THE HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION

-SHIRIN RATNAGAR

CONTENTS

WHAT IS PROHISTORY ?

PROHISTORY-THREE BROAD SUB-DIVISIONS.

PALAEOLITHIC PHASE.

MESOLITHIC PHASE.

CHALCOLITHIC PHASE.

INTERESTING FACTS.

CONCLUSION.

Prehistory…… Prehistory refers to that phase of human history

when earth was still taking shape and man was evolving biologically through various extinct species from the primates to its present form.

It is a history of early man’s struggle for survival in adverse environment and is marked by his steady progress from an animal-hunting and wild food-collecting wandering life to that of a food producing and cattle-herding settled life.

Stone Age……. Chronologically , Prehistory covers the

largest period of human history. Since stone was the chief material that was used by early man to procure food or to protect himself, this period is also described as the Stone Age.

In archeological terminology, there are, besides “Prehistory”, two other phases in which human civilization is divided, and these are termed as “Protohistory” and “History”.

PREHISTORY OF INDIA -THREE BROAD PHASES

Palaeolethic (paleo-old, lithic-stone i.e.,Old Stone Age)

Mesolithic (meso-middle,lithic-stone,i.e.,Middle Stone Age)

Neolithic (neo-new, lithic-stone, i.e., New Stone Age).

Each of these periods is marked by distinct features as well as gradual improvement in tool-making skill and technology.

THE THREE SUB-DIVISION……

Thus, while the Palaeolithic period witnessed a shift from heavy and asymmetrical to flake-based tools.

The Mesolithic period was characterized by the use of “Microliths” or small “geometric tools” in form of triangles, crescents, etc.

The Neolethic period, the last phase of Prehistory, was marked by the use of polished and ground tools having better and sharper cutting the edge.

ECOZONES……

The period thereby also witnessed the emergence of first farming communities, i.e., the communities which domesticated plants and animals, used pottery and lived in hut-like structures in different ecozones of the country.

PALAEOLITHIC PERIOD…….

Palaeolithic period covered the Pleistocene (Greek term for “most recent”) or the “Ice Age” dated from around 2 m.y.a to 10,000 BP.

The stratigraphic profiles of tools clearly indicate that these phases were marked by gradual, stage by stage, progress in type and technology of tools from chopper-chopping and hand-axe to flaked-based tools.

MESOLITHIC CULTURES…….

The studies on the Megalithic cultures in India have also come a long way since the excavation by Wheeler at Brahmagiri in 1947-48.

A large number of megalithic sites have been discovered all over the country, maximum number of which are in Penensular India.

The interrelationship between the Megalithic Culture and the succeeding culktures as represented in the Sangam Literature is also being highlighted.

CHALCOLITHIC CULTURE……

The Chalcolithic Cultures in Central India and the Deccan were first brought to light by Sankalia’s excavations at Jorwe (Distt. Ahmadnagar, Maharashtra) in 1950s.

M.K. Dhavalikar [1988] made a detailed study of the local subsistence base and the environmental setting of the Chalcolithic people of Inamgaon (Distt. Pune)-the chief site of the Jorwe culture in the Deccan.

CONCLUSION……

In short, intensive field work as well as new analytical approaches during the last fifty years have greatly enlarged our geographical and conceptual horizons on Indian Prehistory and Protohistory.

Archaeological studies have come considerably away from the past tradition of collection and narration of archaeological data to focus on various other features such as ecology and environment , settlement and subsistence patterns and other subjects to reconstruct the early human behavior in a holistic manner.

INTERESTING FACTS……

Painted Grey ware (PGW) though noticed first at Ahicchatra in Western U.P. in the mid-1940s, its cultural significance came to be realized only in 1950s when B.B Lal excavated Hastinapur.

NBPW (Northern Black Polished Ware) is a ware of a very fine quality with aq thin black slip (coating with a semi fluid clay).

Among the important pottery types, Ochre Coloured Pottery (OCP) was first reported by B.B. Lal from Badaun and Bijnore districts of Western Uttar Predesh, and later many more OCP-related sites came to be discovered.

G.R Sharma and his team in 1970s brought to light the evidence of rice at Koldihwa (Distt Allahabad, U.P) where risk-husk was found embedded in theb clay of a number of potsherds.