A History of Agriculture in India v1.c48: Glossary
A History of Agriculture in India v1.c48
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Glossary
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ABBEVILLIAN, a culture representing the earliest hand-axe industry in Europe, which flourished about 476 000 years ago, named after a site on river Somme in France.
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ACHEULIAN, a Stone-Age culture which existed about 230 000 to 200 000 years ago, named after the site of St Acheul in France.
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AHAR-BANASIAN, a pre-historic Copper-Age culture whose ruins have been found near village Ahar on Banas river in Rajasthan.
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ANTHROPOIDS, most highly evolved sub-order of primates which includes monkey, ape and man. They have nails and toes, instead of claws, and grasping hands and feet.
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ARCHAEOZOIC ERA, a period extending from more than 3 300 million years ago to 1 300 million years ago, when first living things evolved.
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ARYANS, a people who migrated in successive waves from South Russia and Turkestan during 2nd millennium B.C. Their first invasion of India took place in about 1 500 B.C., when they overwhelmed the Indus Valley Civilization.
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AUSTRALOID, probably the oldest of all the surviving races of man; they originated in Asia, but are now represented only by the aborigines of Australia and some Dravidian tribes of South India.
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AUSTRALOPITHECUS ('Southern ape'), a man-like creature which appeared 4 to 5 million years ago and whose remains have been found in Ethiopia and East Africa; could make simple pebble tools.
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BIPEDALISM, movement on two legs, an exclusive characteristic of man. The hands were thus free to make tools.
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BHIMBETAKA, a Mesolithic site in Madhya Pradesh remarkable for its cave paintings dating from 20 000 years to Chalcolithic Era.
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BRONZE AGE, the age following the Stone Age, characterized by the use of an alloy of copper and tin as the chief material for making weapons and tools. The years of its appearance differ from region to region.
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BURZAHOM, a Megalithic site about 16 km NE of Srinagar, Kashmir, discovered in 1936. The earliest settlers (c. 2375 B.C.) were pit-dwellers, though the pits were later abandoned for mud-houses.
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CAMBRIAN PERIOD, geological time of the first period of Palaeozoic Era characterized by warm seas and desert land areas.
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CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD, a division of the Palaeozoic Era characterized by swamp formation and deposition of plant remains which later hardened into coal.
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CENOZOIC ERA, the latest era in Geological Time, which includes the Tertiary and the Quaternary. It is characterized by the evolution of mammals, birds, plants, modern continents, and glaciation.
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CHALCOLITHIC PERIOD, period between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age when both copper (*chalcos*) and stone (*lithos*) where being used. It developed between 6000 and 3000 B.C.
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CHALCOLITHIC REVOLUTION, 6000-3000 B.C., marks the invention of the plough, and the wheeled cart, as also the use of oxen power. It extended from Nile river to Ganga.
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CHOU-KOU-TIEN, sites near Beijing in China where the fossils of *Homo erectus* (‘Peking Man’) were discovered. They date from 800 000 years, and there is the evidence of the first use of fire.
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CRETACEOUS PERIOD, period 135 to 65 million years ago, named after the Latin word for chalk (*creta*). The end of the period saw the emergence of mountains which resulted in the formation of the Himalayas.
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CRO-MAGNON, literally ‘big hole’, a site in south-western France where the remains of the modern man (*Homo sapiens sapiens*) were first found. They date from 35 000 years ago.
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CULTIGEN, a cultivated plant, also a domestic animal, which is not known to exist in natural, or wild, state. An organism dependent on man for its existence.
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DEVONIAN PERIOD, the fourth period of Palaeozoic Era characterized by the appearance of forests and amphibians.
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DRYOPITHECUS, an extinct ape-like animal that was the ancestor of both the modern apes and man. It apparently originated in Africa about 2 500 000 years ago.
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EOCENE EPOCH, second oldest of the five epochs in the Tertiary Period, 53 million to 37 million years ago.
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EPOCH, a unit of Geological Time, which is a division of a Period, e.g. Holocene Epoch, a division of the Quaternary Period.
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ERA, the longest division of Geological Time comprising one or more periods, for example: Cenozoic Era, embracing Tertiary and Quaternary Periods, extending from 58 000 000 to 11 000 years before the present.
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FERTILE CRESCENT, a well-watered and fertile area in West Asia which extends in the form of a crescent from the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers in the east to the Nile in the west. It also includes parts of Syria, Jordan and Israel. Man’s earliest civilizations dating from about 8000 B.C. and also agriculture originated in this area.
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GEOLOGICAL TIME SCALE, the time extending from the formation of earth to the beginnings of the historical period. The scale is conveniently divided into Eras, Periods, and Epochs.
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GONDWANALAND, one of the two ancient super-continents formed by the split of the still larger super-continent, Pangaea, about 2 000 million years ago. Gondwanaland included what are now Africa, South America, Australia, India, Arabia, and Indonesia.
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HARAPPAN CULTURE, 2300-1600 B.C., a chalcolithic, pre-Aryan urban culture originally identified with excavations of Harappa, in Indus Valley. Contemporary sites have since been discovered in Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat and western U.P. The Harappan civilization is believed to have been obliterated in the waves of Aryan invasions.
