Mesolithic Age in India

After the Palaeolithic age over in 10000 BC, the Mesolithic age started which lasted till 6000 BC, also known as the Late Stone age. Famous for its rock art paintings, this age created the maximum number rock paintings at various places in the world. Apart from rock paintings, Mesolithic age is also known for it's miniature tools, which were used as tools and could also be used for making different tools. Let's discuss more about Mesolithic Age;

Life of People -

Human life changed much after the Palaeolithic age as fire was discovered by them which led to more comfortable life of the people. The main occupation was hunting, fishing and food gathering. The people of this age are considered to the Holocene era. Also, people started domesticating animals later during this age, thus it can be said that milk and milk product became known to them. However, the skills of farming were not developed at that time but art in the form of rock paintings became very popular. These paintings are the major source of information of that period and the tools which were excavated from various places. The homes were same as during the Palaeolithic age i.e. caves and the rock shelters. The people used to move to new place after they exhausted the natural resources of that place.

Tools and Weapons -

The weapons and the tools had some drastic change from Palaeolithic age to the Mesolithic age as the size of the tools reduced very much as compared to the tools of the Palaeolithic age and the tools thus became easy to carry and handle. While the tools could be used as they were but if needed they could be also used for making other tools by them. These tools were used as composite tools for making arrows, sickles, spearhead, etc. after combining them to any sticks or bones. Also, the tools are known as microliths because they are the miniature version of the tools which were generally present before and after. However, the notable point is that the tools from both the ages were naturally occurring i.e. they weren't artificially crafted by people but were rather searched by them. These tools were mainly meant for hunting and chopping and other related stuff but some tools were also used for other use as digging the land and cutting the wood, etc.

Rock Painting -

Rock Art Paintings are the major source of information of this period which provides all the information related to the social life, habits, practices, etc. of that time. The rock painting are discovered at many places in India and other part of the world. These rock paintings were drawn by red and black colour. The paintings gives us the idea of life at that time. These paintings were mainly dominated by the animals which suggests that the whole age was animal centred. Many of the animals are seen in these painting but none of the paintings shows a portrait of snake or related reptile. The paintings shows that the men are dominating the animals which suggests that the animals were domesticated during this time and were used for many purpose. These paintings also shows the social condition of that era and shows that the religious practices were also popular and the labour was divided on the basis of gender. The highest number of these paintings are found at Bhimbetka Caves, which consists of over hundreds of such paintings each depicting the life during Mesolithic age. The rock art paintings were also discovered at Sohagighat in Kaimur Hills. The other places where such paintings were discovered are Ezhuthu Guha in Kerala, Sambalpur and Sundargarh in Orissa, and many other places. These paintings aren't just informative in nature but are great example of creativity and are always gives a tough competition for the paintings of the modern era even being so old.

Excavated Areas -

The largest and most documented Mesolithic site in India is Bagor which is located on the banks of Kothari river in Rajasthan where layered burial of Mesolithic men were found along with some large number of Mesolithic tools. The proof of animal domestication were first discovered here in bagor along with Adamgarh in Madhya Pradesh. Mahadaha in Uttar Pradesh is the place where large number of bone artifacts were found which included arrowheads and other stuff. Many settlements were also discovered on the banks of river Krishna at Tinnevelly in Tamil Nadu. The belongings have been discovered across all the India uniformly unlike of Palaeolithic age. However, Bhimbetka remains the site with highest number of rock art paintings discovered across the India till no.

This is what we know about the Mesolithic age; if I forgot to cover some topics please let me know in the comment section.

Also, check out my article on the Palaeolithic age at palaeolithic-age-in-india.

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