RASHTRASANT TUKDOJI MAHARAJ NAGPUR UNIVERSITY

“PREHISTORIC TOOL TECHNOLOGY’’

A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO
DR. PRABASH SAHU
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

DEPARTMENT OF ANCIENT INDIAN HISTORY CULTURE

AND ARCHAEOLOGY

ROJINA GIRIPUNJE
MASTERS IN ARTS
(Semester III)
2015-2016
 CONTENTS

PREFACE i

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION OF PREHISTORY 1

CHAPTER II: PERIODS OF PREHISTORY 3

CHAPTER III: TOOLS TYPES AND TECHNOLOGY 5

CHAPTER IV: USAGE 10

CHAPTER V: SITES 12

CONCLUSION 17

LIST OF FIGURES:

I. TOOL TECHNIQUES I
II. PALAEOLITHIC TOOLS II
III. MESOLITHIC TOOLS III
IV. NEOLITHIC TOOLS VI

BIBLIOGRAPHY
 PREFACE

This topic “Prehistory Tools and Technolgy” is concerned with human

prehistory or the time since behaviorally and anatomically modern humans
first appear until the beginning of recorded history.

The project is all about the Prehistory which is divided into three phase i.e.
1) Palaeolithic 2) Mesolithic 3) Neolithic. This phase shows different types of
tools made by man for their survival. They are also differentiated according to
their period and different tools types and techniques are also described. All
the tools found have their own special usage is discussed and the evidence of
tools on the sites. The different phases of Prehistory are discussed in details
along with the longest phase of Palaeolithic period.
 CHAPTER I
PREHISTORY

Early human did not know writing, his artifacts, i.e. the things which are
deliberately fashioned by him for his needs and requirements, such as tools of
stone, bone or any other material form the only source which stands mute
witness to his cultural and material progress. It helps us in gaining
information on the life pattern and thought- process of the early humans.

Prehistory refers to the phase of human history when earth shape and man
was evolving biologically through various extinct species from the primates to
its present form. It is a history of early man’s struggle for survival in adverse
environment and progress from an animal-hunting and wild food-collecting,
wandering life to that of a food-producing, herding & settled life.

The fresh excavations and new dating techniques along with growing multi-
disciplinary approach have not only greatly added to our knowledge but have
also changed our perspective and understanding. Prehistoric tools and
artefacts are treated as not an end but as the means to understand early
humans endeavour to feed and protect himself in adverse climatic conditions.

Prehistory is intimately connected with the evolution of man and his efforts to
survive in adverse environment through technological modification of histols
and weapons.
On biological point of view, the human evolution was marked by three distinct
functional features –

 Perfect bipedal instead of quadrupedal locomotion, it is associated with

the modification of pelvis and lower extremities;
 Changes in the upper part of the body; it resulted in rotating movement
of the shoulders; and
 Increase in the cranial capacity or brain size and flexibility in thumb.

The fossil of bow-legged ape-man called ‘Australopithecine africanus’ have

been recovered from various places in central and eastern part of Africa. Its
upright position is indicated by the foot-prints found on cold lava-ash at
Laetoli (Tanzania), and from the small skeleton of a female nick-named Lucy,
discovered at Hadar (Ethiopia) in 1974. The “foot prints” are dated around
3.8 m.y.a. The earliest known evidence of stone tools found in association with
hominid fossils are reported from Hadar (Ethiopia) and are considered to be
2.3 m.y.a. These tools are made on pebbles by striking one against the other to
get a sharp age and are called Olduwan because such tools were first
recovered from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.
 CHAPTER II
PERIODS OF PREHISTORY

Prehistory covers the largest period of human history. Since stone was the
chief material that was used by early man to procure food or to protect
himself, this period is described as the Stone Age. Christian J. Thomsen, a
Danish Scholar, for the first time in1836 defined the past of human society in
the terms of technological or chronological stages marked by the successive
use of tools made of stone, bronze and iron (Three age system). In 1851,
Daniel Wilson coined the term Prehistory, and in 1865 John Lubbock used the
term Paleolithic and Neolithic to emphasize the change and progress in tool
types. Documentation of evidence for the Stone Age in India began with first
discovery of a hand axe at Pallavaram near Madras (now Chennai) by Robert
B. Foote called Father of Indian Prehistory in 1863.

