CHAPTER-8 : The Neolithic Age: First Food Producers and Animal Keepers
Ancient History of India
OLD NCERT
Short Notes or Revision Notes
Mehrgarh: Pioneering Indus Valley Civilization (7000 BC)
- Location: Baluchistan, Pakistan (Indus plains edge)
- Significance: Earliest known Neolithic settlement in South Asia
Domesticated Plants and Animals:
- Wheat & barley cultivation
- Cattle, sheep, and goat domestication
Tools and Technology:
- Polished stone implements
- Stone axe variations:
- North-western: rectangular with curved edge
- North-eastern: rectangular with butt, shouldered hoes
- Southern: oval sides, pointed butt
Neolithic Settlements and Tools
Kashmir
- Burzahom (16 km NW of Srinagar):
- Pit dwellings
- Wide range of ceramics
- Stone & bone tools (no microliths)
- Possible hunting, fishing, and agriculture
- Coarse grey pottery
- Dog burial with masters (unique practice)
- Earliest date: 2700 BCE
- Gufkral (41 km SW of Srinagar):
- Agriculture and animal husbandry
- Polished stone tools
- Numerous bone tools and weapons
Eastern India
- Chirand (40 km W of Patna):
- Bone implements made from antlers (deer horns)
- Late Neolithic settlement (high rainfall area)
- Possible date: 2000 BCE (or later)
Other Neolithic Sites
- Garo Hills (Meghalaya)
- Vindhyas and Kaimur Hills (UP)
- Koldihwa and Mahagra (Allahabad): Rice cultivation (5th millennium BCE)
Houses
- Burzahom (Kashmir): Pit dwellings with steps (underground)
Tools
- Polished stone tools (cutting implements)
- Mortars & pestles (grinding grains)
Important Sites
- Mehrgarh (Baluchistan):
- Early farming & animal domestication (wheat, barley, sheep, goats)
- Rectangular houses with storage areas
- Burials with sacrificed animals
- Daojali Hading (Northeast India):
- Stone tools (mortars & pestles) for grinding crops
- Possible trade with China (jadeite found)
- Senuwar (Kaimur Hills): Important site
- Taradih (Bihar): Near Bodh Gaya
South Indian Neolithic Settlements
- Location: South of the Godavari River (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu)
- Settlement Features:
- Hilltops or plateaus near rivers
- Over 850 settlements identified
Lifestyle
- Tools: Stone axes, blades
- Domesticated animals: Cattle, sheep, goats
- Agriculture: Grinding tools suggest grain cultivation
Important Sites
- Karnataka: Maski, Brahmagiri, Hallur, Kodekal, Sanganakallu, Piklihal, Takkalakota
- Tamil Nadu: Paiyampalli
- Andhra Pradesh: Utnur (cattle herding)
Neolithic Technology and Farming
- Mehrgarh (Baluchistan):Advanced settlement with wheat, barley cultivation and mud-brick houses.
- Pottery:Introduced in Neolithic era (black burnished, grey, mat impressed ware).
- Tools:Polished stone tools, microliths (Mehrgarh), celts, axes, adzes, chisels (Orissa, Chhotanagpur).
| Grains | Bones Sites
|
| Wheat, barley, sheep, goat, Cattle | Mehrgarh (in present day-Pakistan)
|
| Rice, fragmentary, Animal bones | Koldihwa (in present-day Uttar Pradesh)
|
| Rice, cattle (hoof marks on clay surface)
|
Mahagara (in present-day Uttar Pradesh)
|
| Wheat and lentil | Gufkral (in present-day Kashmir)
|
| Wheat and lentil, dog, cattle, sheep, goat, buffalo
|
Burzahom (in present-day Kashmir)
|
| Wheat, green gram, barley, buffalo, ox
|
Chirand (in present-day Bihar)
|
| Millet, cattle, sheep, goat, pig | Hallur (in present-day Andhra Pradesh)
|
| Black gram, millet, cattle, sheep, pig
|
Paiyampalli (in present-day Andhra
Pradesh) |
हिन्दी