What were the Features of Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Mesolithic Civilization?

The earliest man in South India possibly belonged to 400, 000 years ago. For a great part of this vast period man belonged to the Old Stone Age and used only crude stone implements. He used hand axes and rough-hewn stones.

He lived the life of a food gatherer for he did not yet know to cultivate land. In South India we have the mixing of two tool cultures, (1) the Sohan, and (2) the Madras industry. In Kurnool and Nagarjuna Konda we have evidences of earlier palaeolithic implements.

In India we do not have a stone age which is intermediate between palaeolithic and neolithic. This intermediate stage is usually called the Mesolithic age or the middle stone age.

But we come across the use of small stones known as microliths in places like Tirunelveli. Bruce Foote and Zeuner discovered microliths in the Tirunelveli district particularly Tuticorin. The microlithic industry is generally dated late stone age. In the Mysore state we have microlithic sites where we have evidence of remarkable continuity of culture.

In peninsular India we do come across primitive rock paintings. Once it was considered to go back to the palaeolithic period but now it is certain that these paintings belonged to a period when iron had come to be known. These paintings could be attributed to the seventh century BC. Animals like the wild buffalo, the horse, rhinoceros and deer are represented in these paintings. Some scholars connect these paintings with the users of microliths.

Neolithic, Chalcolithic

If we pass on to the next stage, implements and pottery are some important characteristics of the neolithic period. In Bellary, Mysore and other parts of South India we have evidence of polished stone axes. Nagarjunakonda reveals the existence of a neolithic community which was familiar with the rudiments of agriculture. This was contemporary with a similar culture at Brahmagiri.

In the Mysore district we come across a neolithic deposit consisting of polished stone axes. The Brahmagiri stone axe culture was perhaps as old as 1000 BC and it is possible that this culture had contacts with the residents of the Indus Valley. Chalcolithic elements have been discovered in Narsipar and Piklihal in Andhra. Black painted pottery is associated with these elements.