The first and the longest age, the Palaeolithic, were subdivided in last century
by De Mortillet. On the basis of the stratigraphy observed at several sites in
France, he distinguished six assemblages or cultures that followed one
another in the same order at all relevant sites.

Prehistory of India, as elsewhere, is divided into three broad periods-

Palaeolithic (palaeo-old, lithic-stone; Old Stone Age), Mesolithic (meso-middle,
lithic-stone; Middle Stone Age) and Neolithic (neo-new, lithic-stone i.e. New
Stone Age). Each of these periods is marked by distinct features as well as
gradual improvement in tool making skill and technology. Thus, while the
Palaeolithic period witnessed a shift from heavy and asymmetrical to flake-
based tools, the Mesolithic period was characterized by the use of
“Microliths” or small “geometric tools” in the form of triangles, crescents, etc.
the Neolithic period, the last phase of prehistory, was marked by the use of
polished and ground tools having better and sharper cutting edge. By the late
Mesolithic period, the farming communities, i.e., the communities which
domesticated plants and animals, used pottery and lived in hut-like structure
in different ecozones of the country and are continued in latter phases of
prehistory.
Since tools and technologies have a direct impact on the production capacity
and material life on the human beings, gradual improvement in tool-types
from Paleolithic to Neolithic period is viewed as a primary factor which led to
change in early human’s subsistence pattern from hunting and gathering to
food-production.
 CHAPTER III
TOOL TYPES AND TECHNOLOGY

The lithic tool from the primary source of our information regarding early
human activities and behavior, his culture and tradition. Lithic technology is a
combination of two factors. The first is planning, i.e., to draw up a picture in
mind and think of a method to make a tool out a given raw material, and the
second is technique, i.e., the use of hands and fingers to give the tool a desired
shape. The Prehistoric man, who was primarily interested in fabricating stone
tools having pointed end or sharp cutting edge, came to learn the art of
making desired tools gradually through hit and trial mechanism.

The choice of raw material used for tool making varied from region to region
and depended upon its availability. The number of lithic techniques, such as
anvil or block-on-block technique, frees flaking, Clactonian technique,
Levallosian technique, Mousterian technique. The last three i.e., Clactonian,
Levallosian, Mousterian are named after the European sites where similar
type of tools was first found. Basically there are three tool making techniques
which can be described as based on percussion or direct percussion, indirect
percussion and pressure application (fig I).
 PALAEOLITHIC CULUTRE
The early humans, who shared the landscape with various wild and giant
animals or mega fauna such as buffalo, rhino, tiger, elephant, etc, started
making stone tools to survive in a hostile environment.

Direct Percussion Techniques:

A stone/pebble was hit perpendicularly on edge of another stone to produce a

big and massive flake with wide angles or zigzag edges.

Later, the early man learnt to control his strokes and directing his blows at a
specific angle near the edge of a stone, he was able to produce flakes with
sharper and better cutting edge.

Indirect Percussion Technique

The pressure on the core is put not directly but indirectly through an object of
either stone or bone or hard wood to take out the flakes of desired shape or
size.

Pressure Technique

The method in which flakes are removed not by hitting, directly or indirectly,
but by putting pressure at one specified point to make a flake detached of the
core. The flakes thus produced could be retouched further to obtain a desired
shape such as that of scrapers, borers or awls.

The Early Palaeolithic period was marked by two types of tool cultures and
these are known as the Soan or Sohan culture, named after river Soan, and the
Acheulian culture, named after the site St. Acheul (France). The Soan culture
was represented by pebble-based tools called chopper-chopping tools, formed
a chief lithic tradition in the sub-Himalayan region. The Acheulian culture was
characterized by the tools called hand axes and cleavers. Once known as the
“Madrasian Culture”, as hand axes were first discovered Madras in 1863, it
was a popular tradition in peninsular India.

