A Concise History of Science in India c14.6

c14.6

As to the early man who wandered on this subcontinent there is little or no information, for no skeletal remains of the palaeolithic man have been unearthed so far in this region. Anthropologists believe that the terrain now known as the Siwaliks (a later phase of the Himalayan elevation) might have been the home of early man in India. In any case, in this area have been discovered some stone-tools which indicate a chopper-chopping tool culture in existence there perhaps over 150,000 years ago. That the early human had been active and groups of men existed in different parts of the subcontinent have been evidenced by some types of stone-tools found in the Punjab, Peninsular India, Kashmir, Bengal, etc. The Middle Palaeolithic Age in India corresponds to *c.* 25000 B.C. and the Late Stone Age to *c.* 5000 B.C. The neolithic culture which is characterized by some kind of habitation and agricultural practices leading to production of food has been noticed in the regions of Andhra, Karnatak and Kashmir even as late as *c.* 2000 B.C., while in some other parts of India like Rajaputana, Central India, the Deccan, etc., the chalcolithic culture has also been found in the period 1800 B.C.b However, earlier still in the region covering Sind, the Punjab, Rajaputana, Saurashtra and Baluchistan, there flourished a civilization (*c.* 2300–1750 B.C.) which was by far the largest of the world's three most ancient civilizations, covering an area of roughly 840,000 square miles.