Mesolithic Age in India
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The transition from the Palaeolithic period to Mesolithic period is marked by transition from Pleistocene period to Holocene and favourable changes in the climate. The climate became warmer and humid and there was expansion of flora and fauna contributed by increased rainfall. This led to availability of new resources to humans and thus the human beings moved to new areas. This period is marked with increased population, though core economyeconomy of this period continued to be based on hunting and gathering.
Most important Change
The early period of Mesolithic age marks the hunting, fishing and food gathering which turn to hunting, fishing, food gathering as well as domesticating the animals.
One more important fact about the Mesolithic era in India is that the first human colonization of the Ganga plains took place during this period. There are more than two hundred Mesolithic sites found in Allahabad, Pratapgarh, Jaunpur, Mirzapur and Varanasi districts of Uttar Pradesh. This era also marks the dramatically increased settlement in deltaic region of Bengal, the areas around Mumbai and other places of western coast of India.
Tools of Mesolithic Era
The tools are Mesolithic Era are smaller in size and better in finishing (more geometric) than the Palaeolithic age and are called Microliths. These microliths are tiny tools of one to five centimetres length, made by blunting one or more sides with steep retouch. The main tool types are backed blades, obliquely truncated blades, points, crescents, triangles and trapezes. Some of the microliths were used as components of spearheads, arrowheads, knives, sickles, harpoons and daggers.
They were fitted into grooves in bone, wood and reed shafts and joined together by natural adhesives like gum and resin. Hunting-gathering way of life was slowly replaced by food production from about 6000 B.C. Thus we see that the use of the bow and arrow for hunting had become common in this period, which is evident from many rock paintings. The Bored stones, which had already appeared during the upper Palaeolithic, became common during this, and the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods. These are believed to have been used as weights in digging sticks and as net sinkers. Similarly, shallow querns and grinding stones also occur at several sites. These new technological elements led to enhanced efficiency in hunting, collection and processing of wild plant foods.
Changes in Life- Mesolithic Era
From Nomadism to Sedentary settlements
There were some more interesting changes in lifestyle of the Mesolithic era humans. The favourable climate, better rainfalls, warm atmosphere and increased food security led to reduction in nomadism to seasonally sedentary settlement.
First Disposal of dead and making of Graves
The sedentary settlements lead to beginning of the tradition of various ways of intentional disposal of the dead. The first evidence of intentional disposal of the dead comes from Mesolithic Era. Mesolithic human burials have been found at Bagor in Rajasthan, Langhnaj in Gujarat , BhimbetkaLocated between Hoshangabad and Bhopal, in the foothills of the Vindhyan Mountains on the southern edge of the central Indian plateau. The painted caves are ..... in Madhya Pradesh etc. The dead were buried in graves both in extended and crouched position. In some cases two individuals were buried in a single grave. The dead were occasionally provided with grave offerings which include chunks of meat, grinding stones, stone, bone and antler ornaments, and pieces of haematite.
Emerging arts
The Mesolithic man was a lover of art, evident from the paintings in several thousand rock shelters in the Vindhyan sandstone hills in central India. The paintings have been found in both inhabited and uninhabited shelters. The paintings are made mostly in red and white pigments, made form the nodules found in rocks and earth. The subject matter of the paintings are mostly wild animals and hunting scenes, though there are some related to human social and religious life such as sex and child birth.
Food Production
The hunting-gathering way of life was slowly replaced by food production from about 6000 B.C. The core economic activities were now included hunting, fowling, fishing and wild plant food gathering. The first animals to be domesticated were dog, cattle, sheep and goat and the first plants to be cultivated were wheat and barley. This new subsistence economy based on food production had a lasting impact on the evolution of human society and the environmentenvironment. In the humid lands, extending from the middle Ganga valley to China and Southeast Asia, rice cultivation and domestication of pigOperators who get killed by the speculators. was accomplished probably around the same time because rice and pig existed in wild form in this region. The cultivation of yams and taro also took place in this region. Domesticated animals proved to be useful not only for meat but also for milk, hide, agricultural operations, and transport.
Mesolithic Era: Important Points
- Agriculture had not fully developed.
- The earliest evidence of domestication of animals has been provided by Adamagarh in Madhya Pradesh and Bagor in Rajasthan. A study has also suggested cultivation of plants around 7000-6000 years back near Sambhar lake in Ajmer Rajasthan.
- The Pachpadra basin and Sojat Area of Rajasthan is a rich Mesolithic sites and lot of microliths have been discovered.
- Bagor in Rajasthan is the almost largest Mesolithic site in India. Another major Mesolithic site in Rajasthan is Tilwara.
- In Guajarat some places on the banks of river Sabarmati are Mesolithic sites which include the Akhaj, Valsana, Hirpur, Langhanj etc.
- Sarai Nahar Rai in Allahabad-Pratapgarh of Uttar Pradesh is a Mesolithic site. Other sites in Uttar Pradesh are Morhana Pahar and lekkahia.
- In Madhya Pradesh Bhimbetka along with Adamgarh are major Mesolithic sites.
- In Jharkhand Chhota nagpur plateau is a major Mesolithic site in India.
- In Orissa Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Sundergarh is a major Mesolithic site in India.
- In south India Godavari basin is rich in microliths,
- The rock painting of Mesolithic period is found in Adamgarh, Bhimbetka of Madhya Pradesh and Pratapgarh, Mirzapur of Rajasthan. Apart from the animals, hunting scenes, the Mesolithic sites have also painting of social life, sexual activity, child birth, rearing of children and burial ceremony.
