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Prehistory and Protohistory in India and Pakistan c8: Chapter III. Mesolithic Cultures of India

Prehistory and Protohistory in India and Pakistan c8

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Chapter III. Mesolithic Cultures of India

Origin of the Term

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THIS division of the Stone Age Culture is comparatively very new for India and also new in the development of prehistoric archaeology in Europe as well. Until 1865 the development of man was divided as mentioned before into three broad divisions, the Palaeolithic Age, Copper Age and the Iron Age. It was however recognized that there were two sorts of stone implements which were quite different typologically—in shape and technique—and therefore LORD AVEBURY suggested in his book *Prehistoric Times* the use of the word "Neolithic." Even this was not found to be sufficient because among the chipped tools there were various groups and it was until very recently believed that the term "Mesolithic" was introduced by JACQUES DE MORGAN to distinguish a transitional phase between the Palaeolithic and the Neolithic cultures.¹ However, it has now been shown by JUDITH WILKINS² that this term had been used as far back as 1866 by HODDER M. WESTROPP to distinguish the Lower Palaeolithic tools from the Neolithic. Unaware of this usage OTTO TORELL had coined this term in Sweden in 1874.³ Thus the term is nearly 100 years old. It has not merely a simple connotation of a transitional phase, between the Old Stone Age (Palaeolithic) and the New Stone Age (Neolithic), but it stands for a great change in the tools of man as well as the climatic conditions in the regions in which man lived.

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¹ Daniel, Glyn, E., *The Three Ages*, Cambridge, 1948, p. 25.

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² *Antiquity*, Vol. XXXIII, 1958, p. 130. And therefore ALLEN BROWN's usage in 1892 was not the earliest.

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³ Ibid., p. 220.

Stratigraphical Position

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It was formerly believed that there was a hiatus between the Palaeolithic and the Neolithic. No body seemed to know what happened to the Old Stone Age man and how he passed into the New Stone Age. A great gulf appeared to divide these two periods. Then the excavation at Mas d'Azil in France in 1895 showed that there was no real hiatus between the palaeolithic and the neolithic. The discovery of this famous section made scholars look for similar evidence elsewhere. Till now very few places in Europe as well as in Africa have given such ideal data in which the Upper Palaeolithic culture is found in a lower stratum and the Neolithic culture is found lying above a stratum in which Mesolithic culture is still preserved.

Environment

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The *milieu* in which this culture was found has been studied in very great detail by a number of European scholars among whom J. G. D. CLARK of England is the most prominent. His two works *The Mesolithic Age in Britain* and *The Mesolithic Settlements in North-West Europe* have shown that the conditions under which man lived in Europe as well as England were far different from those that obtained when the Upper Palaeolithic man lived in the caves and rock shelters of France, England, Germany, Czechoslovakia etc. The cold had gone and with that the large animals—mammoth, reindeer, cave bear and others. A more temperate, genial climate had come over during which the country had become comparatively barren and open. Of course, there were wide regional differences; for instance what one may find in the swampy areas in Denmark or Holland and the dry areas in France. But the one characteristic that ties all these areas and the cultures unearthed from them is a tiny stone implement, generally called "microlith." These microliths, as pointed out elsewhere, have various subdivisions and groups. Of late, inferences are even made from the types of tools regarding the character of the microlithic culture—such as Hunting, Fishing and Incipient Agriculture, or a combination of the first two or all. Thus these microliths which bridge the gulf stratigraphically between the Palaeolithic and the Neolithic are not only different technologically from the earlier and the later stone tools, but once again show the economic stage in which man lived as well as his environment. In one sense it was a retrogression. For, as far as Western Europe was concerned, no longer do we find the beautiful tools and the art in ivory, soft stone etc. of which France, Italy, Germany, Czechoslovakia and Southern Russia have given us beautiful specimens. Nevertheless, the tools when studied scientifically show that man had now devised a compound tool. It means only this: that small tiny implements were hafted and not used singly, but a series of them were employed to prepare an arrow-head or spear-head or a sickle. It is this invention of a highly advanced principle which is to be emphasized while judging the Mesolithic culture in India or elsewhere.

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It is however true and cannot be too much emphasized that all microliths, wherever found, do not suggest or stand for a mesolithic stage of culture. Microliths have been found in India from the last century and the distribution will show that there is no corner of India where they have not been found.⁴ But it does not mean as some people think that the Fergusson College Hill or the Pandharpur region was the home of the mesolithic culture, because some microliths have been found at these places. It is the context, the stratigraphy, that is the most important criterion for judging whether a microlith belongs to the mesolithic stage or not.

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⁴ Barring the exceptions mentioned below.

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Applying this criterion to discoveries in India, one has to admit that in spite of the work that has been done during the last 20 years, there are no ideal sections like that of Mas d'Azil. Nowhere in India microliths immediately overlie the Palaeolithic and underlie the Neolithic. It is therefore not true to say that we have got definitely mesolithic cultures comparable to those in Europe or Africa, either in time or content or stratigraphy.

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This being the case what can be done at present is to describe a few typical sites, where microliths have been collected very carefully from excavations or otherwise and studied scientifically and then to arrive at the age and nature of the culture from other associated data.

Microliths

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The microliths usually comprise a fluted core from which a large number of parallel-sided flakes have been taken out. Often this core is not so regularly fluted, but irregular and a close examination of it will show that the flakes have been removed from several sides called technically "platforms."

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So a site like Langhnaj may give fully finished fluted cores and irregular cores as well. The flakes removed from these are comparatively small, not more than an inch or an inch-and-a-half and the one criterion to judge whether these are tools intentionally made by man is that they should be retouched by secondary working either on one edge or both the edges. It may be that these simple flakes, because of the sharp edges, were utilized by man. But there is no evidence with us to say that these were intended by man and hence retouch is an essential guide for defining a microlith.

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Normally microliths comprise the following: cores, fluted and irregular with many platforms; parallel-sided flakes or blades; scrapers of many types—side, hollow, steep, round etc. according to the nature of the re-touch on the tool; triangles—scalene, equilateral, isosceles,—trapeze, burunates or crescents. The last two may be retouched either on the curved (convex) back or on the chord sides, but rarely on both. It has been shown by studies in England that these omnibus group may be divided into (1) Geometric microliths comprising mainly triangles, trapeze etc. and (2) non-geometric. Stratigraphically, the latter precedes the former in some of the type sites in Europe as well as in Africa.

