Table of Contents
Notes By-
Sachin Gupta
Cleared UPSC 2017 with AIR-3
INTRODUCTION
MESOLITHIC CULTURES
In the past 15, 000 years, humans have undergone minimal changes in physical
characteristics; in contrast, human cultural adaptations have grown substantially
more sophisticated. The most significant of these cultural shifts relates to
subsistence, the manner in which humans obtain food and nourishment.
Upper Palaeolithic populations were probably relatively mobile, nomadic people
who followed the migrations of the herd animals they hunted.
Beginning late in the Pleistocene epoch, approximately 15,000 years ago, this
pattern of Upper Palaeolithic gradually began to change in some parts of the
world. Rather than moving around in pursuit of large animals, humans started to
make more intensive use of smaller game animals and wild plants in one area.
Fishing and gathering marine resources also yielded valuable food sources as
people became less mobile and increasingly focused their energies on the
exploitation of plants and animals within particular local environments.
Between the late Pleistocene and the early Holocene (the current geologic epoch),
a gradual warming of the earth’s temperature caused the great glaciers of the
Pleistocene to melt. Sea levels rose in coastal areas, and lands that had been
compressed under the glaciers rose. As the earth’s climate changed, many species
of plants and animals became extinct.
The reshaping of the earth’s environments prompted new patterns of technological
development. As large number of animals and kinds became extinct humans
captured smaller animals and kinds, learned how to fish, and gathered plants to
satisfy nutritional needs in a strategy that represented a subtle change, one to
broad-spectrum collecting. Because of variation in local environments, many
specialised regional patterns and technologies developed, making it increasingly
difficult to generalise about developments worldwide. These new subsistence
strategies have been referred to as the Mesolithic in Europe, Asia, and Africa and
the Archaic in the Americas.
The transition to broad-spectrum collecting began in different regions at different
times and had varying consequences. In some areas relatively permanent
settlements emerged, whereas in other regions people maintained mobile, nomadic
lifestyles. In general, however, percussion-flaked Mesolithic and Archaic tools
differ markedly from those of the Palaeolithic. Typically they are much smaller
and more specialised than Palaeolithic implements. Some of the most common
Mesolithic tools are known as microliths, small flakes of stone that were used
for a variety of purposes, including harpoon barbs and specialised cutting tools.
The bow and arrow appeared in the Upper Paleolithic, and both Mesolithic and
Archaic peoples made extensive use of this technological innovation, which
allowed hunters to kill game from a greater distance and with more accuracy
than did spears.
A new type of stone tool, ground stone, also became common in many societies.
Some of these implements were probably unintentional products of food
processing. To make seeds and nuts more palatable, people pulverised them
between a hand-held grinding stone and a larger stone slab or even a large rock.
This activity shaped the hand stones and wore depressions, or grooves, into the
stone slabs. Using a similar grinding process, Mesolithic peoples intentionally
made some stones into axes, gouges, and adzes (specialised tools to shape wood).
Tools with similar functions had been produced by percussion flaking during the
Palaeolithic, but ground-stone tools tend to be much stronger.
The increasingly sophisticated stone-working technology that characterised the
Mesolithic and Archaic periods allowed for a great many innovations in such
areas as the harvesting of resources and the shaping of wood for building. Although
watercraft was developed during the Upper Paleolithic, ground-stone tools made
it easier to cut down logs and hollow out the inside to make dugout canoes.
Vessels of this type improved mobility and enabled people to exploit more diverse
ocean, lake, and river resources. Ground-stone sinkers and fishhooks made from
shell, bone, or stone also attest to the importance of aquatic resources in this era.
In India in addition to their technological accomplishments, the Mesolithic people
created an impressive array of art work which includes murals in cave and rockshelters;
petroglyphs and cupules. The murals or cave paintings may have been
drawn to celebrate a successful hunt or to ensure a better future.
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Mesolithic is a cultural stage belonging to human beings who were completely
modern in their biological characteristics and are known as Homosapiens sapiens.
In fact, people lived almost in the same way as they did during Palaeolithic
stage. The main difference being they that lived in Europe at a time when the
climate was changing from what it was during the previous geological stage,
known as the Pleistocene epoch. The geological epoch which follows is known
as Holocene. Both Pleistocene and Holocene belong to the Quaternary period.
Holocene is also known as the Recent or Neothermal phase. We are living in the
Holocene phase. Holocene began around 10,000 years B. C.
In Europe, Pleistocene is considered as a period of climatic fluctuations.
Throughout this epoch climate fluctuated between warm and cold phases. At the
end of Pleistocene period, climate slowly became warmer. With the change in
the climatic environment areas which were under ice or under the influence of
cold climate became free from ice or its influence. Plant and animal gradually
changed. Faunas of the cold climate were replaced gradually by the faunas of the
warm climate. Plant cover changed from arctic to temperate types. Holocene
period seen the establishment of the geographical, climatic and biological
conditions of Europe as it is known today. Human beings adjusted with the
changing condition by changing this way of life.
The change was quite slow but the change took place mainly in response to the
change in the environment. However, in their subsistence level they were much
like the Palaeolithic hunter gatherers but their mode of hunting-gathering became
intensified. Man’s long experience through generations of interaction with plant
and animal in search of living, has led to his experience and knowledge about
them. For this reason, we find the people who lived in the Post-Pleistocene era
were still hunter gatherers but were species-specific hunter and gatherers. This
means that they favoured some species of plants and animals over others. Culture
that was produced by the people who lived in Europe during post Pleistocene
period that is early Holocene, are known as Mesolithic culture. Change of
environment was not uniform. Accordingly culture varied from one environmental
zone to the other.
Clark, in 1932, established the term in its proper connotation. He substantiated Mesolithic Features
his opinion with data related geology, archaeology and ecology. His enquiry was
based on ecological understanding. Clark’s (1980) definition of Mesolithic is as
follows; “it is a culture of hunter-gatherers lying intermediate between Paleolithic
on the one hand and Neolithic on the other; recent in geochronology; followed
the same subsistence pattern as Palaeolithic but difference was emphasised in
terms of specialisation”. The end of Pleistocene is conventionally placed around
10,000 years B.C. The date for Mesolithic in Europe is fixed around 9500 years
B.C. Mesolithic is considered to have ended with the introduction of agriculture
around 6000 and 5000 years B.C. (Price, 1991).
