Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c10.s3.t1.2

v1.c10.s3.t1.2

Middle and Upper Palaeolithic working and living floors have been found at a number of sites throughout the dry zone and notably in the Pushkar locality, near Ajmer in Rajasthan. The nature of the buried soil shows that it must have carried a substantial vegetation cover throughout the year, and therefore have been formed under conditions of greater humidity and rainfall than the present. The vegetation, the games and fresh water lakes made the growth of palaeolithic and neolithic sites, till adverse rainfall condition pushed the inhabitants east of Aravalli. Around Budha Pushkar there had been a concentration of sites with microlith industries. Discovery of a copper fish-hook in this stratum suggests an overlap between the microlithic and certain semi-urban chalcolithic cultures. (Allchins 1983: 65-69)