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A further distinction is sought to be made by the study of the tool types as mentioned above into microliths used for hunting, for fishing, or for agricultural purposes or for all together. With this introduction the important sites where microliths have been found in excavations or closely observed conditions have been dealt with here.

Mode of Occurrence

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Hitherto microliths have been found in the following contexts:

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I Microliths with Palaeolithic-like tools. For instance in Kurnool,⁵ Kandivli⁶ and Marahna (Morhana) Pahar in Rewa.⁷

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⁵ CAMMIADE, L. A., "Pygmy Implements of the Lower Godavari," M.I., IV, 1924, and A.I., No. 6, p. 71-2.

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⁶ TODD in JRAI, Vol. LXIX, 1939, p. 267.

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⁷ BROWN, J. A. in JRAI, Vol. XVIII, 1889, p. 137, and A.I., No. 6, p. 65. Here the upper layer contained microliths, but beneath it, separated by a distinct line of stratification, were much older implements, and of much larger size, formed of indurated sandstone etc.

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II Microliths with pottery, from surface.

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III Microliths from hill-sides, rock-shelters and sandy plains, as in Bombay,⁸ Central India,⁹ Northern Gujarat¹⁰ and W. Rajputana¹¹ and teris of S. India.¹²

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⁸ TODD in A.I., No. 6, 1950, pp. 1-11.

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⁹ GORDON, D. H. in A.I., No. 6, pp. 64-90 and earlier references.

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¹⁰ SANKALIA, H. D., Prehistoric Investigations, 1946 and JGRS., Vol. XVIII, 1956, pp. 275-84.

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¹¹ MISRA, op. cit., and Todd's collection from Karachi.

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¹² ZEUNER and ALLCHIN, in A.I., No. 12, 1956.

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IV Microliths with a little pottery from excavations. For example, Langhnaj,¹³ Panchmarhi.¹⁴

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¹³ SANKALIA, op. cit.

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¹⁴ HUNTER, G. R., in Nagpur University Journal, Nos. 1-2, 1935-36; and GHOSH, in I.H.Q., Vol. XXIV, 1948.

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V Microliths without any pottery from excavations.¹⁵

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¹⁵ LAL, B. B., in A.I., No. 14, 1958, pp. 4-48.

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VI Microliths with painted pottery and copper tools.¹⁶

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¹⁶ SANKALIA, H. D., and others, Excavations at Nasik and Jorwe, Excavations at Maheshwar and Navdatoli and From History to Prehistory at Nevasa, 1960 and yearly notices in I.A.R., 1953-61.

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From these six modes of occurrences we can now easily eliminate the last and to some extent the first. Excavations during the last 10 years or so and a detailed study of the tiny stone tools occurring in them has shown that these tools, though tiny, should not be called microliths. For in them parallel-sided tools preponderate. It is really a " Short Blade industry."¹⁷ Thus it is possible to distinguish between such blades and true microliths. Hence a large group, even of surface tools and their geographical occurrences can be plotted on a map and thus removed from the distribution of microliths.

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¹⁷ SANKALIA, H. D. and DEO, S. B., Excavations at Nasik and Jorwe, p. 51; and SUBBARAO, B., Excavations at Maheshwar and Navdatoli, p. 41 ff.

Derivation

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Likewise, tools found in certain context by scholars like DE TERRA and HAIMENDORF and included under microliths by GORDON¹⁸ and KRISHNASWAMI,¹⁹ though comparatively small, are now known to precede the true microliths by a considerable time and also differ typologically. It is possible that microliths have been derived from these tools.

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¹⁸ A.I., No. 6, p. 65.

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¹⁹ A.I., No. 9, p. 67.

Upper Palaeolithic

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With regard to the association of microliths with palaeoliths in Kurnool, Kandivli, Sangankallu and Morhana Pahar in Rewa, it has been suggested by GORDON²⁰ and after him by KRISHNASWAMI²¹ that such a context might indicate a succession of the Mesolithic after the Upper Palaeolithic. What can one say is that such associations are highly suggestive, but should not be accepted without further scientific scrutiny. CAMMIADE'S observation, though highly significant, was made in the last century when this subject was little studied as today. CAMMIADE'S collection appears to be surface and hence no reliance can be placed on it. Kandivli is suspected as mentioned above. Sangankallu needs a much larger excavation before fancy theories are built on the patinated flakes of Levallois type. However, we should not exclude the possibility of these or any other site yielding us the true Upper Palaeolithic types of tools—both of stone as well as of bone. FOOTE had compared his collection of bone tools from the Billa Surgam caves with the Magdalenian of France. Unfortunately this collection is lost. Recently renewed excavation at Burzahom21a in Kashmir, near Srinagar, has yielded some of the finest bone points, awls, needles and harpoons. The age of these is not known.21b It might not go back to that of the Upper Palaeolithic in Europe but may bear some relation with that found in Iran by BRAIDWOOD.²² Never-the less the discovery is most welcome, as it adds considerably to our knowledge.

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²⁰ A.I., No. 6, p. 65.

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²¹ A.I., No. 9, p. 68.

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21a See here Pl. XXXII.

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21b C-14 date is around 1,800 B. C.

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²² Illustrated London News, October 22, 1960, pp. 695-97.

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When these two or three groups and modes of occurrences of microliths are eliminated, we are left with (i) surface microliths, with or without pottery (ii) microliths from excavation, and (iii) microliths from certain geological deposits.