In Asia and Africa the terminology differed. In West Asia, mainly Levant, Iraq,
Iran and Africa the period just preceeding Neolithic is called Epipaleolithic by
Garrod, Stekelis, Neuville, Kenyon, Mc. Burney and others. The genesis of the
culture lies well before Holocene period and into the terminal Pleistocene at
these places. In Africa, excepting in the Nile valley, no true Neolithic culture is
found. In these areas Mesolithic-like cultures are known by the term Late Stone
age. In India, the culture is also termed as microlithic culture.
1.2 ENVIRONMENT OF EUROPE DURING EARLYHOLOCENE PERIOD
Europe was under the influence of glaciations during Pleistocene period. Snowline
marking the arctic tundra was extended up to present temperate zone. At the end
of Pleistocene period due to change in solar radiation, Europe was gradually
warming up. This led to mass scale change in geography, biology and human
culture of Europe. Post Glacial or post Pleistocene environment of present day
temperate Europe is better understood with the application of pollen-analysis.
Palynologists found that Post –glacial deposits can be divided into zones in which
the transformation of forests in response to the curve of temperature is recorded.
At first the temperature rose slowly, culminated into a peak and then receded to
some extent until present day condition was reached.
Mesolithic culture in Europe can be separated from Palaeolithic on the
basis of geological and palaeontological characters, although the criteria
vary from one region to the other. It can be distinguished from Neolithic on
the basis of its economy. Neolithic had a food producing economy, based
on agriculture and animal husbandry. Mesolithic people lived on hunting
and gathering. They did not know food production.
K. Jessen in 1934 divided Holocene Europe into nine basic zones based on pollen
analysis to understand its climatology. Pollen analysis provided a picture of forest
development in north and northwest Europe. Forest in Scandinavian language is
referred to as boreal. Europe was under Park Tundra condition (pollen Zone IIII)
by the end of Pleistocene. With the warming up of climate park tundra
vegetation made way for Birch-pine pollen zone (IV) of the pre-boreal period
that was a period through which forest development was taking place. The first
phase of forest development is known as early boreal (pollen zone V). This phase
was dominated by pine trees but hazel and birch were also found. This is followed
by late boreal (pollen zone VI). Pine and hazel trees dominated the forest together
with some elm and oak in its first phase and lime and alder at its later phase
Pollen VII a is known as Atlantic period because the land bridge connecting
Great Britain to Europe was submerged and the climate of the area was exposed
to the influence of Atlantic ocean. The forest of this period is characterised by
the presence of alder-oak-elm-lime trees. This phase continues into a period
known as sub Boreal (pollen zone VII b). In it, elm declines slowly and hazel
increases. During the Atlantic period a climatic optimum occurred with annual
average temperature above 2 degree centigrade than what it is today.
Faunal changes also took place but fauna was not as sensitive as the plants.
Some of the most significant changes were gradual and eventual replacement of
reindeer by red deer and bison by bos.
Movements of the sea level, also known as eustatic movement and the land
surface movement known as isostatic movement, took place with the end of the
ice age. This has been studied in detail in the Baltic Sea region of the Scandinavian
Peninsula. Baltic was an Ice Lake by the end of the glacial period. During Pre
Boreal period with the melting of the ice, it became a sea and was known by the
name yoldia sea. It was named after the molluscan fauna yoldia artica. Land
surface rose during Boreal phase and Baltic became a fresh water lake and is
known as Ancylus Lake, with the characteristic presence of molluscs, Ancylus
fluviatilis. During the subsequent Atlantis period the sea level rose again and
Baltic became a sea known as Littorina Sea. This phase is identified with the
presence of common periwinkle shells known as Littorina littoria. Several
transgressions and regressions of sea took place in Atlantic. Some of the
transgressions are dated.
As the ice retreated there occurred a rapid spread of forest and the development
of new subsistence pattern. It is thought that in response to the development of
forest man developed new tool types, such as axes, adzes and picks in order to
deal with the new environment. The change was gradual
1.3 TOOL TYPES AND MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUE
Tools of Mesolithic culture are categorised into two groups, those made on stone
and those made on bone and antler. The stone tools can further be divided into
two categories, the microlith and the macrolith i.e. tiny tools and bigger tools,
respectively.
Microliths
Microliths are the predominating and common tool types of this cultural phase.
Technologically, this is a continuation of types from the Palaeolithic period.
Microliths occur at the last phase of the Palaeolithic culture but predominance
of the same is found during the Mesolithic stage. Standardisation of size
dimension is made by archaeologists and 3cm is taken as the limit for length for
determining a microlith. Moreover, the microliths of Mesolithic period were
made by highly skilled tool making technique. This is mainly reflected in
retouching of the working edge of the tool or blunting of the hafting edge of the
toolThe technique employed was punch and pressure, which developed during the Mesolithic Features
Upper Paleolithic period. For this reason, identification of Mesolithic microliths
largely depend on the context of its finding and dates. Microliths were made by
a technique known as notch technique. A small notch was made on the edge of a
micro blade by means of abrupt retouch. The point of a small punch or perhaps
bone was then placed in the centre of the notch and the bulbar end of the blade
was removed by a slightly oblique blow. The bulbar end is found as a wasteproduct,
known as micro-burin. The rest of the bladelet was fashioned into a
microlith, also by abrupt retouch. However, some forms of microliths could
possibly have been made by retouching blades without using the notch technique.
Microliths are described in terms of geometric and non-geometric shapes.
Geometric ones are types such as trapeze, triangle, lunate or crescent. The nongeometric
types are named by the nature of blunting of the back, such, partly,
fully or obliquely blunted blades or after their functions such as scraper, point
processing for lines, snares, net and traps, shell openers, bow-drill points and
awls. The pieces were hafted on wood, bone and antler. These were set in line to
give a straight cutting edge or set with slanting blades, micro-blades, broad trapezs,
notched and serrated blades in line, or lunates and triangles set vertically to give
varieties of saw edge (fig.1 ). This tradition of composite tool using must have
extended from Palaeolithic into Mesolithic.
