Glimpses of Pre-Historic South Asia

[sayak83]

Now that I have provided a general overview of the global pattern of human evolution and migration. Let us look back at South Asia.

Glimpses of Pre-Historic South Asia

At around 48,000 years ago a new and revolutionary form of stone technology called micro-lithic or micro-blade technology suddenly appears in India and spread to every corner of the subcontinent by 38,000 years. Most researchers today date the arrival of modern humans into (at least) Central, South and Eastern India with the appearance of microlithic stone technology and sudden disappearance of previous types.

The oldest dated site is Mehtakheri in Madhya Pradesh from where hundreds of well developed micro-blade stone tools have been recovered.
Stone Tools in India Have Implications for Early Dispersal of Modern Humans Out of Africa, Say Researchers

Medium and small sized stone tools and points used in everything from needles to spear and arrow points are the hallmark of microlithic technology.

The researchers say:-
The researchers found that the assemblages dated as far back as 48,000 years ago, making these the earliest known microblades found in India. Their finds challenge current thinking by some scholars that the technology was developed locally in India around 35,000 years ago and not introduced to the area by modern humans migrating from outside of India. "Optical dates reported here for Mehtakheri for microblade technology establish that this technology was continuously present in the Indian Subcontinent from 48 ka to 3 ka," reports Mishra, et al. "This is a longer duration than for any other part of the world. Absence of any precedents for blade technology in the Indian Lower and Middle Palaeolithic [before about 50 - 60,000 years ago] make it difficult to consider that this technology developed locally."*

The microlithic technology is a characteristic hallmark of hunter-gatherer lifestyle of modern humans in India and continue right upto 3000 years ago. Microlithic sites such as in Mehtakheri crop up in East India (Purulia 35,000-24,000 years ago) and even in Sri Lanka (Batadomba-Lena 36,000 years ago) complete with hearth, habitation debris, postholes, ochre (for decoration), marine shell ornaments etc. Overall the technological and socio-cultural repertoire is the same for modern humans who, finally push into Europe replacing the Neanderthals and also African technology of that period. Given the fact that modern humans were already in Asia from 100,000 years, this 50,000-35,000 period can be viewed as the first cultural revolution that swept the globe with its microlithic technology, cave art and boat building technology (humans reach Australia for the first time) . Once again the technological complex first arose in Africa (numerous sites in East and South Africa dated to around 60,000-55,000 years ago) and spread quickly through Middle East into South Asia and westward into Europe.

Genetic and archaeological perspectives on the initial modern human colonization of southern Asia

Of course the modern-human stone age culture not only produced stone tools and shell ornaments, they also produced copious amounts of rock art, preserved both in Europe and in India. The famous cave art of Bhimbetka are very well known, but thousands of other sites abound throughout India.
Here is a brief glimpse into the social and cultural life of these ancient south asian people as they expressed them (figures from link below)
Indian Rock Art - The Rock Art of Central India

A dancing scene

 

[Vinayaka]

So many years, and events missing ... at present.

 

[sayak83]

So many years, and events missing ... at present.

True. People do what they can. But more funding of good quality expeditions are needed. Meanwhile, a poor and illiterate grocer combs through Rajasthan in his decade long travels to uncover the lost history of India.

Rajasthan rock paintings may be at par with M.P. rock shelters

The way he tells it, 59-year-old Omprakash Sharma was cosmically created to serve archaeology. The son of a chaiwalla who moved to India after Partition, he was born in India, raised poor and studied only until Class 8.
And yet, he’s probably the world’s luckiest amateur archaeologist. Sharma, better known as Kukki, claims to have discovered the most archaeological sites in the world, all in and around his Aravalli village of Bundi.
The sweets-store owner – he sells namkeen, sweets and kachoris – has made 18 donations to India’s museums, discovered primitive fish hooks, arrowheads and copper tools that have wowed historians, and picked up about 1,500 ancient coins on his many hill-explorations. As of April 2015 he says he’d made 98 finds. “I want to reach 101 to beat Sachin Tendulkar’s centuries,” he says.


The latest discoveries have been made in the region along the left bank of the Chambal river.

The treasure trove of ancient rock paintings belonging to the Mesolithic-Chalcolithic (15,000-3000 years ago) period was found at hilltops, cavities in rocks, small caves and balcony-line coverings around Gendi Ka Chhajja hamlet near Bijolia town. The area borders Bundi district, where a large number of prehistoric art works have already been found and documented.