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*Age and Distribution (See Fig. 56)*

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With regard to microliths, two assertions are often made. First that microliths have been found from practically every corner or part of India.²³ Secondly, that they continued to be used up to the 10th century A.D. When these statements are examined, it would appear that these need to be qualified. In the first place such statements ignored the basic differences in types of microliths and their modes of occurrence. Secondly, they were made when little was known of the cultures called "Middle Palaeolithic" and the "Chalcolithic Short Blade Cultures," respectively. Thirdly, even without excluding these two, as done by us, it will be found that no microliths have been reported from Assam, Bengal, Nepal, the Gangetic Valley proper, the plains of the Panjab²⁴ and Kerala. While the subsequent explorations have shown their existence in Western Orissa²⁵ and Western Rajputana²⁶ which were formerly blank, it is difficult to say whether the absence in the above mentioned regions is due to want of exploration or related to the geographical causes. Thus the absence in Assam and Nepal may be due to thick forests and altitude, and in the Panjab plains, the Gangetic Valley and deltaic Bengal, for want of suitable raw material and environment. The same may be the case with Kerala. Even within the known distribution of microliths, a strict demarcation based on the availability of raw material and ecology—that is surroundings or environment—is necessary. Except for four or five areas, very little is known about the rest. However, there is no positive proof to say that microliths continued to be used in secluded semi-forested regions up to the 10th century A.D.²⁷ This is one of those statements which gains currency when oft-repeated. None of the present primitive, aboriginal tribes, like the Chenchus, use microliths today, nor there is evidence that they did so, a thousand years ago.

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²³ WHEELER, R. E. M., in *A.I.*, No. 4, 1947, p. 209 and GORDON, D. H., in *A.I.*, No. 6, p. 67 and KRISHNASWAMI, V. D., in *A.I.*, No. 9, p. 64.

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²⁴ Beyond the hilly Afghan frontier, Jamal Gahri Cave, former Mardas District, N.W.F.P., GORDON had long ago (Man, 1938, p. 65) noted the occurrence of microliths, but whether these are true microliths or belong to the Chalcolithic blade complex is difficult to say in the absence of illustrations or first hand study.

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²⁵ MOHAPATRA, op. cit., p. 269.

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²⁶ MISRA, op. cit., p. 207.

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²⁷ This was GORDON'S view (*Arts and Letters*, 1936, pp. 34-41), and has been shown to be incorrect by the writer. SANKALIA, *Investigations*, p. 150. Further, it was said recently that microliths were made of bottle glass in Mahabaleshwar because a core-like object was found. Unless actual blades are found in use, this view should not be accepted.

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*Eastern India*

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In Eastern India the most important site to date is Birbhanpur, on the bank of the Damodar river. This river, however, rises in the Chota Nagpur plateau on the west, and though at present the site is included in West Bengal, geographically it belongs to this region. Other sites in chronological order are those noted by BEECHING²⁸ near Chaibasa and Chakradharpur in Singhbhum District in 1868, by BODDING³⁰ in the Santal Parganas in 1904, by ANDERSON in the Sanjai Valley in 1917,³¹ by MAJUMDAR³² near Durgapur in 1937 and by LAL in 1954 (the same as Birbhanpur), by MURRAY³³ from Hartopa in Singhbhum in 1940, by CHAKALDAR³⁴ in Bankura District in 1952 and again by KRISHNASWAMI in 1959-60 and by RAY³⁵ near Bongara in Manbhum District in 1954.

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²⁸ BEECHING in *P.A.S.B.*, 1868, p. 177.

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²⁹ WOOD-MASON in *J.A.S.B.*, Vol. LVII, 1888, pp. 387-96.

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³⁰ BODDING, P. O., in *J.A.S.B.*, Vol. LXXXIII, 1904, pp. 27-31.

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³¹ ANDERSON, G. W., in *J.B.O.R.S.*, Vol. III, pp. 349-62.

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³² A.S.I., A.R. 1937-38, p. and *Revealing India's past*, p. 110.

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³³ MURRAY, E. F. O., in J.A.S.B., Vol. VI, pp. 79-104.

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³⁴ CHAKALDAR, Man in India, Vol. XXXI, 1952, pp. 124-64.

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³⁵ RAY, G. S., op. cit., Vol. XXXIV, 1954, pp. 16-9.

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PHYSIOGRAPHICAL AND CULTURAL DIVISIONS OF INDIA AND MICROLITHIC CULTURES

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Fig. 66. Map showing the distribution of Microlithic Cultures in India.

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Thus three out of four divisions of Chota Nagpur viz. Singhbhum, Manbhum, Ranchi, except Palmau, and the region bordering on West Bengal and Orissa have yielded microliths.³⁶

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³⁶ Nudhia in West Bengal proper has given a few microliths, A.I., No. 14, 1958, p. 16.

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Everywhere the sites are situated on the old river terraces and plateaus and away from the present river valleys. These are lightly forested now, and were possibly so when the microlithic people inhabited the area. At present these are the homes of a number of aboriginal tribes, such as the Santals and Uraons. Hence the Chota Nagpur plateau is of particular importance in understanding the Mesolithic problem in this part of India. How old are these microliths? Have they anything to do with the present tribes or their ancestors? No large scale work has ever been attempted in this region. However, one small excavation by LAL and earlier observation by ANDERSON give some idea of the antiquity of microliths.

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ANDERSON noticed chert flakes in river sections on the Sanjai and its tributaries. These were found according to him on the top of gravel deposit which overlies whitish clay or schist. Whether this gravel is old, that is Pleistocene, or comparatively recent is difficult to say without first hand examination. So also about the tools. Elsewhere microliths occur in the latest gravel deposits. There is also a possibility that these tools which look like microliths are older, belonging to Middle Palaeolithic complex. For 18 ft. of reddish clay over lay the gravel, and hence the tools if not plastered on with the gravel as a rewash, but really in situ should be considerably old. And as DANI has rightly noted, suggest different environmental and climatic conditions than those obtaining today. The illustrations of the tools do not convey anything.

Birbhanpur

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The site of Birbhanpur is near the Durgapur railway station on the bank of the Damodar river in Burdwan District, West Bengal.³⁷ It was discovered³⁸ by Shri LAL and excavated on a very small scale during 1954 and 1957. "The site is fairly extensive, beginning from about a furlong north of Birbhanpur, it continues beyond the railway line on the north. On the east it is roughly bounded by the road between the Durgapur railway-station and Birbhanpur and it continues well into the jungle of Sal tree (Shorea robusta) on the west."³⁷ᵃ

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³⁷ LAL, B. B., A.I., No. 14, (1958), pp. 1-48.