The microlithic technique enables the maximum length of edge and number of
points to be extracted from a minimal volume of stone. The technique allows the
regular exploitation of small, nodular pebbles and even large artifacts. The
technique in turn allows permanent occupations of territories without any other
stone resources. In this way the Mesolithic people exploited extremely sharp
and hard materials like flint, chalcedony, agate, carnelian etc, which occur in
small sources. Economy of the technique is observed in the construction of
composite tools in terms of small rapidly replaceable and interchangeable,
standardised and mass produced units, which were produced in advance in large
quantity and kept in readiness for use at times of wear and tear. The procedure
was to pull out the worn out piece and plug in a fresh one in its place. A broken
Palaeolithic tool needed a complete replacement.
Macroliths
The tools which are beyond the size of microlith may be considered as macroliths.
In this category there are tools which are a continuation of the Upper Palaeolithic
types, such as, scrapers. New types are axes and picks. These are considered as
heavy duty tools. These are made on stone, mostly flint. The tools are made by
flaking and making a transverse working edge. According to the nature of working
edge these are termed as axe and adze. These are meant for wood working and
were mainly associated with cultures, which developed in the forest area. Another
type of heavy duty tool is the pick. This has a pointed working edge. There are
evidences that the axe, adze and picks were hafted in wooden, bone or antler haft
(Fig.1.2 ). These tools helped the users to cope with forest environment.
Bone and Antler Tools Mesolithic Features
Bone tools are found mainly in the form of barbed harpoons. Harpoon is a type
of tool from Maglemosian culture. Harpoons vary in terms of number of barbs;
location of barbs along the shaft and in terms of nature and shape of barbs. There
are fish hooks and points. Points are grooved and made into needles or made
into leister prongs. Chisels on long bones are found. Bones were also used as
hafts for making composite tools.
Mostly shredded antlers were used for making tools. The antler were cut down
along the brow tine region and shaped into axe, adze or haft for inserting stone
axe or adze heads. Animal horn and teeth were also hafted and used as tools
1.4 MESOLITHIC CULTURE OF EUROPE
Mesolithic culture of Europe exhibits dynamicity of adaptation to changing
environmental condition. Environment in Europe went through changes from
tundra park land, open steppe, forested zones and coastal environment. In all the
areas culture revealed adaptation to the local environment. According to Clark
(1980) this condition may be considered as ecological niche formation by
contemporary human beings. In the present study cultures which grew under
forest and in open grass land conditions are discussed.
There are numerous microliths. Commonest form of all microliths is the simple Mesolithic Features
ones blunted obliquely or down the whole of one edge. They used single microliths
as tips for arrows and more than one microlith for making inset on wood or
bone. Hollow based points, scalene triangles and crescents are found at all sites.
Presence of microburins suggests that microliths were made by notch technique.
Upper Palaeolithic types of tools are burins and scrapers. The latter are more in
proportion. Most common scrapers are horse shoe scrapers. Points and awls are
also found. Other stone tools are pebbles with countersunk hollows, pebbles
with abraded surfaces and so called mace heads with hour glass perforations
(Fig.1.1).
Antler and bone tools
Antler and bone tools are difficult to preserve. Even then a large variety of them
are found. Barbed bone points, axes or adzes of bone, spear heads, antler sleeves,
fish hook and leister prongs are characteristic types. Other bone and antler tools
include antler tines worked into sharp points, worked animal teeth, perforated
auroch phalanges, awl and bodkins and even whistles. The bone antler tools are
frequently decorated with scratched in or incised geometric designs. Stylised
animal or human figure are rare.
Wooden objects
Among the preserved wooden specimens, the important ones are: (i) ends of
rods, pointed and hardened by fire, (ii) club like objects, (iii) wooden sleeves for
inserting stone axes and adzes, (iv) wooden plaques with perforations made by
fire, (v) wooden paddle-rudder suggesting evidence of navigation of the culture,
(vi) dugout canoe made of Scottish fir tree, 6 feet long and 3 feet in breadth,
made by scooping wood out by fire. Fire was used in carpentry. The last two
items indicate navigation during boreal period.
There are fishing nets made of plant fibre, sink made of stone and float made of
plant bark.
Amber and animal teeth
Tongue shaped pendant, perforated for suspension, amber beads with conical
perforations were meant for personal adornment. Animal teeth were used both
as personal ornament and as tools. Canines of bear, otters, wild cat, and incisors
of aurock, wild boar, deer etc. were used. Wild bores tusks were set in antler
sleeves and used as adze.
Development of Maglemosian
As a result of detailed research, Maglemosian culture is divided into five
progressive chronological stages. The most significant development is found in
the microliths, axes, cores and in the ratio of flake to blade. Ancestral form of
Maglemosian culture is found in an industry called KLosterlund, which is dated
to 7250-6950 B. C. The industry is named after a place name in Denmark.
1.4.2 Tardenoisian Culture
Tardenoisian culture is named after the site of Fere-en-Tardenois at Aisne, France,
discovered by de Mortillet in 1896. The culture has a wide distribution in France,
Germany and the Iberian Peninsula. The culture seems to be concentrated around
Mediterranean basin. On the west it spread up to England and on the east up to
Poland and in southern part of erstwhile Russia. This is basically a microlithic
culture and is devoid of any heavy duty tools like axes and picks. Traces of
Tardenoisian culture is found mainly on sandy soil and on rocky surfaces. The
settlement sites showed that makers of Tardenoisian culture avoided the necessity
of adaptation to dense forest – for which their material culture was not adequate
and they lacked heavy equipment. Their main occupation was fishing, hunting
and collecting. Some kind of shelter in the form of wind break was evident in
some areas and they sometimes lived in pits. General preference was open air.
Tardenoisian men lived through pre-Boreal, Boreal and Atlantic periods. Soil of
the areas where they lived was not suitable for agriculture, so hunting gathering
way of life continued for a long time in the area.
Material Assemblages of Tardenoisian Culture
No wooden object has survived from the Tardenoisian culture. A few bone
fragments, broken at both ends have been found. Microliths were hafted on them
and used. Other bone objects were in the form of pins and points.