Bundi-based archaeologist Om Prakash Sharma alias Kukki, who found the Mesolithic masterpieces during his visit to the mountainous region earlier this week, told The Hinduon Friday that the rock paintings are about 10,000-year-old and depict continuity over a long period, indicating an uninterrupted habitation of nomadic hunter-gatherers.

The number of rock shelters, superimposition of paintings, traces of human habitation and the simultaneous discovery of stone tools in the 60-km-long and 20-km-wide region around three rivulets merging into the Chambal render the latest discovery on a par with Bhimbetka archaeological site.



Mr. Sharma's exploration of copper age tools at Namana led to excavations by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in the 1990s, confirming that the hilly area was the centre of a pre-Harappan civilisation. The ASI recognised his discovery of three copper tools — two sharp-edged axes and a scraper — from the site in the Indian Archaeology Review 1991-92.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...Chambal-in-Rajasthan/articleshow/55825698.cms


Other ordinary people who worked tirelessly to recover the history of South Asia
Meet the keepers of India's oldest art gallery

 

[sayak83]

A brief documentary on pre-historic rock art

 

[Aupmanyav]

From a link in Sayak's link: Neanderthals had outsize effect on human biology

"Our ancestors were not a picky bunch."
We still are not. We like to spread our seeds everywhere.

Now the leading theory today is the so-called 'Out of Africa' theory that says all living humans can be traced back to a Mitochondrial Eve and a Y-chromosomal Adam that both lived around 200,000 years ago in Africa. I think that would say all these more ancient types of humans in the article above went completely extinct and have left no living descendants.

Not correct, Ananda, on many points.Their was no single Mitochondrial Eve and a Y-chromosomal Adam. Actually, there were many. They were separated by thousands of year and thousands of miles, depending upon where one started. Their dependents are not extinct. We are them.

 

[Spirit_Warrior]

I am quite agnostic on the current theories about the origins of humans. I can see why the empirical evidence forces the conclusion though, as I am scientific myself and would be forced to the same conclusions. However, the fact that I know there is other evidence from Cremo's books which shows modern humans co-habiting with other less evolved hominids species as far back as millions of years, makes me think that modern humans have been around much longer than we current believe.

As Hindus, we also must factor in what our itihas-purana says, it does mention modern humans co-existing with various species of hominids, such as the vanaras and creatures like Hidamba. As for dating Lord Rama during during the Treta yuga 18 million years ago, this really of course depends on how you interpret a "treta yuga" I feel like reading the Ramayana again to see what kind of flora, fauna it describes. Was India even around 18 million years ago?

 

[Aupmanyav]

And Cremo is a scientist.

 

[Spirit_Warrior]

And Cremo is a scientist.

I have already covered this point in the past. Cremo is not a scientist, but you could say he is a scholar and researcher. He has not done any primary research himself, he is only reporting the research done by other scientists working in the field. I have read his book partially recently, it is excruciatingly boring to read, but I have cross references some of the research he cites and it has checked out e.g. the discovery of modern human feet fossils a few million years ago.

What I found interesting that they rarely find complete skeletons, they find bits and pieces of the skeletons and then piece it together.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Sure, that is a puzzle (not solved by science).

 

[Spirit_Warrior]

Sure, that is a puzzle (not solved by science).

Hence, why I said I understand if you consider the accepted evidence that the inference is forced that humans have relative recent origins 200,000 years ago in Africa. However, if we factor in the the anomalous evidence, it muddies it up a bit. Hence, why I am agnostic on the matter. I strongly have to question inferences that go back millions to hundreds of millions of years ago. We covered once 'Walking with the Dinosaurs" in Philosophy class, a documentary that use to come on BBC, and it narrated in a matter of fact precise details the behaviour of dinosaurs like something on the animal channel, and we were like "HOW DO THEY KNOW"

Inferences depend on available evidence and there really isn't that much available evidence in terms of fossils, a lot of it is guess work. Every now and again we find new fossils and push the dates of origins of humans back by tens of thousands of years.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

So modern man might not be related to a Biblical Adam and Eve at all... as the Bible says they were created first.... that strain of humans might have been extinct before modern man came into being.

 

[Aupmanyav]

No. I think Spirit_Warrior does not believe in a 6,000 year history of humans. According to him and his sources of information (Michael Cremo and others of his kind), it goes back to 'millions or hundreds of millions' years ago.

 

[sayak83]

I have already covered this point in the past. Cremo is not a scientist, but you could say he is a scholar and researcher. He has not done any primary research himself, he is only reporting the research done by other scientists working in the field. I have read his book partially recently, it is excruciatingly boring to read, but I have cross references some of the research he cites and it has checked out e.g. the discovery of modern human feet fossils a few million years ago.

