POINTS TO REMEMBER

The Palaeolithic culture of India developed in the Pleistocene period or the Ice Age, which lasted between one million and 10,000 years before the Holocene period
(the present geological period).
. The Holocene period began 10,000 years ago.
. The Lower Palaeolithic phase existed between 2,50,000
BC and 1,00,000 BC; the Middle Palaeolithic between 1,00,000 BC and 40,000 BC; and the Upper Palaeolithic between 40,000 BC and 10,000 BC.
. The Mesolithic culture continued to be important roughly
from 9,000 BC to 4,000 BC. .
. The microliths are the characteristic tools of the Mesolithic
age.
. Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh is a striking site of both
the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic paintings.
. The Mesolithic people lived on hunting, fishing and food
gathering.
. In the Belan valley (Uttar Pradesh), all the three phases
of the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic have been
found in sequence.
. Adamgarh (Madhya Pradesh) and Bagor (Rajasthan)
provide the earliest evidence for the domestication of
animals.
. The Neolithic Age or the New Stone Age began in 9000
BC. But in the Indian continent, the earliest Neolithic
settlement was in Mehrgarh (Baluchistan, Pakistan). T Mehrgarh settlement emerged around 7000 Be.
. The Neolithic people used tools and implements
polished stone.
. Burzahom means the "place of birth", while Gufla
means the "cave of the potter". Burzahom and Gufla
were the prominent Neolithic settlements in Kashm
. The Neolithic people in Kashmir also used bones
making numerous tools and weapons.
. The Neolithic settlers were the earliest farming comm
nities. Neolithic people of Mehrgarh produced whe
and cotton.
. The Homo sapiens, the modern man, emerged in tl
Upper Palaeolithic period.
. The earliest evidence of cultivation of plants occurs i
the region of Rajasthan in India.
. Large scale farming activities were undertaken by th
communities belonging to the Chalcolithic cultures i
peninsular India.
. The Jorwe culture (1400 BC-7oo BC) covered moder
Maharashtra.
. The Ahar culture (2100 BC-1500 BC) lay in the Banas rive
valley in Rajasthan.
. Black and Red Ware (BRW) was the most widel] prevalent pottery form in the Chalcolithic period.