The Middle Palaeolithic period was marked by advance in tool-making

technology. It was characterized by the use of tools made on medium-sized
flakes. These tools were thinner and smaller than those of early Palaeolithic
period and were largely made on fine grained material like agate, jasper and
chert. The chopper-chopping tools become extinct, and hand-axes and
cleavers are rare. The assemblages comprise a variety of scrapers, borers and
points. The predominant technique followed in Middle Palaeolithic period is
known as Levallosian, named after French site. In this technique, the core was
first dressed or trimmed to obtain a flat surface or a “tortoise” shape, and
flakes of desired size was produced after hitting at a specific point by a soft
hammer made of bone or hard wood (cylinder hammer technique). These
flake-based tools were first identified in 1956 by H.D.Sankalia at Nevasa in
Maharashtra, and he provisionally named them as “Nevasa Culture”.

The Upper Palaeolithic period notices further reduction in size and weight of
the tools. This phase is dominated by tool types described as blades and
burins. The elongated blades with deliberately worked sharp edge have been
called knife-blades. The technique used in the Upper Palaeolithic period was
the pressure flaking, a technique in which pressure was applied by chisel-like
stone so that parallel sided blades with regular width and thickness would
detached the core material. This technique not only yielded smaller tools with
better cutting edges but also led less wastage of precious raw material. The
main advantage of Upper Palaeolithic tools, according to Allchin(1997:74),
was that being lighter they could be carried over a long distance , if necessary,
far from their sources of supply or “factory sites”. The use of bone tools formed
an important feature of Upper Palaeolithic age in Europe, but in India these
tools in the shape of scrappers, chisels , etc. , have been reported from the
cave called Muchchatta Chintamani Gavi at Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh. A
significant aspect of the Upper Palaeolithic technology was the choice and
selection of raw material. It clearly indicates the beginning of some sort of
exchange system in the prehistoric times (fig II).
 Mesolithic culture
The Mesolithic or the Middle Stone Age Cultures represents a phase of
tradition from the preceding hunting and food-gathering stage. It was marked
by a significant improvement in tool technology and life pattern though some
of the earlier traditions continued to exit.

The chief feature of the Mesolithic period was the use of the large number of
microliths or blades and bladelets, produced from a well-prepared cylindrical
or rectangular core by pressure flaking with the help of a bone or a wooden
hammer. It represents a technological improvement on the earlier tool-
making techniques which were based on direct or indirect hitting or flaking.
There was also a change in the use of raw material in most areas. The
pressure technique economized the precious raw material and produced
more blades in lesser time. The blades thus further retouched or trimmed on
one or more edges to produce a variety of “geometric” type microliths in the
shape of triangles, lunates or crescents, trapezes, etc. these tools, the size
varies from less than one centimeter to five centimeters could be hafted on
bone or wooden handles with natural gum to produce a “composite tool” or
weapon such as arrow or spear. The microliths could also be arranged in
linear series to provide a serrated edge to make a composite tool to serve as a
saw or a sickle. The main advantage of these ‘composite tools’ was that being
made a number of microliths, if one of the teeth broke down it could easily be
replaced without having to discard the whole tool as was the case with a
single–piece tool of earlier times.
Besides Microliths, small non geometric tools also formed a part of the
Mesolithic tool-kit. These were usually made on flakes by secondary trimming
along the margin. This group of tools included various types of scrapers,
burins etc. The site of Mohrana Pahar in Mirzapur (U.P) reveals a gradual
process of evolution of lithic tools like chopper and chopping tools are by and
large absent, though some examples of these could be found in Tamil Nadu
region.