What I found interesting that they rarely find complete skeletons, they find bits and pieces of the skeletons and then piece it together.

I made a thread with a series of posts on this topic
The Science of Human Evolution
The Science of Human Evolution
The Science of Human Evolution
The Science of Human Evolution
The Science of Human Evolution
The Science of Human Evolution
And the next few posts.
My criticism of Cremo is that he collects very old papers that made tentative conclusions long before absolute dating methods or the geology of plate tectonics was well known. Its somewhat silly to try to falsify Quantum mechanics by collecting critical papers from 1900-1920 don't you think?

 

[Aupmanyav]

I think people like Cremo do not even deserve consideration.

 

[sayak83]

RICE DOMESTICATION AND MULTI CROP AGRICULTURE IN INDUS VALLEY

People of the Indus Valley civilization first to use multi-cropping agriculture and seasonal crop rotation with wheat, millet, pulses, gram and rice.

Rice farming in India much older than thought, used as 'summer crop' by Indus civilisation

Latest research on archaeological sites of the ancient Indus Civilisation, which stretched across what is now Pakistan and northwest India during the Bronze Age, has revealed that domesticated rice farming in South Asia began far earlier than previously believed, and may have developed in tandem with - rather than as a result of - rice domestication in China.

The research also confirms that Indus populations were the earliest people to use complex multi-cropping strategies across both seasons, growing foods during summer (rice, millets and beans) and winter (wheat, barley and pulses), which required different watering regimes. The findings suggest a network of regional farmers supplied assorted produce to the markets of the civilisation's ancient cities.

Most contemporary civilisations initially utilised either winter crops, such as the Mesopotamian reliance on wheat and barley, or the summer crops of rice and millet in China - producing surplus with the aim of stockpiling," says Petrie.

"However, the area inhabited by the Indus is at a meteorological crossroads, and we found evidence of year-long farming that predates its appearance in the other ancient river valley civilisations."

The archaeologists sifted for traces of ancient grains in the remains of several Indus villages within a few kilometers of the site called Rakhigari: the most recently excavated of the Indus cities that may have maintained a population of some 40,000.

As well as the winter staples of wheat and barley and winter pulses like peas and vetches, they found evidence of summer crops: including domesticated rice, but also millet and the tropical beans urad and horsegram, and used radiocarbon dating to provide the first absolute dates for Indus multi-cropping: 2890-2630 BC for millets and winter pulses, 2580-2460 BC for horsegram, and 2430-2140 BC for rice.

Millets are a group of small grain, now most commonly used in birdseed, which Petrie describes as "often being used as something to eat when there isn't much else". Urad beans, however, are a relative of the mung bean, often used in popular types of Indian dhal today.


Note Rakhigari is the most recent and apparently the largest Indus Valley city excavated yet. It's in the east between ghaggar hakra (Saraswati) and Yamuna rivers.
Move Over Mohenjo-Daro, Rakhigarhi Takes Over As the Biggest Harappan Site Now

Evidence suggests Rakhigarhi was a major Harappan centre - The Archaeology News Network




FULL PAPER
Approaching rice domestication in South Asia: New evidence from Indus settlements in northern India

Note that this evidence bridges the gap between the earliest evidence of extensive harvesting of semi-domestic rice in 6000 BCE in Lahuradewa and extensive rice based cultivation in the Gangetic plains in Mahagara from around 1800 BCE in the Gangetic plains

Lhd = Lahuradewa
Mhg = Mahagara

Abstract

The Indus Civilisation (c.3000–1500 BCE) developed and declined during the intervening period, and there has been debate about whether rice was adopted and exploited by Indus populations during this ‘gap’. This paper presents new analysis of spikelet bases and weeds collected from three Indus Civilisation settlements in north-west India, which provide insight into the way that rice was exploited. This analysis suggests that starting in the period before the Indus urban phase (Early Harappan) and continuing through the urban (Mature Harappan/Harappan), post-urban (Late Harappan) and on into the post-Indus Painted Grey Ware (PGW) period, there was a progressive increase in the proportion of domesticated-type spikelet bases and a decrease in wild-types. This pattern fits with a model of the slow development of rice exploitation from wild foraging to agriculture involving full cultivation. Importantly, the accompanying weeds show no increased proportions of wetland species during this period. Instead a mix of wetland and dryland species was identified, and although these data are preliminary, they suggest that the development of an independent rice tradition may have been intertwined with the practices of the eastern most Indus peoples. These data also suggest that when fully domesticated Oryza sativa ssp. japonica was introduced around 2000 BCE, it arrived in an area that was already familiar with domesticated rice cultivation and a range of cultivation techniques.