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37a Many more sites exist in the Kunoor and Ajay valleys which run through the Burdwan and Birbhum Districts (See Fig. 115 A). The topography is identical. The writer had an occasion to see some of these owing to the kindness of Shri P. C. DASGUPTA, Director of Archaeology, West Bengal.

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³⁸ It appears that this is the same site which was previously discovered by N. G. MAJUMDAR in 1937: A.S.I.A.R., 1937.

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Site *(See Fig. 57)*

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The site is situated on one of the middle terraces of the Damodar river. Over the basal decayed sandstone is a thick layer of mottled silty sand, believed to be weathering *in situ* of the underlying rock. The latter—sandy silt is capped by lateritic gravel and stone fragments in a silty matrix which became consolidated. The top of this layer is uneven. It probably formed the land surface over which the microlithic man lived. For the microliths were mainly found at this level and in the over lying earth mixed with quartz and haematite. This layer in its turn is covered by sandy light brown earth.

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It has been inferred that the microlithic man lived on an uneven surface consisting of many humps and depressions. The excavations were so small that it was not possible to get any plan of the house of this period. But a large number of post-holes were observed. It is possible that the plan would be circular in outline. Of course, the evidence for post-holes is very negligible.

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Tools *(See Fig. 58)*

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Because of the non-occurrence of the trapeze³⁹ and the triangle Birbhanpr microlithic industry is regarded as non-geometric. It includes:

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³⁹ One surface specimen tentatively described as triangle and trapeze is really a lunate.

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(i) Irregular, free-flaked cores.
(ii) Fluted cores
(iii) Blades
(iv) Lunates
(v) Points
(vi) Borers
(vii) Scrapers (viii) Burins.

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The material is mostly milky quartz, though occasionally crystal, chert, chalcedony, quartzite and fossil wood are used.

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Dr. B. B. LAL's geochronological studies indicate that the climate when the microlithic people occupied the site must have been comparatively dry and mild, after the last wet phase during which the laterite weathered, and dense forest existed in the region. This mild climatic phase was followed by a period of increasing aridity, and violent wind activity so that the habitation layers were covered with wind-blown sand.⁴⁰

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⁴⁰ This and the great antiquity of the tool bearing layer has been proved by further geochronological studies, *A.I.* No. 17, 1961, p. 45.

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Singrauli Basin—Mirzapur

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The whole of the Kaimur range south of the Ganges is in a sense the extension of the highlands and forests of Bundelkhand and Baghelkhand. Here CARLLEYLE, COCKBURN, RIVETT-CARNC had discovered microliths and other stone implements in 1880s.⁴¹ These and other subsequent finds by GORDON⁴²

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⁴¹ BROWN, JOHN ALLEN, in *J.A.I.*, Vol. XVIII, 1889, pp. 135-36 and SMITH, VINCENT in *I.A.*, Vol. XXXV, 1906, pp. 185-95.

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⁴² GORDON, *Man*, 1938, p. 22.

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BIRBHANPUR 1957: TRENCH BBP-1, SECTION

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BIRBHANPUR 1957: TRENCH BBP-1, SECTION

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SCALE OF METRES

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SCALE OF FEET

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FIG. 4

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FIG. 57.

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and others have been from the surface and from cave floors. Without a proper excavation, not much use can be made of these reports. Hence a brief reference is made to a comparatively recent work⁴² in the Singrauli Basin in the district of Mirzapur. Here the microliths occur about four feet below the Upper Alluvium along the southern bank of Balia Nadi near Kota. It is predominantly of limpid quartz which is easily available in the vicinity. "It is non-geometric denoted by parallel-sided blades, lunates and points. Only a few tools are either finished or retouched." It may be a degenerate, late Upper Palaeolithic blade industry, ascribable to an early Mesolithic period, when a gradual dryness came over the area after the end of the Palaeolithic period.

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⁴² KRISHNASWAMI, V. D. and SOUNDARARAJAN, K. V., in A.I., No. 7, 1951, p. 50.

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Of particular interest is a paragraph in CARLLEYLE'S notes quoted by SMITH.⁴³

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⁴³ SMITH, op. cit., p. 187.

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"I also excavated several prehistoric tumuli or grave-mounds, in the valleys of the Vindhya range. In these mounds I found whole skeletons, but in such a friable condition that not a single entire bone could be got out. I also discovered rude earthenware vessels and fragments of pottery in the same mounds along with small stone implements and numerous flakes. Among the smaller stone implements found in the mounds there were several of exactly the same peculiar forms and types as those found in the caves, leading to the conclusion that the men buried in the mounds were of the same race as the men of the caves. In six different mounds which I excavated I did not find a single bit of metal of any kind."

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This shows how promising the whole region is for understanding the Mesolithic and other Stone Age cultures and what little work has been done in the last 80 years to solve these!

Orissa

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In Orissa proper, so far microliths have been reported from the districts of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Sundergarh.⁴⁴ And these have completely belied the observations based on insufficient evidence that microliths were not found away from the copper seams.⁴⁵ Normally they occur on surface and the basin of rivers. The latter aspect is important and will be commented on later. Secondly a small excavation by Shri B. K. THAPAR at a site near Baripada,45a Mayurbhanj yielded microliths exactly of the types found by Dr. MOHAPATRA on the surface, in a layer below the ground ones. This definitely indicates the antiquity of microliths in Orissa.

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⁴⁴ MOHAPATRA, G. C., op. cit., p. 260.

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⁴⁵ GORDON in Man, 1938, p. 22.

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45a A later excavation in May 1962 yielded similar results, see I.A.R., 1961-62.

Andhra

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Further south in Andhra a large number of discoveries have been made since the last century. Of these the most important are the notices by FOOTE⁴⁶ and CAMMIADE⁴⁷ supplemented by later observers like SUBBARAO,⁴⁸ SOUNDARA RAJAN⁴⁹ and ISAAC.⁵⁰ Not only the range is widened, but more specific information is now available regarding the manner in which microliths occur and their typological nature.

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⁴⁶ FOOTE, Indian Prehistoric and Protohistoric Antiquities.