There is also an evidence of the use of tools and ornaments made of bone and
antler by the Mesolithic people. These include arrowheads, blades, knives and
also rings which have been found worn as earrings and necklaces in the
burials (fig III).
 Neolithic culture
The Neolithic Culture constitutes the concluding phase of the Stone Age. These
are marked by the use of ground and polished tools and the pottery-the
features which set them apart from the preceding Palaeolithic and Mesolithic
Cultures. The Neolithic period was characterized by ground and polished tools
having smooth and round surface for better cutting edge. These tools mark an
improvement on earlier ones which once damaged had to be discarded, but
after grinding them they could once more be rendered serviceable. Thus, with
the growth of grinding technique (grinding and polishing technique), there was
an economy of effort as well as raw material. The chief tool-type is designated
by the common term ‘celt’ which is basically an axe or adze. The stone tools
included polished axes, points, pestles, querns and harvesters. The Neolithic
culture comprises harpoons, needles, arrowheads, spear-joints, daggers
(fig VI).
 CHAPTER VI
USAGE OF TOOLS
The tool types included in prehistoric period are as follows:

 Chopper-chopping: the main distinction between the two types is that

choppers are worked on one side and thus “unifacial”, while the
chopping-tools are worked on both sides and are “bifacial”, though they
are serving for same purpose of either chopping a tree or a flesh from an
animal body.
 Hand axe: An axe was used by hand rather than handle. It occupies
most significant place in Early Palaeolithic period. It is heart or peared
shaped. There are different varieties of hand axe. It was used for
digging, deskining, cutting or hunting purposes.
 Cleaver: It has a U-shape or V-shape to the entire cutting edge of the
tool. It is one type of Hand axe. The purpose of cleaver was to use for
cutting tree or hunting or any other material.
 Scraper: A scraper was a tool which was manipulated by a fore fingers
rather than a palm as in case of hand axe.
 Borer: It is a type in which a thick projected end of a flake is specially
obtained by etching out two notches at the base.
 Points: A tool of stone, bone or metal, having a sharp pointed end. It
could be used as an arrowhead or some hole making device.
 Burins: A pointed tool made of chipped flint which could be used for
making hole in bone, antler, ivory or wood. It was an important
hallmark of the Upper Paleolithic period.
 Chisel: It is used for cutting.
 Knife-blades: the various sizes of blades are found for cutting,
deskining of flesh or any other purpose.
 Blades: Blades are used as multipurpose such as cutting and deskining.
 Geometric microliths: Various types of geometric shapes like lunates,
trapeze, triangle, crescents, are used for making composite tools like
arrows, harpoons.
 Hammer stone: It is used as hitting purpose or splitting animal bones.
 Antler: It is a solid, bony horn of male deer or of related animals having
one or more branches. These were used by early humans for their tools
and ornaments.
 Querns and rubbers: It must be used for processing both plant and
animal food.
 Celt: A hand tool in the form of a chisel or axe or adze of stone or any
other material. It has a squared and beveled (sloping), surface used for
shaping wood or stone. It could be ground and polished to get sharper
and smoother edge. It is of various varieties, such as bar celt, shouldered
celt, etc.
 Ring Stone: The ring stone appears to serve either as a mace-head or a
weight for a digging stick with the help of wooden handle.
 Arrowheads: It is also known as “composite tool”, which was used for
hunting.
 Harpoon: It could be made of bone, antler or even metal, and comprised
barbed (backward facing projection as in an arrow or a fish-hook),
pointed head and a barbed shift. It could be used for killing or catching
fish. Its use became prominent in the Upper Paleolithic period.
 Spearhead: It is used as weapon or tool for hunting, cutting leather.
 Awls: Is is used as needle.
 CHAPTER V
SITES
Palaeolithic Period
Sites are spread almost all over the Indian subcontinent, from the foot-hills of
the Himalayas in the north to Tamil Nadu in the south and from Peshawar and
Sind in the west to Meghalaya (Garo Hills) and in the east. Riwat in the River
Soan in the Potwar Plateau has reported the earliest pebble tools. Pebble tools
belonging to later dates are found from various other regions such as Jhelum
basin (Dina and Jalalpur), the river terraces of Beas and Banganga (Himachal
Pradesh) and Ladakh and Pahalgaon in Kashmir Valley.

In Rajasthan, the evidence of Palaeolithic cultures comes from both Marwar

and Mewar. An important place in this state is Didwan (Distt. Nagaur) where a
nearly site of Singhi Talav contains successive layers of Lower to Upper
Palaeolithic material.

In Western India, the tools made on agate and jasper has been reported from
various sites in South Gujarat, Saurashtra and Kutch.