 

[sayak83]

Ghaggar Hakra (Saraswati) Valley found to be the cradle of Indus Civilization

Indus Civilization is a well known period of copper bronze age urbanization that encompassed the entire Indus River system. Even a few years ago the major finds in Indus Civilization were limited to a sharp period of 2800 BCE to 1900 BCE. The problem has been to find the roots of this sophisticated urban civilization that appears and grows so suddenly (and disappears suddenly as well..but that is another can of worms).

Till now the earliest settlements anywhere in the subcontinent was in Mehrgarh, located in the Kachi plains to the west of Indus. Originally a pastoral village at around 6500 BCE, it became an important bead making center by the early Harappan times. Located in the important Bolan pass that connects Afghanistan with the Indus, it was an important connector between South Asia and the Iranian plateau and through which domesticated sheep and wheat undoubtedly arrived in the region. Barley was domesticated locally. But given its peripheral location and the fact that it was abandoned in the mature Harappan times, it's centrality to the development of Indus Valley urbanization was always a bit suspect.
Mehrgarh: The Roots of the Indus Civilization in Pakistan

But now a series of centrally located sites even more ancient than Mehrgarh had been found straddling the upper and central portions of the ghaggar-hakra (Saraswati) rivers in western India (Haryana) and Cholistan (Pakistan). Apart from Rakhigarhi, discussed earlier, the most exciting find had been the village of Bhirrana in Haryana which shows continuous occupation from 7500 BCE to 1800 BCE according to radiocarbon dating as well as luminescent dating of pottery. With this continuous occupation zone in bhirrana as well as several adjoining settlements like Mitathal, Girawad, Kalibangan etc. we finally have a complete sequence of growth for the Indus Valley civilization developing from the Saraswati River basin and expanding into other regions of Indus and merging with Mehrgarh regions culture.

At Bhirrana and other settlements across Saraswati Valley, the following periods can be identified,

Hakra ware Culture (7500-6000 BCE) period IA

The story of Bhirrana begins in the Period IA when people occupied the central and western sides of the mound. They dug pits into the natural soil. (Pl II) These pits had mud plastered walls and floors and were without any post holes. The
people used pottery albeit with few regional variations, similar to the types reported by M R Mughal from Cholistan (Pakistan) and popularly known as Hakra Wares. The repertoire from Bhirrana has been similarly referred to based upon identical lines. The ‘dwelling pits’, were shallow, varying from 34 to 58cm in depth with diameter varying from 230 to 240 cm. A chunk of reed- impressed earth found in one of the pits, speaks of a superstructure of wattle and daub. The pits were of different functional uses, comprising sacrificial, cooking, and industrial, apart from residential. Dwelling pits were also found from the stratigraphical context in four trenches in the main mound. In one of the trenches, a roughly circular mud plastered platform and a single mouthed hearth was exposed beside a dwelling pit, suggesting thereby that
cooking was probably done outside the Dwelling Pit.(Pl III). The pottery repertoire of this period comprised the typical Hakra Wares pottery, viz. i) mud appliqué ware,(Pl IV), ii)tan slipped ware/chocolate slipped ware, iii) incised ware ( light and deep incised, Pl V), iv) black burnished ware, v)brown on buff ware, vi) bichrome ware, vii) black on red ware and viii) red ware. Paintings were found executed on various wares as i) brown on buff ware, comprising geometric patterns ii) black outlined and white filled figures depicting faunal and floral motifs, the peepal leaf also being one of these on
the Bichrome ware ii) black on red, showing essentially geometric motifs. Antiquities of this period comprised beads of semiprecious stones, sling balls of terracotta and sandstone, unbaked triangular cake, (Pl VI), sandstone quern and muller, crucible, hopscotch on potsherds, single piece of chert blade and bone point, micro beads of steatite, solitary micro bead of lapis lazuli and bangle and arrowhead of copper.

Early Harappan Culture (6000-4500 BCE) period IB

The next period of occupation witnessed a change in the scenario and the period IB, viz. the Early Harappan Period at the site was ushered in. (Pl VII)New pottery types were introduced and now alongside the earlier pottery, the typical
Kalibangan fabrics were also used. (Pl IX) The significant change in the repertoire was the discontinuance of wares such as the deep incised, black burnished and the mud appliqué. The structures in this period were made of mud brick with typical Early Harappan sizes in the ratio of 1:2:3. (Pl VIII).The entire site got occupied in this period without, however, the concept of any fortification. Antiquarian remains from this period comprise a button seal made of shell; arrowheads, rings, bangles made of copper; hair pins and points of bone; beads of carnelian, jasper, steatite, shell and terracotta;
figurines, rattles, gamesman, marbles, sling balls and bangles made in terracotta and sandstone pounders and mullers. Human figurines in clay and terracotta, from this Period, call for our special attention. Among these was a bald figurine, in terracotta, with owl like beaked nose having a single breast; the clay figurines, which were in fragments, shared stylistic features with the Kulli female figurines.