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⁴⁷ CAMMIADE, op. cit., and CAMMIADE and BURKITT in *Antiquity*, No. IV, 1930, p. 338.

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⁴⁸ *Stone Age Cultures of Bellary*, Poona, 1948, and *Prehistoric and Early Historic Bellary*, Ph.D. thesis, 1949, University of Bombay and Deccan College Libraries.

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⁴⁹ SOUNDARA RAJAN, in *A.I.*, No. 14, 1958, pp. 50, and 90-8.

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⁵⁰ ISAAC, *The Stone Age Cultures of Kurnool*, Ph.D. thesis in the University of Poona and Deccan College Libraries, 1960.

Mode of Occurrence

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Briefly, microliths are found on surface, generally on high ground, on the river banks in the top-most deposits of fine loose sandy gravel, in and around granitoid rock shelters as well as in the vicinity of caves in the limestone and sandstone formations in Kurnool District. Some sites overlook a waterfall and it is quite conceivable that these were the temporary camps of microlithic people.

Nature of microliths

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It also appears that as in Maharashtra, Mysore and Central India we can classify the microliths into (a) true microliths of Mesolithic type and period and (b) Short parallel-sided blades etc. To the former belong microliths which SUBBARAO found in his excavations at Sangankallu in Phase I and those discovered by SOUNDARA RAJAN at Nagarjunakonda in Guntur District, by ISAAC and CAMMIADE in Kurnool and elsewhere, for instance, near Pondicherry⁵¹ in the red soil away from the sea coast. Of course, with more systematic work, further clarification will follow.

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⁵¹ See, ZEUNER, F. E. and ALLCHIN, BRIDGET in *A.I.*, No. 12, 1958, pp. 4-20. The writer got a few microliths from the late Prof. JOUVEAU-DUBREUIL as far as back 1940. And his examination later of the *teris* makes him feel that it is like the Teri area.

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Thus at present it is difficult to say how these microliths, though mostly from the surface, are related to those from the *teris* of South India. For the present we have a classification of CAMMIADE’S vast collection⁵² into geometric and non-geometric microliths, though as yet a well-defined stratigraphical correlation alludes us. The industry comprises parallel-sided blades, lunates, triangles, trapezes, scrapers, backed blades and burins.

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⁵² CAMMIADE and BURKITT, op. cit., p. 338.

Tinnevelly

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In the extreme south, FOOTE,⁵³ again, was the first to report the existence of microliths. Work of some importance began sixty years later when AIYAPPAN wrote on the Sawyerpuram collection in 1945.⁵⁴ Though definitive results are not yet available for want of larger collections and prolonged geological and pedological investigations, still ZEUNER’S brief inspection of the area and analysis of the soil gives us an interesting (likely) picture of the climatic and geographical conditions of the area and the typology of the tools.⁵⁵

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⁵³ FOOTE, op. cit., p. 50.

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⁵⁴ AIYAPPAN, A., in *Spolia Zeylanica*, Vol. XXIV, 1945, pp. 145-54.

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⁵⁵ ZEUNER, F. E. and ALLCHIN, BRIDGET, in *A.I.*, No. 12, 1958, pp. 4-20.

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Fig. 59. THE TERI SITES OF TINNEVELLY TERI SITES MODERN CITIES SCALE OF MILES

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The area in question is the very tip of the Indian peninsula, the extreme southern point, included at present in Tiruchendur Taluk, in Tinnevelly District. It is thus slightly south-west of Tiruchirapalli (Trichinopoly) and comprises a part of the ancient Pandyan kingdom and the famous Tambraparni river.

Sites

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The eleven sites—Megnanapuram, Kuttampuli, Kuthankuli, Sawyarpuram, Kattalankulam, Kullatur, Puttan Taruvai and four others—are situated to the south and north of the river Tambrapani, where it meets the sea but slightly away from the coast. They are known as Teri sites, because these are associated with fossil red sand-dunes locally called teris. These not only form a conspicuous feature of the region, but relate the story of the climatic and other changes which the region has witnessed in the last 5,000 years or so.

Past climate

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When the microlithic man first inhabited the area, the sea level was higher by about 20 to 30 feet than what it is today. This was due to a drier climatic phase, probably all over the world. Locally this led to the formation of sand-dunes—the first teris and lagoons, owing to increased wind activity. It was on these teris that the people sat. Afterwards the climate changed and weathering occurred. This made the dunes to get fixed—reddish and cemented. Then began the recent or sub-recent phase. Wind activity re-started and fresh teris and lagoons began to be formed.

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It is in the old reddish *teris* (fossil dunes) towards the top, that most of the microliths are found. It is not lateritic, " though as red as laterite," but belongs to what ZEUNER calls, " *rotlehm* group of KUBIENA."⁵⁶

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⁵⁶ ZEUNER, *op. cit.*, p. 7.

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The material of which the microliths are made is chert, silicified wood and limpid quartz, which FOOTE had observed were foreign to this part of the country. All except those from Kulattur are stained with red hydrated ferric oxide. This indicates that the tools belong to the fossil wind-borne sand-dunes, which are being eroded. Hence ZEUNER calls this "the Tinnevelly Teri industry." Its most distintive feature is the presence of pressure-flaked bifacial points. These do not occur elsewhere in India, but are found in small numbers in Ceylon (which is just across the narrow sea channel).

Tool types

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The rest of the industry comprises: 1. Blade-flakes, 2. Blades (simple unretouched), 3. Backed Blades, 4. Obliquely blunted blades, 5. Scrapers—Hollow, Concave, Side, End, and Thumb-nail, 6. Discoids, 7. Simple (unretouched) Points, 8. Asymmetrical Points, 9. Unifacial Points, 10. Bifacial Points, 11. Lunates, 12. Transverse Arrowheads, 13. Triangles, 14. Chopping Tools and 15. Cores.

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Among these 15 tool types including the cores, the lunates preponderate, as is usual in pure microlithic sites. Of course, lunates so often pass off into asymmetrical points and transverse arrowheads that their number would always vary accordingly as one defines each specimen, which is not so easy owing to the various transitional shapes. But on the whole, the number of lunates is decidedly larger.

