Hunter-Gatherers : Paleolithic & Mesolithic Age
Introduction:-
This is the story of our fore fathers.Who used to hunt and gather foods , unlike us , who think that breakfast comes from the near by grocery store.Human societies during more than 99% of their existence on the earth have lived as hunters/gatherers. This means that before human beings started producing food about 10.000 years ago, they lived off the resources of nature.Lets explore what they did, when they did, how they did and where they did .
Paleolithic Age:-
- Palaeolithic Culture developed in the Pleistocene period. The Pleistocene period (about 2 million years ago) is the geological period refe*ng to the last or the Great Ice Age. It was the period when ice covered the earth’s surface.
- Palaeolithic Tools :- Palaeolithic Culture has been divided into three phases on the basis of the nature of stone tools made by human beings as well as due to the changes in the climate and environment.
- Lower Palaeolithic tools -handaxes, cleavers, choppers and chopping tools.
- Middle Palaeolithic tools- made up of flakes
- Upper Palaeolithic tools – characterised by burins and scrapers
- Palaeolithic Sites :-
- Kashmir , Potwar region (Present day West Punjab and Pakistan) and Sohan valley
- Luni river complex in Rajasthan
- Chittorgarh (Gambhirs basin), Kota (Chambal basin), and Negarai (Berach basin)
- Wagaon and Kadamali river basins in Mewar
- Sabarmati, Mahi Complex in Gujarat
- Bhandarpur near Orsang Valley
- Bhader river valley in Saurashtra and Kutch region
- Bhimbetka (near Bhopal) located in the Vindhyan range
- The rivers-Tapti, Godavari, Bhima and Krishna have yielded a large number of Palaeolithic sites
- Koregaon,Chandoli and Shikarpur in Maharashtra.
- In eastern India, the river Raro (Singhbhum, Bihar) is rich in Palaeolithic tools
- Palaeolithic tools have also been reported from the valleys of the Damodar and the Suvarnarekha
- The Buharbalang Valley ‘in Mayurbhang in Orissa has many Early and Middle Palaeolithic tools
- From Malprabha, Ghatprabha and the amuents of the Krishna a number of Palaeolithic sites have been reported.Anagawadi and Bagalkot are two most important sites on the Ghatprabha where both Early and Middle Palaeolithic tools have been found
- The rivers Palar, Penniyar and Kaveri in Tamil Nadu are rich in Palaeolithic tools. Attirampakkam and Gudiyam (in Tamil Nadu) have yielded both Early and Middle
Palaeolithic artefacts.
- Palaeolithic Subsitence Pattern:-
- Primates, many giraffe-liki forms, muskdeer, goats. buffaloes, bovines and pigs seem to be of indigenous origin. The camel and the horse had Horth-American connection. Hippopotamus and elephants migrated to India from Central Africa
- Hunting practices were concentrated on large and middle sized mammals especially ungulates (a type of animal).
- Rock paintings and carvings also,gve us an insight into the subsistence pattern and social life of the Palaeolithic people.
- Bhimbetka located on the Vindhyan range, is well known for continuous succession of paintings of different periods. Period-I belongs to Upper Palaeolithic stage and paintings are done in green and dark red colours. The paintings are predominantly of bisons, elephants, tigers, rhinos and boars.
- Paintings also reflected that palaeolithic people lived in small band (small groups) societies whose subsistence economy was based on exploitation of resources in the form of both animal and plant products/
Mesolithic Age:-
- The Mesolithic Age began around 8000 BC. It was the transitional phase between the Palaeolithic Age and the Neolithic Age. There was rise in temperature and the climate became warm and dry. The climatic changes affected human life and brought about changes in fauna and flora. The technology of producing tools also underwent change and the small stone tools were used.
- Mesolithic tools:-The Mesolithic tools are microliths or small stone tools. Microliths are very small in size and their length ranges from 1 to 8 cm.Blade, core,
point, triangle, lunate and trapeze are the main types of Mesolithic tools. - Mesolithic Sites:-
- Pachpadra basin and the Sojat area (Rajasthan)
- Tilwara is a significant site.
- Bagor (Rajasthan) on the river Kothari is the largest Mesolithic site in India
- Akhaj, Valasana, Hirpur and Langhnaj are situated east of the river Sabarmati
- The Vindhyas and Satpura range are rich in Mesolithic sites
- Morhana Palm (Uttar Pradesh) and Lekhabia (Uttar Pradesh) are two significant sites
- Adamga& in Hosangabad and lying to the south of Bhimbetka is another significant Mdthic site
- KonKan region
- The Kriahna and Bhima rivers have produced my microliths
- The Godavari delta is rich in microliths . Here the microliths are associated with the Neolithic Culture. The Kurnool area has many microliths.