Early Mature Harappan Culture (4500-3000 BCE)

It was now time for the denizens of Bhirrana to witness the Period IIA or the Early Mature Harappan time. The entire settlement, which had by now also grown in size, was now fortified and the concept of twin mounds arose. The people continued their sojourn of structural innovations and began to live overground in rectangular houses. These were built of mud bricks, still adhering to the Early Harappan ratio of 1:2:3 and new ratio of 1:2:4 which became the standard ratio of the Mature Harappan period all over the Subcontinent. (Pl X). The houses, which were now better planned and had streets and lanes in between, occasionally had paved floors. Few rectangular mud brick platforms with circular fire pits and hearths were also unearthed. New shapes were added to the already existing pottery assemblage. The new shapes comprised mainly the typical Mature Harappan types like dish-on-stands and button based goblets. Poorly imitated variety of Reserved Slip Ware also marks its presence, which might have been used as a novelty. The antiquities included
one cache of 3461 beads from the surface and two caches of semi precious stone beads and copper ornaments from the stratified deposits. (Pl XI). The other antiqurian finds comprised beads of carnelian, agate, faience, jasper, lapis lazuli, shell, steatite, and terracotta; fish hooks, kohl sticks, chisel, arrowheads of copper; bangles of shell and terracotta; blades of chert; balls, marbles, net sinkers and a toy cot made of terracotta.

Mature Harappan Culture (3000-1800 BCE)

The settlement of Bhirrana now entered the last fold of its story, viz. the Mature Harappan phase or Period IIB at the site. It was now a completely mature stage of Harappan Culture. The entire settlement was reorganized according to the
additional demands of space by the populace. (Pl XII). The mud bricks used in this period conformed to the Mature Harappan ratio of 1:2:4. All the houses had bricks arranged in typical Harappan type of bonding (or the “English bond” in
contemporary parlance).the houses were spacious and comprised three to four room, often with separate provisions for rooms with tandoors and hearths. These mud brick houses had occasional use of baked bricks in the bathrooms. People kept their grains in huge underground silos floored with de carbonised husks for protection against pests. The ceramics included all the classical Mature Harappan types like red wares, red slipped wares, chocolate slipped wares, painted black on red ware depicting motifs like peepal, neem, palm, banana leaves, rosettes and variety of faunal motifs, including story telling motifs. The Early Harappan grey ware (Fabric F of Kalibangan) and internally deep incised ware (Fabric D of Kalibangan) continue in this period. The shapes included all the regular Mature Harappan varieties like S
Shaped jar, button based goblets, basins, dish- on- stand, chalices, beakers, jars, dishes, handles, knobbed lids, perforated jars. Among the important antiquarian remains of this period were two copper celts, bearing few characters
of Harappan script etched on them; stylized representation of bull/buffalo head with prominent horns, in terracotta; line engraving of the famous bronze dancing girl on a potsherd; wheels made in terracotta showing hub and spokes in painting and by ridges(Pl XIII); a mythical creature having one head and three bodies, in terracotta and terracotta tiles showing the intersecting circle motif. Apart from these, regular Harappan artefacts like seals (including one in black steatite- which did not have the usual legend in the Harappan script, Pl XIV); terracotta figurines, which included an ithyphallus, bangles, beads and toys; beads made of semiprecious stones; points and awls made on bone; pestles, mullers, sling balls, marbles, blades and weights on stone; arrowheads, fishhooks, rods, chisels, kohl sticks, bangles on copper.

Thus one sees that the entire Harappan civilization is represented at the different sites along the Ghaggar Hakra channel starting from a far earlier date than anywhere else in the Indus heartland.

Very interestingly, the dancing girl statue of Mohenjo Dari is found inscribed in Bhirrana in a piece of pottery, showing it to have some sort of pan Indus symbolic significance through mature Harappan culture

Main Paper (also see supplementary doc)
Oxygen isotope in archaeological bioapatites from India: Implications to climate change and decline of Bronze Age Harappan civilization : Scientific Reports


The 8th Millennium BC in the ‘Lost’ River Valley