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On the ground of staining, it may also be possible to say that the tools from Kulattur, for instance, are comparatively later, because they are almost completely without the usual red stain.

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Typologically, again, this is the only site which has yielded four triangles—a form which would distinguish the industry as "Geometric." Thus on these two grounds the *Teri* industry will have two phases. The older one belonging to a fossil *teri* and hence of some geological antiquity. Provisionally ZEUNER dates it to 4000 B.C. with a suggestion that further geological research may push it back into the Pleistocene.

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Fig. 58

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This figures illustrates (1) microliths from Birbhanpur (1-16) and (2) from the *Teris* of South India.

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| (1) Birbhanpur | |
| 1-5, 9 | Lunates, asymmetrical points. No. 3 could also be called a "transverse arrowhead." |
| 6, 7, 8 | Symmetrical Points |
| 10 | Borer |
| 11-12 | Parallel-sided blades |
| 14 | Scraper |
| 15-16 | Fluted cores |

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Fig. 58. Microliths from Birbhanpur (1-16) and Tinnevelly (17-35).

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(2) *Teris*

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| 17-19 | Lunates |
| 20 | Point |
| 21-22 | Asymmetrical points |
| 23 | |
| 24-28 | Bifacial points |
| 29 | Obliquely blunted blade |
| 30 | Borer |
| 31 | |
| 32-34 | Concave scrapers |
| 35 | Core or chopper (?) |
| 36-37 | Semi-circular flakes with fully retouched arcs. These are described as transverse "arrowheads." |

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*Mysore*

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A large number of microlithic sites have been reported from Mysore State, particularly from the districts of Chitaldurg, Bellary, etc. since 1895. These districts are studded with granite rocks. Very often the microliths are found on the bare surface of these hills or hillocks and as such are without any association. But at Jalahalli there is a narrow valley about a quarter of a mile wide. The granite hills at places contain intrusive veins of milky quartz and rock crystals. It was here that TODD discovered some microliths on the surface. But some were found by him below a layer of black soil in a reddish soil horizon described by him as "pelletic laterite." SESHADRI has argued that this may not be true laterite, "but the horizon should be of a colluvial nature and containing 'pelletic laterite' formed elsewhere and mixed with decomposed fragments of local granites."57 The implementiferrous horizon seems to be the top of the red layer or sometime the layer itself.

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*Types of microliths*

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Dr. SESHADRI groups this and other collections on typological basis into:

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(i) Jalahalli microlithic industry with a preponderance of crescents, points and arrow-heads, indicating a hunting economy and environment.

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(ii) Brahmagiri microlithic industry consisting primarily of parallel-sided flakes, and Gravettian-like penknife blades, implying a semi-urban culture in which arrow-head, crescent etc. are absent.

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There is also a third group, formed by Kibbanahalli in which there are three or four types of scrapers, blades, and highly finished lunates.

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Subsequent work elsewhere in India has shown that Brahmagiri microlithic industry indeed forms a part of the vast Chalcolithic culture-complex, which was mostly of a peasant-village type, but had attained an urban stage in Sind, the Panjab and Saurashtra. Further, while this peasant stage can be dated to 1800 B.C., the purely geometric industry cannot be brought to that date. Probably it is early and truly Mesolithic.

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⁵⁷ SESHADRI, M., The Stone Using Cultures of Pre-Historic and Proto-Historic Mysore, London (1956), p. 29.

North Karnatak

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Further up in Northern Karnatak the conditions are as in South-eastern India. Genuine microliths can be distinguished from blades of the Chalcolithic culture. Though both occur together in several sites along the river banks, the former occur exclusively, either in rock-shelter and caves like the Shidlapadi near Badami,⁵⁸ and the foot-hills near Bilgi and also in the top, loose deposits capping the old alluvium. The material is generally carnelian and such varieties of chalcedony, though occasionally chert and jasper which formed the chief source of the Middle Palaeolithic people is also there. No site is so far excavated and so no idea can be had of the age of the microliths.

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⁵⁸ I.A.R., 1955-56, p. 5.

Maharashtra

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The position in Maharashtra is not much different. Natural caves are few. However, large openings may be seen at the junction of the two lava flows, for instance in the steep sides of the hills, about eight miles south of Sangamner. But hill slopes, for instance, Dighi⁵⁹ near Poona on the Alandi road, those near the University and the Fergusson College⁶⁰ and the Ellora⁶¹ and Karla⁶² caves are strewn with microliths. At one time, it is difficult to say when or whether these were all workshops of the microlithic man. Veins of agate, chalcedony and quartz criss-cross these basaltic hills and plateaus. Raw material is thus plentiful. It is for us to decide what are tools and what are natural chips. Ninety-nine per cent of any collection will be found to be full of rejects, in which may be found even what are called "bored flakes." These are either natural or artificially removed flakes from cores with natural (full or incomplete) cavities. No evidence is so far available that such bored flakes were ever used by man as ornaments and the like. Cliffs along the rivers Godavari and Pravara right from Nasik and Vite in the west to Paithan in the east, in Nasik and Ahmadnagar Districts were covered during the last aggradation phase with a loose kankary gravel.⁶³ These abound in microliths made principally on milky chalcedony and agate. With a little experience one can easily distinguish these microliths from those of the Chalcolithic period. The former includes short fluted and irregular cores, lunates (some very large), small parallel-sided and one-edged blades, scrapers of several types, and a large number of chips. On the whole these are thicker than the blades etc. of the Chalcolithic facies, whereas those of the still earlier period are still more thick and very often patinated.

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⁵⁹ Deccan College collection and earlier one by GORDON.

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⁶⁰ Deccan College and other private collections in Poona. There are strewn with Middle Stone Age tools.

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⁶¹ Deccan College collection and earlier one by CODRINGTON and GORDON, Man, 1938, p. 22.

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⁶² I.A.R., 1956-57, p. 79.

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⁶³ SANKALIA and others, From History to Prehistory at Nevasa, p. 528. It is possible that this very thin sandy deposit is due to a flood of an unprecedented nature, which while retreating has left such a thin cover on the older silt. Similar phenomenon has been reported from Vidarbha and Madhya Pradesh which experienced floods not known in living memory in the first-second week of September 1961, and while receding have left the fertile lands in these regions with sandy deposits.