Microlithic tools
The only objects to survive in any quantity are microliths made on stone, mainly
flint. The industries consist of tiny stones chipped into forms of geometric shapes,
such as, triangle – equilateral, isosceles or scalene, little crescents or lunates and
at a later date, trapezes. Tools are within 3cm in length. They are mostly fine,
thin and narrow blades. Large numbers of fluted cores are found. These were
formed because blades were removed from them. A technique called notch
technique was used for blunting the backs of the blades. Blades were an important
component of Tardenoisian culture and were utilised as knives and scrapers and
more rarely as saws and awls. Scrapers are a little bigger in size than the blades
and there are a variety of scrapers found. Tardenoisian tools are both of simple
and geometric varieties. Geometric types are trapeze, triangle and crescent.
Blunting of the back is very common. These were meant for hafting and making
composite tools.
Development of Tardenoisian Culture
The development of Tardenoisian culture is found in another microlithic industry
known as Sauveterrian. The latter culture had a direct link with the Upper
Palaeolithic culture, of the region. Origin of Tardenoisian is rooted to Upper
Palaeolithic culture through Sauveterrian culture. Tardenoisian culture is divided
into three main developmental phases; Phase I or lower Tardenoisian, Phase II
or typical Tardenoisian and Phase III or final Tardenoisian. The sequential nature
of development is found at site Le Roc Allan in France. Tardenoisina culture is
found at Le Roc Martinet at Sauveterre-la-Lemance in France strigraphically
lying over a Sauveterrian industry and is having a direct link with the Aurignacian
culture of Upper Palaeolithic of Europe. The best radio carbon date so far obtained
for Sauveterrian culture is 7045+106 B. C. and date for Lower Tardenoisian is
5400+350 B. C.
1.5 POST-PLEISTOCENE/ POST- GLACIAL/ EARLY HOLOCENE ECOLOGY
North of Alps and Pyrenees, the zone later occupied by the expanded temperate
forest, was initially a cool or cold corridor bounded on the north by Baltic ice
cap and on the south by glaciers of Alps and Pyrenees. It was a zone of tundra
park land and of open steppe, warmed only by the currents of Atlantic and the
Mediterranean. As conditions ameliorated, temperate deciduous forest grew up
by c. 10,000 – 9000 B. C. This gradually became an area of high biomass with a
high edible productivity exploited by numerous herds of small herbivores and
probably broken up into a mosaic of small productive Mesolithic territories. The
change in the environment is already discussed.
The birch pine forest of early Boreal phase quickly gave way to thick mixed
forest, reaching a climax in dense oak, hazel, alder, lime and elm forest in the
warm wet phase of the-Post glacial climatic optimum between 6000 and 4000
B. C. This canopy was mainly made up of deciduous plants and gave rise to
characteristic structure. This depended on the annual loss of leaves of the trees
in autumn and without any growth of fresh green for three to five months during
the long, snowy winter. Ground layer was covered by detritus formed of dead
and decaying leaves and trunks and dominated by large quantity of fungi, mosses
and liverworts, most of which were edible and available throughout the year.
Above the ground layer rose up the field layer of herbaceous plants and strands
of grasses and vegetatively propagating roots and tuber plants. The productive
field layer of roots, tubers, bulbs and rhizomes were covered by shrub layers of
hazel, berry bearing shrubs up to 15 feet height. The structure of the forest canopy
was completed by the tree crowns of oak, elm and ash rising to about 25 to 100
feet. It was broken only by outcrops, rivers, lakes, swamps and marshes. The
rich ground cover of plants also attracted such herbivorous grazing animals as
deer, auroch, and boar in large number. Mesolithic people who lived in the forest
took advantage of the vast quantity and variety of seasonal vegetal food, especially,
roots, tubers, fruits and nuts. They hunted the grazing animals. The large number
of water bodies provided with edible aquatic resources. Wide range of fishing
equipment, bone hook, fiber made lines, leister prongs, fish traps, weirs, and
fish nets and dugout canoes provided evidence for utilisation of aquatic resources.
They lived in the wooded area and took advantage of the forest with the heavy
duty tools and with fire.
Open Grassland Ecology
Mediterranean is considered as climatic and ecological buffer zone. Proximity
to equator and distance from ice cap and ameliorating influence of the sea
fashioned the climate of this region during Post Pleistocene time. The region is
marked with the continuity of stone industries from the Palaeolithic into
Mesolithic.
Between 10,000 to 7000 B. C. the cool and temperate zone at the head of the
Adriatic and Franco-Ligurian Sea was gradually colonised by warmer species of
plants. Birch pine gave way to juniper, pine and oak. Mediterranian evergreen
and drought resisting flora gradually expanded from southern Iberia, southern
Greece, southern Italy and south Balkan. The moderate annual rainfall and a late
summer drought of severe proportions at the sea level limited coastal woodlands
to mainly xerophytic and evergreen tree species, interspersed with strands of
flowers, grasses, legumes and herbs. Much of these is directly edible and could
be harvested throughout the year. Edible root plants like onion, leek and garlic
were available. European subsistence during Mesolithic in these areas was based
on gathering of pulses, bulbs, grass seeds and nuts in combination with fishing,
fowling and hunting of ovicaprids (sheep and goat), deer and auroch. Microliths
used as tips for arrows and as knives and scrapers helped the Mesolithic folk to
cope with the open grassland environment
UNIT 2 INDIAN MESOLITHIC CULTURES
2.1 INTRODUCTION
Human Past or History is divided into three main periods, namely, 1) Stone Age,
2) Bonze Age, and 3) Iron Age. These are not simply technological stages implying
that tools and weapons were made of stone during the Stone Age, of bronze
during the Bronze Age, and of iron during the Iron Age. These Ages imply much
more than technology. They imply subsistence economy or ways of acquiring
food, social organisation, including caring for the weak, sick and old, mode of
disposing of the dead, art, and other aspects of life.
Stone Age is divided into three periods, namely, 1) Palaeolithic or Old Stone
Age, 2) Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age, and 3) Neolithic or New Stone Age.
The word lithic is derived from the Greek lithos, meaning stone. Palaeolithic
means Old Stone Age, Mesolithic means Middle Stone Age, and Neolithic means
New Stone Age.
