Discovery of palaeolithic tools adds to the understanding of human settlements

Discovery of palaeolithic tools adds to the understanding of human settlements

Subject: History

Section: Ancient

Context:

• Recent floods in Mulugu district, Telangana. Palaeolithic quartzite tools were found in a dried-up stream post-flood.

Discovery Details:

• Found between Gurrevula and Bhupatipuram villages in the Mulugu district.
• These were identified based on chipping style, material, and size.
• Stone axe dimensions: 15.5cm x 11cm x 5.5cm.
• Discovered by researcher Eleswaram Janardanachari.
• Belongs to the Lower Palaeolithic period, about 3 million years old.
• Tools were likely used for woodcutting and hunting by early humans.
• Significance:
  • Adds to understanding human habitations in Telangana and central India.
  • The Chennai discovery is linked to early human culture and tools.
  • The discoveries led to identifying the Madras Hand-Axe Industry or Madrasian Culture.
• Similar Discoveries:
  • Tools similar to those found worldwide from the Palaeolithic era.
  • In 1863, a similar site near Chennai revealed tools dating back 1.5 million years.

Palaeolithic Age:

• Lasted for about 10,000 years, dating back around 3.3 million years BC.
• Divided among- The Lower Palaeolithic Age, Middle Palaeolithic Age and Upper Palaeolithic Age.

Lower Palaeolithic Age (between 600,000 and 150,000 BC):

• The Lower Palaeolithic or the Early Old Stone Age covers the greater part of the ice age.
• It may have begun in Africa around two million years ago, but in India, it is not older than 600,000 years. This date is given to Bori in Maharashtra, and this site is considered to be the earliest Lower Palaeolithic site.
• This age consists of two principal tool-making or cultural traditions:
  • The Soanian tradition forms part of the East and Southeast Asian chopper chopping tool tradition, and
  • The Handaxe-cleaver or biface assemblages constituting the Acheulian tradition, which is widely known from the western half of the Old World (Africa, Western Europe, West and South Asia)
• People used hand axes, cleavers, and choppers. The axes found in India are more or less similar to those of western Asia, Europe, and Africa. Stone tools were used largely for chopping, digging, and skinning.
• Early Old Stone Age sites have been found in the valley of river Son or Sohan in Punjab, now in Pakistan.
• Several sites have been found in Kashmir and the Thar desert.
• Lower Palaeolithic tools have also been found in the Belan Valley in UP and the desert area of Didwana in Rajasthan.
• Nagarjunakonda in Andhra Pradesh is an important site, and the caves and rock shelters of Bhimbetka near Bhopal also show features of the Lower Palaeolithic age.
  • The rock shelters may have served as seasonal camps for human beings.
• The people of the Lower Stone Age seem to have principally been food gatherers. They took to small game hunting and lived also on fish and birds.

Middle Paleolithic Age (between 150,000 and 35,000 BC):

• The Middle Palaeolithic industries were largely based upon flakes or small pieces of stone which have been found in different parts of India with regional variations.
• This culture consists of a variety of tools made from flakes, and these flakes are produced by specialized techniques. Therefore, it is widely referred to as the flake tool industry.
• The artefacts of this age are found at several places on the river Narmada, and also at several places, south of the Tungabhadra river.
• The Belan Valley (UP), which lies at the foothills of the Vindhyas, is rich in stone tools and animal fossils including cattle and deer. These remains relate to both the Lower and Middle Stone Ages.

Upper Paleolithic Age (between 35,000 and 10,000 BC):

• This age, in the world context, marks the appearance of new flint industries and men of the modern type.
• The Upper Palaeolithic is marked by technological advances in stone tool manufacture by the production of parallel-sided blades which are finished into a variety of tools by blunting one side or by backing.
• In India, we notice the use of blades and burins, which have been found in AP, Karnataka, Maharashtra, central MP, southern UP, Jharkhand and adjoining areas.
• Caves and rock shelters for use by human beings in the Upper Palaeolithic phase have been discovered at Bhimbetka
• An Upper Palaeolithic assemblage, characterized by comparatively large flakes, blades, burins, and scrapers has also been found in the upper levels of the Gujarat sand dunes.

Source: The Hindu