In Maharashtra, the most important sites are those of Nevasa, on a stream

called Pravara (a tributary of Godavari) and Patne (Distt. Jalagaon) in the
Tapti river system. Patne reveals stone culture from the Middle Palaeolithic to
Mesolithic period. Among Upper Palaeolithic remains found here is a disc-
bead made of a fragment of an ostrich egg-shell. Inamgaon on river Ghod in
Pune district, Rajguru discovered an important Upper Palaeolithic site. The
Acheulian site at Chirki is situated at a confluence of a small tributary, called
Chirki Nala, with the river Pravara.

In Madhya Pradesh, the rock shelters at Bhimbetka, near Bhopal and

Adamgarh (Distt. Hosangabad) have yielded evidence of Prehistoric
occupation from Early Palaeolithic to the Mesolithic period. The site of Baghor
in Sidhi district has also reported Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic tools.
In U.P., Palaeolithic remains have been discovered from various places but
most prominently from the Belan Valley, the region broadly from Allahabad to
Varanasi. It has a complete sequence of the Stone Age Cultures from the Lower
Paleolithic to the Neolithic period. The site of Chopani Mando has reported
artifacts of the period from the Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic.

In Peninsular India, Andhra Pradesh is rich in Palaeolithic material, and it is

reported mainly from the districts of Kurnool, Chittoor and Nlagonda. In
Kurnool region, an important habitation site is the Muchchatta Chintamani
Gavi cave which has revealed not only the earliest bone tools but also the
earliest trace of hearth-fire in India. Vanamadurai is one of the most
important and interesting Lower Paleolithic site of Peninsular in India.
Nagarjunkonda,

The Upper Palaeolithic Industry of Patne is dominated by blades and tools

made on blades, such as burins, scrapers, points and borers.

In Karnataka, the Malaprabha- Ghatprabha region contains number of

Palaeolithic sites such as Hunsgi (dist. Gulbarga) & Konvali and Anangawadi
(both in dist. Bijapur). The site of Konvali is considered to have been open air
“factory- site”.

In north Tamil Nadu, Attirampakkam (dist. Chingleput) is one of the key sites
of the south India or the “Madrasian” Lower Palaeolithic Industry. The lower
Palaeolithic pebble tools made in quartz, which were reported from the
Palghat District of Kerala.

In Orissa, P.K.Singh’s survey of the Angul and Dhenkanal districts in the

Bramhi Valley, bought to light Lower Palaeolithic sites.

Adamgarh hills recovered Palaeolithic tools from three sites on this hill.
Mesolithic Period

The earliest evidence discovered a large number of microliths in caves and

rock shelters in Kaimur range (Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh). Chopani-
Mando and Sarai Nahar Rai marked a number of geometric tools. Their
density is far greater in some areas like Marwar and Mewar in Rajasthan,
north Gujarat and the alluvial plain of the Ganga in South –central U.P., i.e.
Allahabad –Mirzapur area. Among the important sites reference may be made
to Bagor (dist. Bhilwara) and Tilwar (dist. Barmer) in Rajasthan; Langhnaj
(dist. Mehsana) in Gujarat; Bhimbetka (Bhopal), Adamgarh (Hoshangabad)
and Baghor (dist. Sidhi) in Madhya Pradesh; Chopani Mandho (Allahabad
Belan Valley), Sarai Nahar Rai (dist. Pratapgarh), Mahadaha, Damdama,
Lekhania (dist. Mirzapur)- all in U.P; Birbhanpur (dist. Burdwan) in west
Bengal; Kuchai (dist. Mayurbhanj) in Orissa; Sanaganakallu (dist. Bellary) in
Karnataka; and Tuticorin in south Tamil Nadu. In the last region, the
microliths have been reported in red sand dunes which are locally known as
Teris , and thus industry is known as Teri Industry.
NEOLITHIC PERIOD

A Neolithic Celt in India was found as early as 1842 by Le Mesurie in the

Raichur district of Karnataka and Lubbock in 1867 in the Bramhaputra valley
of Upper Assam. Today the evidence of the spread of Neolithic Cultures in
India comes from as many as six different geographical regions, each with its
own distinctive features and chronological time span.

