The Stone Age

Lesson 3 of 17 • 39 upvotes • 14:50mins

Abhyudaya Kelkar

Usually we start studying history from Stone Age. The Stone Age is divided into three parts, the first one being ‘Palaeolithic Age’ or ‘Old Stone Age’ in Greek. This Palaeolithic Age itself is divided into three sub-parts – lower, middle and upper. Man was basically a hunter and food gatherer throughout this period. The only notable differences were those of types of stones and variety of tools. So these two things bifurcated the three Paleolithic periods. Neolithic Age brought revolutionary changes in the life of man. Introduction of wheel, extensive use of fire, pottery, agriculture, settled life, lethal and more finished tools- This whole can give you a clear picture how Neolithic Age brought an end to an early man with nomadic or quasi-nomadic lifestyle. The Chalcolithic Age saw the usage of working metals for the first time. It was copper that gave new dimensions to the human civilization. Copper meant mining and metallurgy on the one hand and sophisticated tools, equipment and machinery made of the metal and its alloys on the other. Megaliths are one of the important chapters of Ancient Indian History. Although it had a parallel existence with Iron Age, it is being covered in this part on two accounts. Firstly, these megaliths were unassociated with the other prevailing civilizations to a large extent. Secondly, extensive use of stones and rocks being the dominant feature of these cultures made it suitable to place them alongside the Stone Age topics.