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It has not yet been possible to determine the age of this last aggradation which has been a feature of all the rivers in Andhra, Karnatak, Maharashtra, Central India, Saurashtra and Rajputana. If, the evidence from the Singrauli basin⁶⁴ and the recent one from Khandesh⁶⁵ be any guide, then these microliths should be of considerable antiquity.

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⁶⁴ Above

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⁶⁵ I.A.R., 1959-60, p. 88.

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*Salsette Island, Bombay*

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In the Konkan the Salsette island is so far investigated to some extent. Whether we agree with TODD that Kandivli Microlithic culture marks the end of rich cultural sequence beginning with the Early Palaeolithic or not, there is no doubt that this and other sites along the coast and the Thana creek and along the banks of the rivers like the Ulhas in the north and the Amba in the south of Bombay speak of a wide-spread habitation during the microlithic phase.⁶⁶ These people inhabited slightly higher elevated grounds—usually rocks or hillocks and avoided the thicker jungle in the interior. It is likely that they preferred the region because it grows abundance of bananas and coconuts and abounds in fish and fowl. Raw material could be had in the river gravels as well as in the veins of chert, jasper etc. which abound in these hills.

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⁶⁶ TODD, K. R. U. in A.I., No. 8, 1950, pp. 1-16.

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*Tools (See Fig. 60)*

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Hitherto no remains of their temporary camps have been discovered, except microliths. These also contain a few heavier tools like the mace-head or digging weight, chopper, besides a purely geometric microlithic industry. It may, therefore, be divided into an earlier and a later series. The former may be derived from the blade and burin industry, dependent primarily on hunting, while the latter along with geometric forms and heavier tools like the "mace-head" may point towards a food-producing stage. TODD lists the following groups of tools. Microliths (obliquely and wholly blunted, lunates, triangles, trapezes, trapezoids, drills), five types of cores and scrapers, mace-heads and axes.

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Fig. 60

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This figure illustrates (a) microliths from Jabalpur (1-14) and (b) from the Bombay area (15-31) described by the GORDON and TODD respectively.

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(1) Jabalpur 1-5: Triangles 6: Trapeze 7-13: Lunates and asymmetrical points 9, 13: Awl or Borer 10: Symmetrical Point 14: Long blade 15-16: End scrapers

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(2) Bombay Area 17-19: Triangles 20: Trapeze used as "Transverse arrowhead" 21-22: Lunates on asymmetrical Points 24-25: Awls, Borers or Drills 27, 30: Scrapers 26: Burin 31: Micro-burin 32: Ring stone or mace-head Fig. 60. Microliths from Jabalpur (1-16) and Bombay (17-32) (after Gordon and Todd).

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1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32

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Gujarat

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Gujarat has three different physiographical divisions. Southern Gujarat which is in fact a continuation of Konkan is partly formed by recent alluvium of the rivers and the subsidence in sea level, whereas the eastern portion is hilly and forested and is indeed a part of the Central Indian highlands. Northern Gujarat is supposed to begin from Ahmedabad and continue up to the foothills of the Arvallis. For all this region is covered by masses of wind-blown sand which petrological analysis has shown to be originally river silt,⁶⁷ brought down by the erosion of the Aravallis. However, this feature extends up to Baroda and a little further south.

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⁶⁷ See, KELKAR in SANKALIA, Investigations, pp. 312-8.

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Saurashtra constitutes the third division. It is like the Deccan Maharashtra, mostly a basaltic formation with older geological rocks exposed in the west-north-west around Dwarka, the whole island (or peninsula which was later) ringed by a recent coastal belt.

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Now in all these three divisions ROBERT BRUCE FOOTE⁶⁸ had discovered microliths. To these discoveries a number of new sites were added by the First Gujarat Expedition, mostly from Northern Gujarat. Some more in the Mahi Valley⁶⁹ and in the Banas Valley⁷⁰ have been brought to light by Dr. SUBBARAO and his colleagues in the Baroda University. A number of surface discoveries have been reported from Saurashtra.

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⁶⁸ FOOTE, op. cit., and classified list by SANKALIA, H. D. in Glory that was Gurjaradesa, Part I, 1943, pp. 24-40.

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⁶⁹ Journal M. S. University, Vol. 1, 1952, pp. 54-72.

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⁷⁰ An account of this is not yet published.

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During all this new work, microliths have been found in a stratified context on three or four occasions. Of these the most important are the excavations at Langhnaj⁷¹, a railway station on the meter gauge line between Ambaliyasan and Vijapur in Mehsana District.

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⁷¹ For the latest review, see, SANKALIA, H. D. in JGRS, Vol. XVIII, 1956, pp. 275-84, and references to earlier work therein.

Langhnaj

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Langhnaj is not a solitary site, an oasis, but one of the hundreds (SUBBARAO lists over 80) in the sandy undulating alluvial plains of Northern and Central Gujarat.⁷² The topography is certainly different from what one sees in Kurnool, in the heart of the old land mass. Here are miles and miles of flat, sandy stretches where suddenly one finds two or three small hillocks of the same material enclose an inundation lake, which keeps water for almost ten months in a year. The tops and slopes of these small hillocks which were lightly wooded are strewn with microliths. These, as well as the river banks, were the resorts of the microlithic people.

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⁷² For a distribution of these mounds and sites see SANKALIA, Investigations, Map. V Fig. 60A.

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A series of small excavations were here conducted by the writer between 1941-49, and again by Dr. SUBBARAO in 1953. Stratification is indeed difficult to discern in these masses of wind blown sand. Initially two main layers were detected. The top one of about 3 feet depth and dark brown in colour and a lower one of equal thickness, but of light brown earth and gradually merging with the main deposit below. Later, a more skilful effort showed that there were probably four layers (see Fig. 62a, 63a and pl. V). This was confirmed to some

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GUJARAT MAP SHOWING THE DISTRIBUTION OF LANGHNAJ MICROLITHIC INDUSTRY

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Fig. 60A

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Fig. 62. (a) Section Trench at Langhnaj, Northern Gujarat. (b) Mace-head from Langhnaj.

