. The great Inca, Aztec and Maya civilizations reached an extremely high level of development, yet they never used the wheel. In fact, there is no evidence that the use of the wheel existed among native people anywhere in the Western Hemisphere until after contact with Europeans. Even in Europe, the wheel evolved little until the beginning of the nineteenth century. However, with the coming of the Industrial Revolution the wheel became the central component of technology, and came to be used in thousands of ways in countless different mechanisms.

NEOLITHIC ASHMOUNDS:

These are man-made landscape features found in some parts of south India (mainly in Karnataka) that have been dated to the Neolithic period (3000 to 1200 BC). They have been a puzzle for long and have been the subject of many conjectures and scientific studies. They are believed to be of ritual significance and produced by early pastoral and agricultural communities by the burning of dung and animal matter. More than a 100 ash mound sites  have been identified and many have a low perimeter embankment and some have holes that many have held posts. 

MEGALITHIC BURIALS :

The area between the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and the trip  of the southern peninsula constitutes the major zone of the burial style denoted by various types of megaliths. This burial style continued well into the historical period in its main distribution area and is characterized by a host of megalithic structures such as cairn-circles, dolmen, menhirs, elc. And their extensive variations and combinations.

Till recently, megalithic were wrongly supposed to have formed an independent cultural entity in this region.  However, it is now clear that it is nothing more than a burial style which emerged in the context of the Neolithic-Chalcolithic of its distribution area and formed part of its cultural milieu for a long time.

Generally, it is associated with iron but there is also a possibility of its beginning in the pre-iron stage.

At sites such as Hallur and Kumaranahalli, its first iron associated phase falls around 1300 BC.