- Mesolithic Subsistence Pattern:-
- The early Mamlithic sites have yielded the faunal reamins of cattle, sheep, goat, buffalo, pig, dog,boar, bison, elephant, hippo, jackal, wolt, cheetah, sambal, brasingha, black-buck, chinkara, hog deer, hare, porcupine, mongoose, lizard, tortoise and fish.
- wild sheep, wild goat, ass, elephant, bison, fox, hippo, sambar, chinkara, hare, porcupine, lizard, rat, fowl and tortoise are absent at the sites falling in the category of Mesolithic tradition
- Bhimbetka is extremely ridh in paintings. Many animals like, boar, buffalo,monkey and nilgai are frequently depicted. The paintings and engravings depict activities like sexual union, child birth, rearing of child, and burial ceremony. All these indicate that during the Mesolithic period, social organization had become more stable than in paleolithic times. It seems that the religious beliefs of the Mesolithic people are conditioned by ecological and material conditions.
Radiocarbon dating method :- One of the best known chronomatic dating techniques which can be used for dating of most organic material up to 70,000 years old. Plants and other living organs consume carbon from the atmosphere during this life time. This carbon also includes carbon 14 (14c) which is a radioactive element. After the death of plants and the living organs the accumulated 14c starts decaying and by measuring its present concentration we can determinethe age of the organisms which became extinct a long time ago.
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In a diverse country like India, where each State is socially, culturally, economically, and politically distinct, measuring Governance becomes increasingly tricky. The Public Affairs Index (PAI 2021) is a scientifically rigorous, data-based framework that measures the quality of governance at the Sub-national level and ranks the States and Union Territories (UTs) of India on a Composite Index (CI).
States are classified into two categories – Large and Small – using population as the criteria.
In PAI 2021, PAC defined three significant pillars that embody Governance – Growth, Equity, and Sustainability. Each of the three Pillars is circumscribed by five governance praxis Themes.
The themes include – Voice and Accountability, Government Effectiveness, Rule of Law, Regulatory Quality and Control of Corruption.
At the bottom of the pyramid, 43 component indicators are mapped to 14 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are relevant to the States and UTs.
This forms the foundation of the conceptual framework of PAI 2021. The choice of the 43 indicators that go into the calculation of the CI were dictated by the objective of uncovering the complexity and multidimensional character of development governance
The Equity Principle
The Equity Pillar of the PAI 2021 Index analyses the inclusiveness impact at the Sub-national level in the country; inclusiveness in terms of the welfare of a society that depends primarily on establishing that all people feel that they have a say in the governance and are not excluded from the mainstream policy framework.
This requires all individuals and communities, but particularly the most vulnerable, to have an opportunity to improve or maintain their wellbeing. This chapter of PAI 2021 reflects the performance of States and UTs during the pandemic and questions the governance infrastructure in the country, analysing the effectiveness of schemes and the general livelihood of the people in terms of Equity.
Growth and its Discontents
Growth in its multidimensional form encompasses the essence of access to and the availability and optimal utilisation of resources. By resources, PAI 2021 refer to human resources, infrastructure and the budgetary allocations. Capacity building of an economy cannot take place if all the key players of growth do not drive development. The multiplier effects of better health care, improved educational outcomes, increased capital accumulation and lower unemployment levels contribute magnificently in the growth and development of the States.
The Pursuit Of Sustainability
The Sustainability Pillar analyses the access to and usage of resources that has an impact on environment, economy and humankind. The Pillar subsumes two themes and uses seven indicators to measure the effectiveness of government efforts with regards to Sustainability.
The Curious Case Of The Delta
The Delta Analysis presents the results on the State performance on year-on-year improvement. The rankings are measured as the Delta value over the last five to 10 years of data available for 12 Key Development Indicators (KDI). In PAI 2021, 12 indicators across the three Pillars of Equity (five indicators), Growth (five indicators) and Sustainability (two indicators). These KDIs are the outcome indicators crucial to assess Human Development. The Performance in the Delta Analysis is then compared to the Overall PAI 2021 Index.
Key Findings:-
In the Scheme of Things
The Scheme Analysis adds an additional dimension to ranking of the States on their governance. It attempts to complement the Governance Model by trying to understand the developmental activities undertaken by State Governments in the form of schemes. It also tries to understand whether better performance of States in schemes reflect in better governance.
The Centrally Sponsored schemes that were analysed are National Health Mission (NHM), Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services scheme (ICDS), Mahatma Gandh National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SmSA) and MidDay Meal Scheme (MDMS).
National Health Mission (NHM)
INTEGRATED CHILD DEVELOPMENT SERVICES (ICDS)
MID- DAY MEAL SCHEME (MDMS)
SAMAGRA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN (SMSA)
MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE SCHEME (MGNREGS)