2.2 MEANING AND SIGNIFICANCE OF MESOLITHIC
Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age was a much shorter period than Palaeolithic,
having lasted from over thirty thousand years in Sri Lanka and parts of Africa to
only about ten thousand years in India and West Asia. Mesolithic period has
enormous culture-historical importance in Old World prehistory. The
technological hall mark of this period are tiny stone tools or ‘microliths’. In
addition, the Mesolithic people also used non-microlithic tools made of flakes
and blades.
Mesolithic people made a number of technological innovations like bow and
arrow for hunting; querns, grinders and hammer stones for grinding and
pulverising plant foods like roots, tubers and seeds; and regular use of fire for Indian Mesolithic Cultures
roasting meat, tubers, etc. They created a large volume of art in the form of
several thousand paintings and engravings, which not only tell us about their
aesthetic taste but also about their capability for innovating new technological
elements, modes of subsistence economy, items of material culture, social
organisation and religion.
Meaning and Types of Microlith
The term ‘microlith’ is strictly to be applied only to tools made on microblades
or bladelets (having a maximum length of 50 mm and a width of 12 mm) or
occasionally on small flakes, by blunting one or more margins by steep retouch.
Microliths comprise non-geometric forms like rectangular blunted back blades
and points, and geometric forms like crescents or lunates, triangles and trapezes.
Microliths were too small to be used as tools individually; instead, they were
used as components of tools and weapons by being hafted in bone, wood or reed
handles and shafts. A groove was cut in the handle or shaft, and a number of
microliths were arranged serially into it and were glued together by a natural
adhesive like gum or resin. Microblades were intentionally blunted on one edge
to prevent the cutting of the haft and thereby loosening of the microliths during
use of the tool or weapon.
Function of Microliths
Microliths were used as tips and barbs of arrowheads and spearheads, for forming
the cutting edge of knives, sickles, daggers and harpoons. Discoveries of hafted
microliths from many excavated sites in Europe, the Near East, Africa, Australia
and India, as also their depiction in central Indian rockshelters, testifies to the
use of microliths in this manner.
Other Tool Types of the Mesolithic Period
In addition to microliths, Mesolithic people used a variety of non-microlithic
tools made on flakes, cores and blades. These comprised choppers, scrapers,
notched flakes, borers and points, made on cores, flakes and blades.
2.3 DISCOVERY OF MESOLITHIC TOOLS
The earliest discovery of microliths and other Mesolithic tools was made by
A.C.L. Carlleyle, an Assistant to Alexander Cunningham, founder Director
General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
Carlleyle was the first person to discover microliths, rock paintings, pigment
pieces with marks of grinding, human skeletons, animal bones, ash, and charcoal
pieces in rockshelters in Mirzapur District of the Northwestern Provinces of
Agra or Oudh (present Uttar Pradesh). He also discovered paintings depicting
scenes of wild animals being hunted with spears, bows and arrows and hatchets,
and living floors containing hearths with ash, charred animal bones. This was
the first discovery of the paintings portraying the Mesolithic way of life.
2.4 NATURE OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES
Archaeological sites are of two types: primary and secondary. Primary sites are
those where cultural material is found in its original context and relatively
undisturbed condition. In such a context organic material is relatively better
preserved. Secondary sites are those where cultural material from spatially,
culturally and chronologically unrelated contexts is found buried in geological
deposits after being transported by fluvial agency. However, as most Mesolithic
sites belong to Holocene or Recent period and are only a few thousand years old,
archaeological material on them is found in a primary context either on the
surface or buried in open air or cave/rock shelter habitation deposits. At such
sites biological and dating materials are better preserved. For the reconstruction
of life ways, environment and dating, habitation sites are ideal.
State-wise names of sites excavated in India:
Rajasthan: Tilwara; Bagor ; Ganeshwar
Gujarat: Langhnaj; Akhaj; Valasana; Hirpura; Amrapur;. Devnimori;Dhekvadlo;
Tarsang
Maharashtra: Patne; Pachad; Hatkhamba
Uttar Pradesh: Morhana; Lekhahia; Baghai Khor; Sarai Nahar Rai ; Mahadaha;
Damdama; Chopani Mando; Baidha Putpurihwa
Madhya Pradesh: Pachmarhi; Adamgarh ; Putli Karar; Bhimbetka;
Baghor II;Baghor III; Ghagharia
Bihar: Paisra
Orissa: Kuchai
West Bengal :. Birbhanpur
Andhra Pradesh: Muchatla Chintamanu Gavi; Gauri Gundam
Karnataka: Sangankallu
Kerala : Tenmalai
The above excavated sites have provided us a vast amount of information
regarding technology, material remains, burial systems, anatomical remains,
customs associated with burial, art, and charcoal for dating of the sites.
The diet of the Mesolithic people consisted of leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, roots,
and tubers, flesh of wild land and water animals, and birds
2.5 BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF MAJOR MESOLITHIC SITES OF INDIA
Teri sites are located on red-coloured dunes, along the eastern coast of Tamil
Nadu. They were first discovered by Robert Bruce Foote, Father of Indian
Prehistory, towards the end of the nineteenth century. These dunes were formed
during the Terminal Phase of the Last Ice Age or Upper Pleistocene, when sea
level had fallen several metres lower than the present one. Because of lowered
sea level large areas were exposed along the coast, and sand from exposed beaches
was blown by wind and deposited along the coast. Hunter-gatherer groups
occupied the surfaces of the dunes to exploit the marine resources of the shallow
sea and vegetable resources of the trees and plants growing in the vicinity of the
beach. During the post-glacial period when temperatures started rising and rainfall
increased, dunes became consolidated and were weathered to a reddish colour.
Archaeologists call them teris because they are known by that name in the local
Tamil language. While the biological material on dune surfaces has decayed due
to weathering, large quantities of stone artifacts and their manufacturing debris
have survived.