These regions are

1. NORTH-WEST INDIA:

The relevant sites include Mehrgarh.

2. NORTHEN INDIA:

The Neolithic cultures in Northern India, (Kashmir valley) are represented by

a large number of sites above the flood-plains of River Jhelum, but the most
important among them are Burzahom (north-east of Srinagar) and Gufkral
(south-east of Srinagar). These are multi-cultural sites which reveal, besides
Neolithic phase, the evidence of Megalithic and early Historical periods. The
Neolithic people used a variety of tools and weapons fashioned on stone and
bone. The stone tools included polished axes, points, pestles, querns and also
the ‘havesters’.

3. CENTRAL INDIA:

In Central India, the evidence of the Neolithic settlements has come from
various sites in the Vindhayan region of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh
i.e., the area bound by Ganges in the North and River Son in the south. Among
the important sites, Koldihwa and Mahagara in the Belan Valley (dist.
Allahabad), Sinduria in Mirzapur dist., and Kunjun in the Sidhi dist. of Madhya
Pradesh.
 4. MID- GANGETIC REGION:

The important Neolithic sites reported from the mid-Gangetic region are
Narhan (on the banks of the River Saryu), Imlidih (on a stream called
Kuwana), and Sohgaura (on the river Rapti) near Gorakhpur in U.P.; and
Chirand (on the banks of river Ghaghra in dist, Saran), Teradih (Bodhgaya),
Senuwar (near Sasaram) in Bihar. Among these Chirand may be taken as a
representative site. It has revealed cultural material belonging to the
Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Iron age phases.

5. EASTERN INDIA:

The important sites which have yielded evidence of Neolithic cultures in the
eastern zone include Barudih (dist. Singhbhum) in Jharkhand; Kuchai (dist.
Mayurbhanj) and Golabai Sasan (dist. Puri) in Orissa; Daojali Hading (in North
Cachar Hills) and Sarutaru (dist. Kamrup, 24 km north-east of Gauhati) in
Assam. The earlier phase at Pandu Rajar Dhibi in the Ajay Valley of West
Bengal has also reported Neolithic artefacts.

6. SOUTHERN NEOLITHIC CULTURES:

The Neolithic cultures in south India were spread over Karnataka, Andhra
Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, and thus, geographically speaking, covered the area
bound by the river Bhima (a tributary of Krishna) in the north and the river
Kaveri in the south. The important sites pertaining to this culture are Kupgal,
Sangankallu, Hallur, Tekkalakota, Brahmagiri, Maski, T. Narsipur in Karnataka;
Utnur, Palvoy, Kodekal, Budihal in Andhra Pradesh; and Paiyaampalli in tamil
nadu.
 CHAPTER VI
CONCLUSION

The longest phase of human history of Prehistory Period, man lived by

hunting animals and gathering wild fruits. He inhabited the area close to river
banks and hilly terraces for his requirement his survival depends upon his
efficiency to make stone tools which it becomes sharper and handier. The
tool-making required a great deal of knowledge and expertise not only in
selecting a suitable raw material but also in technique to turn it into a desired
shape. The gradual refinement in tool-types represented the cultural growth
of Palaeolithic man and set the stage for further progress in the next phase
called the Mesolithic phase.

The Mesolithic phase was characterized by the introduction of new tool

technology in the form of microliths and composite tools as well as some
progress towards the domestication of animals and plant collection. The
existence of hut-like structures and the food-processing artifacts indicate the
beginning of semi-settled life. Though it is not possible at present stage to
define how settled was their life. Thus, the life pattern in Mesolithic period
suggests that man was already on the threshold of the Neolithic phase.

The Neolithic phases are largely defined in terms of transition from hunting
and food-gathering to herding and food producing subsistence economy with
a settled way of life. It could become possible because of better tool
technology and more conducive environment. These shows the development
features of prehistory period and increase in cranial capacity of human being.
Bibliography:
Bhattacharya, D.K; “An Outline of Indian Prehistory” published
in 1989.
Sankalia, H.D; “Prehistory and Protohistory of India and
Pakistan ”
Ghosh, A.K; Encyclopedia