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HOA BINH, plateau in the Southeast Asia forming the southwestern limit of the Red River Delta. It is still a rice-growing centre.
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HOLOCENE EPOCH, younger of the two epochs in the Quaternary Period extending from the end of the last major Ice Age (10 000 years ago) to the present.
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HOMINIDS, family of primates evolved from ape-like ancestors of modern man about 26 million years ago.
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HOMO ERECTUS, ancestor of modern man (Homo sapiens) who lived in the middle of the Pleistocene, more than 500 000 years ago. He made hand-axes and pebble-tools, and knew the use of fire. Remains have been found at Chou-kou-tien (China) and Olduvai (Tanzania) among other places.
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HOMO HABILIS, an early type of man-like ape whose remains have been discovered in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. He had a large brain, and has been linked with modern man.
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HOMO SAPIENS, a species of Hominid, the direct ancestor of modern man. He probably lived 250 000 years ago.
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HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENS, the ‘modern man’ distinguished from all other extinct sub-species of the Hominid in having a large brain, small teeth, and chin, and skill in making and using tools. He first appeared in Asia about 35 000 years ago.
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ICE AGES, a series of periods characterized by extensive glaciations alternating with a period of relative warmth. The glaciers of Greenland and the Antarctica are the remnants of the most recent Ice Age.
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INDUS VALLEY, site of an early, pre-Aryan, city-based culture which developed in the valley of river Indus about 2300 B.C. See Harappan Culture.
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IRON AGE, the age when iron replaced bronze and copper as the chief material for making tools and implements. It appeared in different areas in different times. It appeared in West Asia about 3000 years ago.
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JARMO, a site in Iraq, dated about 6500 B.C., excavated between 1948 and 1955. It is one of the earliest food-producing settlements discovered—the people cultivated wheat and barley, and also domesticated goats.
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JURASSIC PERIOD, middle period of the Mesozoic Era, characterized by more abundant plants and animals, particularly ferns, rushes and cycads, and countless varieties of insects and snails. It extended from 190 million to 135 million years ago.
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KALIBANGAN, a pre-Harappan chalcolithic site on the bank of the dry bed of ancient Saraswati in Rajasthan. Discovered in 1971, the settlement was found fortified with mud-brick houses within the walls. The place was probably abandoned in about 1800 B.C.
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LATER VEDIC PERIOD, 1000–600 B.C., marks the further penetration eastward of the Aryans, and the consolidation of their civilization in India. It is characterized by advancement in iron technology, invention of iron-axe and ploughshare, as also the consolidation of the caste system.
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LOTHAL, a Harappan site, north of Gulf of Cambay, Gujarat, discovered in 1953. A large dockyard for ships from Egypt and Mesopotamia is one of the most remarkable finds.
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MADRAS-ACHEUL, or MADRAS HAND-AXE INDUSTRY, palaeolithic site in South India, near Madras, marked by extensive finds of stone hand-axes which were used for digging roots and rhizomes.
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MAYA CULTURE, pre-Columbian civilization of Central and South America. The people domesticated llama and alpaca for transport, though their agriculture was ploughless.
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MEGALITHS, literally ‘great stones’, roughly hewn stone slabs of great size used by the primitive man for construction. A remarkable megalithic site is Burzahom in Kashmir.
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MESOLITHIC PERIOD, a stage between Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods which began about 12 000 years ago. It is associated with many developments including taming of dogs. Cave paintings of Mirzapur, U.P., belong to this period.
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MESOZOIC ERA, era of geological time from the end the Palaeozoic to the beginning of the Cenozoic, characterized by the reptilian life forms.
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MIOCENE EPOCH, second youngest of the five epochs in the Tertiary Period, 26 million to 12 million years ago, characterized by the appearance of primitive apes and grazing animals. Further development of the horse took place; and cats, camels and rhinoceroses were common, as also a species of a great ape. Reduction in area occupied by forests also took place.
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MITTANIS, people of Asia Minor who were contemporary of the Rig-Vedic Aryans. They frequently had Aryan names, and worshipped common deities.
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NATUFIAN, Mesolithic culture of Palestine and Syria, about 9000 B.C. Natufians were hunters and food-gatherers. They had sickles for harvesting the grain, but probably did not cultivate it.
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NEANDERTHAL MAN, an extinct subspecies of Homo sapiens named after Neanderthal Valley, West Germany, where the remains were first discovered, in 1857. He was chinless, and with receding forehead, but with a brain as large as that of a modern man. The remains have since been discovered over a wide region, and date from 400 000 to 35 000 years ago.
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NEOLITHIC PERIOD, the ‘New Stone Age’ is the period in which agriculture and domestication of plants and animals began. It developed about 10 000 B.C. during the Holocene Epoch.
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OLDUVAI GORGE, a gorge cut by a river in North Tanzania where remains of a Palaeolithic culture and the fossils of *Homo habilis* have been found. They date from two million years ago.