The Teri sites, particularly Sawyerpuram, one of the largest, were explored by
anthropologist, A. Aiyappan in the early 1940s. Later, in 1949, F.E. Zeuner,
Professor of Environmental Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, London
University examined the dunes, studied the red weathering, and collected stone
artifacts from them. Zeuner took the artifacts with him to England where they
were studied by archaeologist, Bridget Allchin. Together they published a
comprehensive article on them, along with a reasoned interpretation of the climate
during and after the formation of the dunes and their occupation by man. Their
interpretation continues to be valid to this day.
Sarai Nahar Rai
The site of Sarai Nahar Rai is located in the plain of the Sai river, a tributary of
the Gomati, in Pratapgarh district of Uttar Pradesh. The flat ground outside the
village was used by the farmers for threshing of harvested crop by trampling
under oxen hooves. Because of this activity over many years, stone artifacts,
animal bones, and human skeletons buried below the surface got exposed and
came to the notice of the village people. The news spread by word of mouth and
people of surrounding villages started visiting the place out of curiosity. The
news reached the ears of Dr. Ojha, a lecturer in the Department of Ancient Indian
History, Culture & Archeology, Allahabad University and Acting Director of
U.P. State Archaeology Department. Through Dr. Ojha, it came to the notice of
G.R Sharma, Head, of Archaeology department, Allahabad University, who carried
Importance of Bhimbetka Indian Mesolithic Cultures
Bhimbetka is thus an archaeological site of exceptional importance in terms of
the record of prehistoric technology, economy, biology, and art. When V.N.
Misra and his team conducted excavation at the site in the 1970s, access to it
was very difficult. The team had to walk over uneven and steep rocks and boulders,
and close to deep ravines. Misra’s team had to transport their camp and digging
equipment on labourers’ heads and in bullock carts for which track had to be
made every time by dislodging boulders, breaking rocks, and filling depressions
with rubble and mud.
Because of its artistic treasure the site received wide publicity through national
and international news channels, news on radio and TV, articles which Wakankar
and Misra wrote for English, Hindi, and Marathi newspapers and magazines,
hundreds of visitors from Bhopal and nearby towns, and visits of a large number
of Indian and foreign archaeologists to our excavations. The visit of the
charismatic Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Smt. Sonia Gandhi to Bhimbetka
in 1984 further boosted its image. Following this visit the Madhya Pradesh
Government built a road connecting the site to Itarsi-Bhopal highway, right up
to the top of the Bhimbetka hill, a guest house and essential facilities for tourists.
In 1978 V.N.Misra organised an international symposium on Indo-Pacific
Prehistory at Pune. Nearly a hundred archaeologists from India and over 25 foreign
countries who participated in the excavation also visited Bhimbetka. This visit
further boosted the national and international image of the site.
The central and M.P. Govt. have all along been very supportive of our research
and our efforts to bring Bhimbetka to the notice of the national and international
archaeological communities and the public. Even while V.N. Misra’s team were
excavating at the site, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had declared
Bhimbetka a site of national importance. The building of infrastructural facilities
has boosted tourist traffic to the site
UNIT 3 MESOLITHIC ART
3.1 INTRODUCTION
Rock Art or Palaeoart is our ancestors’ earliest signature drawn on rock surfaces
either on the open cliffs or inside the rock shelters and caves where they lived. It
can be seen in the form of rock paintings (petrographs) and / or in the form of
engravings, cupules, etc. (petroglyphs). They provide a unique opportunity to
understand the origins of human mind and serve as source for studying the material
culture of the society in its ecological setting. These along with other oral
traditions, myths and legends of the tribal people help social scientists to
reconstruct the ethno-history.
3.1.1 When did First Rock Art
3.1.1 When did First Rock Art Evolve?
It is yet not clear whether Homo erectus, the species which preceded ours, had
developed art during the Lower Palaeolithic time, though he had made amazingly
beautiful well refined stone implements seen in Narmada valley collections which
ought to be more than utilitarian and definitely of great aesthetic value. It is
widely observed and understood that with the emergence of modern human
species, Homo sapiens, during Upper Palaeolithic time over 150,000 years ago
fast brain or neurobiological evolution of man occurred and the higher faculty of
abstraction of ideas and their expressions was achieved by our species. This
faculty heralded fast development in the next Stone Age period known as
Mesolithic which witnesses behavioural and social and cultural modernity
manifested in the creativity of visual representations, various kinds of art artistic
skills, the Mesolithic art
3.2 BHIMBETKA ROCK ART
3.2.1 Location of Bhimbetka
Bhimbetka rock-art-site is in the Raisen District of Madhya Pradesh, located at
22o56’N: 77o36’E latitude, 45km south of Bhopal or 30 km northwest of
Hoshangabad on Obaidullaganj – Itarsi national highway. The site looks like a
huge fortified segmented ridge from a short distance. The rocky terrain covered
by dense forest at the southern edge of the Vindhyan hills. Its topmost peak is
619 meter high from mean sea level. Narmada River flows in the south of the
Vindhya and in the north of Satpura range. The lush green dense forests on a
rocky terrain and craggy cliffs appear the natural guards of Bhimbetka. In fact,
Bhimbetka cluster of shelters starts from the Shyamla hills in Bhopal as a chain
towards south along the River Betwa in a ‘S’ twisted course followed by its
tributaries; Bhimbetka hill being in middle. About half of the painted rock-shelters
of Bhimbetka are accessible but the rest are in dense forested area infested with
wildlife.
3.2.2 Why the Name Bhimbetka?
The gigantic rocks of Bhimbetka owe its name to Bhima, literally the seat of
Bhima (Bhimbethak), the mighty character of Mahabharata, who along with other
Pandavas is said to have stayed in these caves. The name of the nearby places is
also Pandapur, and Bhiyanpura, which could be a distortion of Bhimpura (meaning
the town of Bhima).
Bhimbetka finds first mention in Indian Archaeological Records (1888) as a
Buddhist site, but its painted rock shelters were first discovered in 1957-58 by
an Archaeologist Dr. Vishnu Wakankar of Ujjain. Without being much aware of
the paintings the local villagers used to assemble on the hilltop for annual fair of
Shivaratri in the month of March. A Siva devotee and a medicine man, Baba
Shalik Ram Das has maintained a temple within the painted rock-shelter premises
where he has kept the tribal artefacts, such as bow and arrows.
