Early India and Pakistan to Ashoka c7.47

c7.47

At present the term 'Neolithic' or 'New Stone Age' does not make much sense in India. Unless some of the microlithic cultures be so classified, no integral Neolithic culture has yet been isolated there. Blade-industries with a microlithic trend existed, as we have already seen, both before and after the introduction of metals. It is less certain that polished stone implements preceded some slight knowledge of copper or bronze. Before turning to them, however, something more must be said of the flakes and blades which culminated in the Chalcolithic cultures of northern and central India.