An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c14.s10.t2.2

v1.c14.s10.t2.2

For the Palaeolithic [4.2-4] hunter and gatherer rivers were the major source of his particular needs—the game and the wild fruit as well as the raw material for making tools [9.10.1]. For the Mesolithic [4.5] hunter and gatherer the importance of rivers somewhat decreased since the microlithic tools could be made on any small piece of fine-grained stone and small game could be found in all kinds of environments. But its importance became decisive once the Neolithic [4.6] farmer ushered in the era of sedentary life; without a perennial source of water neither agriculture nor stock-breeding was possible. From now onwards, until long-distance canals were introduced, river valleys in a congenial climate and landscape alone remained the areas of attraction for the people. But this very fact had also an adverse effect on the life of the people in areas where rivers changed their courses—the settlements had to be shifted to some other river valley or to the new channel that a particular river had made.