Prehistory and Protohistory in India and Pakistan c9.s2: Dating
Prehistory and Protohistory in India and Pakistan c9.s2
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Dating
c9.s2.1
A word regarding the dating and the discussion of various groups in this book. The Indus Valley Civilization, its maturer phase at least, is dated by C-14 method to c. 2500 B.C., thus confirming its hypothetical dating based on stylistic and other evidence. The various Chalcolithic cultures, particularly the Navdatolian of Central India, and that of the Banas Valley are again c. 1800 B.C. and thus seem to be contemporary with or follow closely the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization. These in their turn are followed by the Painted Grey Ware Culture in the Gangetic Valley, and with a break (or without break) by the historic cultures in Peninsular India.
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CHALCOLITHIC AND NEOLITHIC SITES OF INDIA
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Fig. 70 Map showing the Chalcolithic and Neolithic sites in relation to the ancient Trade routes.
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CHYTOCOPLASMIC AND CYTOGENIC MAP OF THE WORLD
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No exact date is yet available for the Eastern Neolithic. But it is believed to be later; but how much late, cannot be said at the moment. But the South-eastern Neolithic or "Neolithic-Chalcolithic" in our terminology has been dated by C-14 to c. 2000 B.C. and is thus partly contemporary with the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization.
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Chronologically thus the development of various regions is very uneven and cannot be treated in a very logical way, beginning with the Neolithic and passing through the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age into the Iron Age or the Early Historic.
c9.s2.7
The expansion of the Indus or Harappa Civilization is treated first, then the Painted Grey Ware Culture of the Gangetic Valley and the Chalcolithic Cultures of Central India and the Deccan. Description of the Neolithic Cultures of Eastern and South-eastern India is take up last, to be followed by the discussion of significance of these new discoveries.