History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c10.s2: II. Techniques Of the Mesolithic Period
History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c10.s2
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II. Techniques Of the Mesolithic Period
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The diagnostic tool group of the Mesolithic period, throughout the world has been identified as Microliths. The tiny artefacts of this category are characterized by two features. One that these are made on bladelet (micro-blade having breadth 12 mm or less). The other, that at least one of the edges of these specimens was deliberately blunted by high angle retouching. There are a group of implements in Mesolithic tool-kit which fulfil these two criteria. Microliths were made in geometric forms such as triangular and trapezoidal shapes, and non- geometrical forms, lunate or various types of a backed bladelets (Fig.12).
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The provision for hafting (by blunting of edge) and the small size are so pronounced in case of microliths that the presumption hold good that this group was used in composite form, (putting together more than one tool) on a base of wood or bone (Jayaswal, 1989, vide Fig.10).
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The technology of microlith making appears to be of local origin in India (Jayaswal, in Press). The appearance and the earliest existence of microliths in our area of study is in association with the fulfledged blade industries of the Upper Palaeolithic period. The techno-typological features borne by microliths indicate that this technocratic group was modification and development over the blade technology. The dimension of the blade element was reduced to form bladelets. Besides, the earlier tradition of modifying edge/edges at high angle was also adopted as an essential process for giving shapes to the implements. Besides, the beginnings of microlith making in central India is datable to circa twenty-fourth millennium B.C. The archaeological remains from Gravel III of the Belan-Seoti valley (Pant, 1982, pp. 101-102) and the Son valley (Sharma & Clark, 1983, p.
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Fig.12. Microliths
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287), indicate that the Upper Palaeolithic industries which are dated by the Radiocarbon method between 24,000 and 18,000 B.C. are associated with microliths. It is interesting to note that right from the beginning when pigmy tools formed only a small proportion (10%) of the tool-kit, the microlithic technology appears in developed form. But the implement forms are mostly non-specific. For, the microlithic group is dominated by backed- bladelets and presence of a few lunates. Such perfect geometric forms as triangle and trapeze are either absent or when present (triangles are generally found in this phase), these are in negligible proportion and mostly atypical forms (Pant, 1982, pp. 104-105). It may, therefore, be concluded that, making of microliths emerged in the last phase of the Pleistocene period. The technological trait seems to have developed from the blade industries and thus was innovation. Similar situation is also found in Europe where microliths appear in the Upper Palaeolithic industries of the later Pleistocene epoch. The tool-kit of Magda-lenian culture is associated with microliths (Bordes, 1968, p. 164)
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Microliths predominate (up to 80% of the finished tools) all the Mesolithic industries of India, be it of ‘Early’ or ‘Advanced’ stage. Geometric forms particularly triangle, became more popular during Mesolithic times (Jayaswal, in Press). All the other remaining techno-typological features remained almost unaltered. It has also been shown by this author that microlithic technology continued to persist for a very long period in Central India. Undisrupted continuation of this technology is evident in the hills of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, even up to the Historical period (Jayaswal, In press). In this case, microliths existed as parallel technological trait with Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Iron Age cultures. It was observed that though there is a gradual decrease of frequency of microliths from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic and the Chalcolithic periods, there is a sudden fall in the proportion of microliths during the early Historical period (Iron Age).
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Besides, the general techno-typology of the microlithic toolkit remains somewhat unchanged during the earlier three culture stages, while there is marked increase in trapeze during the Iron Age.