All About the Mesolithic Age (10,000-1,000 BC)

Introduction

The Mesolithic Age in India is believed to have started around the end of the last Ice Age and continued till the inception of the Neolithic Age. The date of Mesolithic culture varies in different parts of the world. This culture is assigned to pre-agricultural times in certain areas. In the Levant (Eastern Mediterranean), they are dated between 20,000 and 9500 BC.

Characteristic Features of Mesolithic Age

• Climate:
  • After the Ice Age, with the advent of global warming, human groups became highly mobile and began to occupy various ecozones.
  • Monsoon patterns emerged, with some regions witnessing higher rainfall. Freshwater lakes were known to exist at Didwana in western Rajasthan. 
  • The animal bones from this period to the Mesolithic Age suggest a dry, deciduous type of forest during the Mesolithic period.
• Geographical Distribution: Mesolithic locations can be discovered throughout India, spanning a range of eco-zones from the coastline to the mountains.
  • Sites: Paisra (Bihar); Langhnaj (Gujarat); Baghor II, Chopani Mando, Sarai Nahar Rai, Mahadaha and Damdama (all in Uttar Pradesh); Sankanakallu and Kibbanahalli (Karnataka). 
  • Rock shelter sites are found in Lekhakia and Baghai Khor in Uttar Pradesh; Adamgarh and Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh.
  • Coastal sites are seen at Mumbai; teri sites (a coastal landscape caused by sand dunes) of Thoothukudy in Tamil Nadu and Vishakapatnam.

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• Life-Styles: Subsistence hunting and gathering.
  • Agriculture was not practised in the early stages, but at the end of the Mesolithic period, humans domesticated plants and animals (paving the way for the Neolithic way of life).
  • The people used fire and perhaps roasted food. 
  • Domestic animal bones of cattle, sheep, goats, pig and dog have been found at Kanewal, Loteshwar and Ratanpur in Gujrat and from Adamgarh and Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh.
  • Camel bones have been found from Kanewal.
  • The Mesolithic people were highly mobile. They moved in search of animals and plant food. They made temporary huts and also used caves and rock shelters.
  • Traces of oval and circular huts and possible wattle daub are found in Chopani Mando and Damdama in Uttar Pradesh and Bagor and Tilwara in Rajasthan.
• Characteristic Tools: They used microlithic tools to suit the changes in flora and fauna. These tools enabled them to hunt smaller animals and birds.

• Art and Culture: 
  • A chert stone with geometric engravings was found in Chandravati in Rajasthan, bone objects and human tooth engraved with geometric design from Bhimbetka mainly in Mesolithic Age. 
  • Rock paintings are found in the rock shelters of Madhya Pradesh and Central India. They show people hunting, trapping animals and fishing and dancing. 
  • Bhimbetka near Bhopal, Raisen and Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh and South Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh are some of the sites with evidence of art.
  • Bhimbetka paintings show that various animals were hunted and for this men and women went together.
• Burials: People buried the dead, which suggests their beliefs.
  • Human skeletons have been found in Mahadaha, Damdama, and Sarai Nahar Rai in Uttar Pradesh.
  • At Mahadaha, a man and a woman were buried together.
  • They buried the dead along with grave goods. One burial had an ivory pendant as the grave good.

Conclusion

• The Mesolithic Age represents a pivotal phase in human history, marked by the transition from nomadic lifestyles to settled communities and the gradual emergence of agriculture. 
  • Through innovations in tool-making, social organization, and subsistence strategies, Mesolithic societies laid the groundwork for the Neolithic Revolution and subsequent advancements in human civilization.