An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s5.24

v1.c9.s5.24

There is clearer evidence for the acculturation and transformation of the Mesolithic cultures. The people came into contact with metal- and pottery-using settled agricultural communities and borrowed from them traits like pottery, metal tools and stone beads. This contact enabled them to give up eventually the use of stone tools and adopt the use of metal tools when they became easily available. It also drew them away from a hunting-gathering way of life and led them to adopt an agricultural and pastoral economy. The latter was already present in some of the Mesolithic communities in varying degrees. Once the role of hunting and gathering declined and relationship with village communities became closer, the cave-dwellers must have come down from the hills to settle down in villages at the foot of the hills. The present tribal communities living on hill slopes and valleys close to the Stone Age caves may be the descendants of the Stone Age cave-dwellers.