Learning Objectives

To know the Stone Age humans of India To understand the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic societies of India To learn the importance of Neolithic revolution To have knowledge on salient features of the Indus culture Early India: From the Beginnings to the Indus Civilisation the pre-history of India was considered to have begun within the time span of one million years ago. But, recent investigations have produced evidence for the presence of human ancestors in India between two million and one million years ago. Generally, the period before the invention of script is broadly divided into Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. Hence, the names of materials that they used (for example, painted grey ware culture or Iron Age culture) or the geographical region (Indus) or the first site to be identified (for example, Acheulian or Harappan) are used to name the cultures.

The earliest age in history is called Old Stone Age or Palaeolithic. This period is divided into