3.2.3 The Bhimbetka Rock Art
The rock shelter complex of Bhimbetka exhibits the earliest pictorial traces of
prehistoric man’s life in Indian Sub-continent. It is a natural art gallery-complex
of prehistoric man and a land of archaeological treasures serving as invaluable
historical chronicle since the Palaeolithic through the Mesolithic until the early
history. Bhimbetka rock-shelters were also inhabited by the Middle to Upper
Palaeolithic man as is evident from stone tools, and for its quantum and quality
of rock paintings as well as for its surroundings still inhabited by primitive tribes
who continue with the Stone Age traditions, it has been declared as an important
World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the year 2003.
3.3 PACHMARHI ROCK ART
3.3.1 The Location of Pachmarhi
Pachmarhi is more famous for its rock-cut Pandav caves associated with the
Pandavas of the Mahabharata and gets its name from the seat of five Pandavas.
It is the only hill station in the central region of India, situated in the Satpura
range and Mahadeo hills at about 1100 meters height above mean sea level.
Discovered by Captain James Forsyth of the British army in 1857, it became a
hill station and sanatorium for British troops in the Central Provinces of India. It
is popular as ‘Satpura ki Rani’. Jatashankar is an important rock formation in
Pachmarhi is –a place sanctified by the Shaivite lore; its rocks are indeed shaped
like the mater hair of lord Shiva, and inside its natural cavern there is a stone
formation like the hundred-headed divine snake Seshnag. The Pachmarhi valley
is glorified by ravines and maze of gorges, deep azure pools, sculpted in red
sandstone by the wind and weather, and cascading waterfalls flash silver in the
sunshine, a natural sanctuary of wildlife and birds.
3.3.2 The Shelters, Paintings and Antiquity
Pachmarhi is an archaeological treasure-house besides being magnificently gifted
by nature. There are numerous works of early human workmanship. The cave
shelters of the Mahadeo hill are rich in rock paintings, most of which are dated
to 500 – 800 AD, but the earliest paintings are about 10,000 years old of Mesolithic
period. Most of the paintings are in white, sometimes also outlined in red. They
depict scenes from every day life and hunting as well as the warfare. There are
about 22 clusters of rock-shelters and caves within about 100 square km which
have preserved paintings. Some of the best cave shelters and groups of shelters
around Pachmarhi are: Dhuandhar, approached from the footpath to Apsara Vihar.
At Bharat Neer (Dorothy Deep) there are animal paintings, where 1930s
excavations also yielded many potshards and Microlithic tools. Asthachal (Monte
Rosa) is another site where four shelters exist with paintings, which are linear
drawings. Along the northern side of Jambu Dwip valley there are six shelters
with paintings of animals and human figures, including a battle scene. Harper’s
Cave is another, so named for its paintings, i.e. a man seated and playing a harp
close to the Jatashankar Shrine. The Chieftain’s Cave derives its name from a
battle scene showing two chieftains on horses. A terrace that runs the length of
the South, South East and East faces of Kites Crag has some fine cave paintings,
the majority of which are in white or outlined in red.
3.4 ADAMGARH ROCK ART
The Location of Adamgarh
Around 40 km from Bhimbetka, Adamgarh Hills are a part of the southern edge
of the central Indian plateau elevated as Satpura Range, located just 2 km from
Hoshangabad town (Madhya Pradesh) along the Nagpur national highway, quite
close to the left bank of river Narmada. Since Stone Age Man lived around
Hoshangabad, which is evident from its historical back ground revealed by the
excavations made on the nearby rivers namely; Narmada, Tawa, Doodhi,
Palakmati, Denwa, etc.
3.4.2 The Rock-Shelters and Paintings
Adamgarh rock-shelters have the earliest known Rock art in India maintained by
the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) as is Bhimbetka. We can find numerous
stone tools of the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic cultures at and around
Adamgarh. Mesolithic tools are tiny flakes of geometric trapezes, triangles,
lunates, etc. used in the combined way by the prehistoric man. The remains of
Stone Age in the form of cave paintings can be seen in the rock shelters of
Mesolithic was the transitional phase between the Palaeolithic Age and the
Neolithic Age. There was rise in temperature and the climate became warm and
dry. The climatic changes affected human life and brought about changes in
fauna and flora. The technology of producing tools also underwent change and
the small stone tools were used. Man was predominantly in hunting/gathering
stage but there was shift in the in pattern of hunting from big game to small
game hunting and to fishing and fowling.
At Adamgarh there are twenty painted rock-shelters scattered over a deserted
sandstone cliff within four square kilometre area. Depiction of human figures in
rock paintings is quite common in various postures — dancing, running, and
hunting, playing games, wars and quarrelling made in deep red, green, white and
yellow colours. The material and ecological changes are also reflected in the
rock paintings. Animals are frequently depicted either alone or in large and small
groups and shown in various poses; the domesticated animals include zebu cattle,
buffalo, goat, sheep, pig and dog, whereas the wild species painted are Varanus
griseus, Hystrix cristata, Equus sp., Cervus duvauçeli, Cervus unicolor, Axis
axis and Lupus nigricollis.
3.4.3 The Antiquity
Two dates have been obtained for the Mesolithic layers at Adamgarh, viz.,
2765±105 BP (TF-116) and 7450±130 BP (TF-120). The found Mesolithic tools,
called microliths, are of various types made on chert, agate, chalcedony, quartz,
jasper, carnelian, etc., and measure about one to five centimetres in length. The
life style of the Late Stone Age or Mesolithic people was primarily hunting,
fishing and food-gathering, nicely portrayed on the painted walls
3.5 ART ON OSTRICH EGG SHELLS
The ostrich eggs are so big and strong that one can carve and cut intricate designs
into their shells. The evidences show that engravings on ostrich shell were started
as early as 60,000 years ago. A French scholar Pierre-Jean Texier discovered
about 270 eggshell fragments in a South African cave known for various
archaeological finds, and the engravings came from at least 25 separate eggs,
and displayed a very limited set of motifs — only hatched — bands like parallel
lines, intersecting lines or cross-hatching. Texier believed that the shell motifs
are enough evidence to show that these prehistoric humans were capable of
symbolic thought. Contemporary Kalahari hunter-gatherers also collect ostrich
eggs as noticed by Texier in some Bushmen groups (e.g. Kung), who used similar
graphics. Christopher Henshilwood found a slab of ochre covered in geometric
carvings as old as 70,000 years ago in a South Africa cave, Blombos.