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extent when Professor ZEUNER analyzed the soil samples chemically. Briefly, three main layers or cultural zones exist as follows:—

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| Section as demarcated on 28-1-47 | Zeuner's analysis on 15-1-49 | Cultural Zones |
| Layers 1, 1a, 2, 2a, Dark brown sand | Sand 1 ft.-3 ft. | Priod III. Modern pottery, iron and microliths. |
| Layer 3 upper half | Sand 3 ft.-4 ft. | Period II. Old pottery, microliths and mace-head or ring-stone. |
| Layer 3 lower half | Buried soil. | Period I. Pure microlithic culture with most of the human skeletons and animal remains like rhinoceros. |
| Layer 4 upper half | 4 ft.-5 ft. | |
| Layer 4 lower half and below | Kankar and sands | |

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Prof. ZEUNER suggests that the sand dunes were formed when at the end of the dry phase (U) a slightly damper phase had followed, which in its turn was succeeded by a drier phase. It was at this phase—sometime in the Late Pleistocene or early Holocene—that "more or less isolated dunes were blown over the land surface." A soil developed on these dunes.

Past Climate

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The climate was slightly wetter so that large inundation lakes were formed between the hollows of the dunes. A nomadic, hunting people lived on these mounds and along the river banks. The industry⁷² consisting of blades, lunates, trapezes, triangles, scrapers, points (symmetrical and asymmetrical) and a few burins and fluted as well as amorphous cores may be described as geometric, but is on the whole coarse and crude, though the material is chert, agate, carnelian and only occasionally quartz. Heavy tools so far are very few; only one mace-head or weight of digging stick of quartzite was found in a comparatively later deposit (Period II, *Fig. 62b* and *pl. VII*) in the excavation along with a few potsherds. A discovery of unusual interest by ZEUNER⁷³ who examined the huge rhinoceros shouldered blade was the use of this blade as an anvil for manufacturing microliths. No less than eight artificial pits occur on its surface. (*Fig. 65* and *pl. VII*).

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⁷² ZEUNER, F. E. in *Man*, Vol. LII, 1952, pp. 129-31.

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⁷³ SUBBARAO, B., *Baroda Through the Ages*, Baroda, 1952, p. 18.

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With these, particular by asymmetrical points which could be used as barbs and arrowheads the men hunted rhinoceros (*Rhinoceros unicornis* L), hog deer (*Hyelaphus porcimus* Zimm), Indian buffalo, Nilgai, Antelope (*Boselaphus tragocamelus* Pall), Black Buck (*Antelope Cervicapra* Linn and dog. All these, including the dog and the buffalo, according to Prof. ZEUNER's study seem to be wild. The fauna is thus of games, and the people, primarily hunters and fishers (as besides animal bones, remains of fish vertebra and tortoise shell have been found). Shells of dentalium and of an unidentified material but of flat disc shape were used as decoration. (*Fig. 65* and *pl. VII*).

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Along with microliths and a large number of bones and a negligible quantity of pottery, about 13 human skeletons have so far been found. These are of a fairly tall, thin, dolicocephalic people, with a slight prognathism.

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In spite of ZEUNER's preliminary geochronological studies and of animal remains, no absolute date can be had for the Langhnaj culture. SUBBARAO's excavation at Baroda⁷⁴ indicate an upper limit, not later than 500 B.C. Since microliths of Langhnaj type were also found in the lowest stratum of river gravel below the earliest deposit of the Indus Civilization at Rangpur⁷⁵ and also at Rojadi in Saurashtra it may also be argued that the Langhnaj Microlithic Industry is at least of equal antiquity if not still older, that is earlier than 2500 B.C.

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⁷⁴ RAO, S. R., in *I.A.R.*, 1953-54, p. 7.

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Fig. 55A. Microliths from Langhnaj.

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Fig. 65A

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This figure illustrates all the principal types of microliths found in the excavations at Langhnaj.

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| 1-7 | Different types of Triangles |
| 8-11 | Trapezes |
| 12-17 | Lunates and asymmetrical points |
| 18, 30-31 | Borers or Awls |
| 19-20 | Notched and partly retouched flake, which might have been used as an arrowhead |
| 21-25 | Partly bluntedback blades—retouched along the lower end only, and on the obliquely pointed side |
| 26-27 | Straight bluntedback and retouched edge |
| 28-29 | Blunted back and retouched edges giving a dull point |
| 32-34 | Burins (No. 33 from Akhaj) |
| 35-41 | Different types of Scrapers |
| 42-45 | Ordinary and fluted cores |
| 46-47 | Rubbers of haematite |

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A further indication of the age of the culture is given by the skeletons and beads of dentalium shells. To Dr. (Mrs.) KARVE certain physical features looked Negroid and she thought of Egyptian affinities. Dr. MCCOWN who had worked on the Mt. Carmel skeletons with Sir ARTHUR KEITH thought that the skeletons might well be compared with the Natufian of Palestine. Of course, this view conveyed to the writer orally by Dr. MCCOWN, when he visited India in 1958 and stayed at the Deccan College cannot be taken seriously until and unless a detailed comparison is attempted. However, Dr. (Mrs.) ERHARDT of Tübingen University after a very detailed and careful study of the 13 skeletons (including the one found by Dr. SUBBARAO in 1953) concludes⁷⁵ᵃ:

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Thus, if one compares the single traits and the combinations of traits with contemporary finds from similar areas, the result is small satisfaction. The small group of Langhnaj skeletons, which is, moreover, not unified should not mislead us into drawing any vast conclusions. According to my interpretation, from the available material, the Langhnaj skeletons mainly indicate traits which are characteristic for Mediterranids and Veddids, but which could also include other races.

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In this connexion it is necessary to draw attention to the tusk-shaped dentalium shell beads which served as decoration for the body both at Langhnaj and at Mt. Carmel and Khirokitin in Cyprus.⁷⁶ The analogy may be regarded as quite fortuitous and without significance. However, there is no doubt that the dentalium shell had to be imported at Langhnaj from the sea coast and this distance is considerable, even if the nearest source be the Gulf of Cambay or the Arabian Sea.

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