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OLIGOCENE EPOCH, middle of the five epochs of the Tertiary Period, 37 to 26 million years ago. A more highly developed type of horse, the earliest elephant and a primitive anthropoid ape made their appearance.
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ORDOVICIAN PERIOD, the second period of the Palaeozoic Era, characterized by the appearance of primitive fishes and fishlike vertebrates.
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PALAEOCENE EPOCH, oldest of the five epochs in the Tertiary Period, ranging from 65 to 53 million years ago. It is characterized by the extinction of the dinosaurs and the rise of mammals. Primates became relatively abundant.
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PALAEOLITHIC PERIOD, ‘belonging to the Old Stone Age’, earliest period of human development and the longest period of human history, it extends from about 750 000 years ago to the Mesolithic—about 15 000 years ago. The most remarkable event was the development of the true *Homo sapiens*. Its characteristic was the distinctive stone tools.
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PEKING MAN, *see* CHOU-KOU-TIEN
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PENDA, or JHUMING, a form of a shifting cultivation still practised by some tribals in India. A temporary site (*penda*) is ritually decided by felling the trees. After two years of cultivation, the site is abandoned for a fresh *penda*.
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PERIOD, a unit of Geological Time longer than an Epoch, and shorter than an Era. For example, Quaternary Period is longer than Pleistocene Epoch, but is shorter than the Cenozoic Era.
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PERMIAN PERIOD, last period of the Palaeozoic Era which began about 280 000 000 years ago and lasted about 55 000 000 years ago. While several varieties of life became extinct, the reptiles developed rapidly, and there was a radical change in vegetation.
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PLEISTOCENE EPOCH, older of the two epochs of the Quaternary Period, ranging from about 2 million years ago to the end of the last major Ice Age (about 10 000 years ago). The epoch is also noted for the first appearance of modern man.
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PILOCENE EPOCH, youngest of the five epochs of the Tertiary Period, 12 million to about 2 million years ago. The epoch is characterized by distinctly modern plants and animals.
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PRECAMBRIAN ERA, era from the beginning of the earth’s history up to 570 million years ago. Life appeared in water, and the oldest fossils of worms, sponges and algae date from this era.
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PRIMATES, order of mammals that include the most advanced mammals, characterized chiefly by their adaptation to tree living. It includes monkeys, apes and man.
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PROTEROZOIC ERA, a division of the Precambrian comprising the less ancient rocks of the system, lying about the Archaeozoic. The strata contains the earliest traces of living things.
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PRZEWALSKI'S HORSE (*Equus przewalski*), wild horse of Asia, the only extant wild horse, which in his full-bred state is not descended from the domestic horse. It now survives only in the semi-desert plains of west Mongolia.
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RAMAPITHECUS, earliest man-like creature on direct line of descent of man, whose remains were first discovered in the Siwalik hills. Believed to have lived 14 million years ago, he used his knuckles for moving, and could break bones for food.
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QUATERNARY PERIOD, the second period of the Cenozoic Era, from the end of the Tertiary to the present, characterized by the appearance and the development of man. It also saw extensive disturbances of the earth's crust and the development of mountains and valleys.
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SILURIAN PERIOD, the third period of the Palaeozoic Era characterized by the appearance of land plants, and possibly of the first animals to live on land.
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SOAN CULTURE, a pre-historic culture associated with a site in the valley of Soan river near its junction with Indus. Use of pebble-tools for breaking nuts and for making notches in the trees for climbing were the chief characteristics.
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TERTIARY PERIOD, period ranging from 65 million to about 2 million years ago. Though giant reptiles became extinct, there were amphibians like frogs, and many giant varieties of birds. World's fossil fuel is mostly derived from Tertiary rocks.
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TETHYS OCEAN, the ocean which separated the northern continent, Laurasia, from the Gondwanaland during the Triassic Period. It covered northern India and West Asia, and during the Cretaceous period it was spread over a great part of Europe. The sediments were later elevated into the Alps and the Himalayas.
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THREE-AGE SYSTEM, a scheme devised by a Danish archaeologist by which pre-history was divided into Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. The Stone Age was subsequently divided into Old Stone Age (Palaeolithic period), Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic period) and the New Stone Age (Neolithic period).
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TRIASSIC PERIOD, the first period of the Mesozoic Era when vertebrates developed rapidly and reptiles were dominant. The period extends from about 225 million to 190 million years ago.
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VEDAS, literature of the Aryans compiled about 1000 B.C. They are of four types: *Samhitas*, *Brahmanas*, *Aranyakas*, and *Upanishads*. The most important are the four *Samhitas* which form the basic *Vedas*. The earliest is the *Rig-Veda*.
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VEDIC AGE (1500–1000 B.C.), the period in Indian history from the first invasion of the Aryans to the consolidation of their hold of the north-western India. It was a pastoral culture, with organized agriculture, but rice appears to be unknown. The later phase of the Vedic Age to about 500 B.C. is called Later Vedic Period.
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ZINJANTHROPUS, a man-like creature whose fossil remains have been found from Olduvai in Tanzania. He probably existed 2 million years ago.