The portable art of Indian Mesolithic is meagre. Among many ostrich eggshell
objects found in India the Patne (Maharashtra) specimen authenticated by Robert
Bednarik is dated to about 25000 years BP. The Patne engravings resemble those Mesolithic Art
of the Upper Palaeolithic find in Israel; similar borderlines are also seen on the
Chinese and other early Palaeoart. Another classical instance is a chalcedony
core with delicate geometric engraving found at Chandravati by V.H. Sonawane,
considered to be of Mesolithic antiquity because of its context and artefact
typology. An engraved human tooth and a few engraved bone objects described
by V.S. Wakankar were found at Bhimbetka III A-28, considered authentic by
Robert Bednarik
3.6 THE CUP-MARKS AND PETROGLYPHS.
The petroglyphs are often unpatinated or only partly patinated. Body decoration
and Petroglyphs might have preceded the visual iconic and non-iconic art. But
Robert Bednarik maintains that it is not plausible that the first form of body
decoration must have been by beads or pendants, which might or might not
necessarily been made of non-perishable materials since recent hunting societies
made most of their beads from perishable plant seeds, shell, bone or ivory
ornaments. Most body decorations, such as body painting, tattoos, cicatrices,
infibulations, headdresses, coiffures, deformation, etc. could never survive in
the archaeological record. The Neanderthals of the Châtelperronian used
ornamentation (ivory rings, perforated and incised pendants, ochre, fossils and
crystals) that is so similar to that of the contemporary Early Aurignacians.
Petroglyphs generally last longer than rock paintings, except in deep caves or
where a silica skin covered paintings. Among various types of petroglyphs that
have the greatest potential to survive include cupules and simple geometric figures.
So, the objective record of Palaeoart and related phenomena provides no
justification at all for distinct cognitive differentiation between human
‘subspecies’ in the Pleistocene, i.e. between Homo erectus and archaic Homo
sapiens, as between Neanderthals and their late contemporaries in Europe, the
pre-Cro-Magnon people.
3.6.1 What are Cupules?
The cupules are hemispherical, cup-shaped, non-utilitarian, cultural marks that
have been pounded into a rock surface by human hand. Robert G. Bednarik has
used the term “cupule” and raised it to the status of an extraordinary art form
among the earliest known prehistoric art and the most common motif type in
world rock art. He rules out the similar natural formations since the cupules
should display some microscopic signs of percussion, such as crushed particles,
and surface bruising, and must possess some non-utilitarian or symbolic function,
even though an additional utilitarian function may be present. Therefore potholes
(fluvial abrasion hollows) and lithological cupmarks (tessellated sand-stone
pavements caused by cumulative underground stresses) should be excluded.
3.6.2 The Antiquity of the Cupules
Cupules are typically found in groups, normally measuring around 1.5 to 10 cm
in diameter and about 10-12 mm in depth, often occurring on horisontal or in
many cases sloping at 45o, and also on vertical rock-surfaces. A number of them
are found on boulders, e.g., La Ferrassie Neanderthal cave in France dated between
70,000 and 40,000 BC by Bednarik. In Bhimbetka Auditorium Cave as well as
in the Daraki-Chattan in India, they occur on very hard erosion-resistant quartzite
rock, gneissic granite and even crystalline quartz dated to between 290,000 and
700,000 BC. They are regarded as the oldest cupules by Bednarik since they
occur on immobile hard surface sandwiched between a solid upper level stratum
of the Middle Palaeolithic and Acheulian cultural level of the Lower Palaeolithic.
Elsewhere too they are found to have been made by the chopping tools using
hominins like the Oldowan of Africa. Some of the cupules have been re-worked
by later artists, e.g., one cupule at Moda Bhata, India, created about 7000 BC
was re-pounded about 200 AD. A large cupule reported from Sai Island (Sudan)
is thought to be about 200,000 years old, but the oldest cupule-bearing rock is in
the primordial Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, dating to approximately 1.7 million
BCE. In Australia, the Turtle Rock cupules in northern Queensland may be as
old as 30,000 or 60,000 BP. Bednarik attributes the earliest cupule-making to
Homo erectus and thinks that the cupules had clear evidence of symbolic language.
3.6.3 How were Cupules Made?
Giriraj Kumar experimented with cupule-making process at Daraki-Chattan using
hammer-stone technique and after five experiments observed that different cupules
worked out to different depths required different time span. For instance Copule
1 took 8,490 blows involving 72 minutes of actual working time. Cupule 2,
worked to a depth of 4.4 mm, required 8,400 blows involving 66 minutes of
actual working time, before the tester reached exhaustion. Cupule 3 required
6,916 strikes to reach a depth of 2.55 mm; Cupule 4 took 1,817 strikes to attain
a depth of 0.05 mm (then abandoned); Cupule 5 required 21,730 blows and
reached a depth of 6.7 mm.
The experiments clearly demonstrated that pounding a cupule on a hard rock
required a colossal expenditure of energy. Given that Daraki Chattan has over
500 cupules, one can readily appreciate the serious nature of the endeavour.
Therefore, the cupule-making was no trivial exercise – at least not where hard
stone was involved.
3.6.4 Why were the Cupules Made? Mesolithic Art
There is yet no convincing explanation of the cultural or artistic meaning of
cupules, but they are first and foremost a pattern of behaviour common to nearly
all known prehistoric cultures around the globe. Many scholars associate the
cupules with fertility rites. For instance, Bednarik cites a report of Mountford
who witnessed making of cupules in central Australia in the 1940s as a ritual for
the pink cockatoo. The rock out of which the cupules were pounded was believed
by the Aborigines to contain the life essence of this bird, and the mineral dust
rising into the air as a result of this pounding was believed to fertilise the female
cockatoos to increase their egg production, which the Aborigines valued as a
source of food. So, Bednarik opines that the meaning and purpose of such ancient
art cannot be understood without understanding the ethnographic beliefs of their
creators.
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