South Asian Stone Age

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History of South Asia History of India
Stone Age	70,000–3300 BC
· Mehrgarh Culture	· 7000–3300 BC
Indus Valley Civilization	3300–1700 BC
Late Harappan Culture	1700–1300 BC
Vedic Period	1500–500 BC
· Iron Age Kingdoms	· 1200–700 BC
Maha Janapadas	700–300 BC
Magadha Kingdom	1700 BC–AD 550
· Maurya Empire	· 321–184 BC
Middle Kingdoms	230 BC–AD 1279
· Satavahana Empire	· 230 BC–AD 199
· Kushan Empire	· 60–240
· Gupta Empire	· 240–550
· Pala Empire	· 750–1174
· Chola Empire	· 848–1279
Islamic Sultanates	1206–1596
· Delhi Sultanate	· 1206–1526
· Deccan Sultanates	· 1490–1596
Hoysala Empire	1040–1346
Kakatiya Empire	1083–1323
Vijayanagara Empire	1336–1565
Mughal Empire	1526–1707
Maratha Empire	1674–1818
Colonial Era	1757–1947
Modern States	1947 onwards
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The South Asian Stone Age covers the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods in South Asia.

1 Paleolithic
- 1.1 Homo erectus
- 1.2 Homo sapiens
2 Neolithic
3 Notes
4 See also
5 Further reading
6 External links

[edit] Paleolithic

[edit] Homo erectus

Homo erectus lived in South Asia during the Pleistocene Epoch. Biface handaxe and cleaver traditions may have originated in the middle Pleistocene ^[1]. The beginning of the use of Acheulian and chopper-chopping tools of lower paleolithic may be dated to approx. the middle Pleistocene ^[2].

[edit] Homo sapiens

Cave sites in Sri Lanka have yielded the earliest record of modern homo sapiens in South Asia. They were dated to 34 tya. (Kennedy 2000: 180). mtDNA analysis dates the immigration of Homo sapiens to South Asia to 70 to 60 tya.

Based on a syntheses of fossil, artifact, and genetic data, Michael Petraglia and Hannah James argue that modern humans arrived there about 70,000 years ago ^[3].

For finds from the Belan in southern Uttar Pradesh radio carbon data have indicated an age of 18-17 tya. Palaeolithic rock art is also well-known.

Bhimbetka rock painting

Stone age writing, Edakkal Caves

At the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka humans lived throughout the Upper Paleolithic (10th to 8th millennia BC), revealing cave paintings dating to ca. 7000 BC; the Sivaliks and the Potwar region also exhibit many vertebrate fossil remains and paleolithic tools. Chert, jasper and quartzite were often used by humans during this period.

[edit] Neolithic

Main article: Mehrgarh

The aceramic Neolithic (Mehrgarh I, also dubbed "Early Food Producing Era") lasts ca. 7000 - 5500 BC. The ceramic Neolithic lasts up to 3300 BC, blending into the Early Harappan (Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age) period.

[edit] Notes

^ (Kennedy 2000: 136)
^ (Kennedy 2000: 160)
^ Petraglia 2005, Current Anthropology 46

[edit] See also

Pre History of Sri Lanka

[edit] Further reading

Kenneth A.R. Kennedy. 2000, God-Apes and Fossil Men: Palaeoanthropology of South Asia Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Hannah V. A. James and Michael D. Petraglia 2005, Modern Human Origins and the Evolution of Behavior in the Later Pleistocene Record of South Asia, Current Anthropology Volume 46, Supplement, December 2005 [1]
V. N. Misra 2001. Prehistoric human colonization of India [2]