Illustration of Paleolithic Age showing early humans sitting around a fire, making stone tools, and hunting in a prehistoric landscape with mountains and forests.

Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age)

Illustration of Paleolithic Age showing early humans sitting around a fire, making stone tools, and hunting in a prehistoric landscape with mountains and forests.
Early humans during the Paleolithic Age using stone tools and fire for survival in a prehistoric environment.
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The term Paleolithic refers to the Old Stone Age of the prehistoric period. This name comes from the Greek words paleo’s, meaning old, and lithos, meaning stone. This era is part of the Pleistocene geological epoch.

Classification of Palaeolithic Age

Depending on the technology of the tools used, economic activities, and other cultural features, the Paleolithic age can be divided into the Lower Paleolithic, Middle Paleolithic, and Upper Paleolithic.

Lower Palaeolithic Age in India

  • Time Period: This phase lasted from 5,00,000 BC to 1,00,000 BC.
  • Early Humans: The earliest use of stone was initiated by Homo habilis and Homo erectus.
  • Lifestyle: People of this age were nomadic and relied entirely on hunting and food gathering for survival.
  • Tool Technology: Stone tools were crafted from large pebbles or flakes.
  • Primary Tools: Hand axes, cleavers, knives, and choppers were used for chopping and other basic tasks.

Lower Paleolithic Traditions

  • Soanian Tradition: This is a part of the East and Southeast Asian chopper-chopping tool tradition.
  • Acheulian Tradition: Well-known from the western half of the Old World including Africa, western Europe, and West and South Asia; it is represented by handaxe-cleaver or biface assemblages.

Way of Life

  • Subsistence: The people of the Lower Paleolithic culture hunted animals and collected roots, nuts, and fruits.
  • Diet: They consumed the meat and bones of animals for sustenance.
  • Shelter: They lived in open air, river valleys, caves, and rock shelters.
  • Evidence: This lifestyle is evident from sites like Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh and Gudiyam in Tamil Nadu.

Cognition and Communication

  • Species: These prehistoric ancestors belonged to the species Homo erectus.
  • Language: They did not possess a complex language culture like modern Homo sapiens; they likely expressed a few sounds or words and used sign language.
  • Intelligence: They were intelligent enough to select specific stones as raw material and utilized hammer stones to carefully flake rocks and design tools.

Important Sites

  • Singi Talav (Didvana): Rajasthan
  • Bhimbetka and Adamgarh: Madhya Pradesh
  • Lalitpur: Uttar Pradesh
  • Paisra: Bihar
  • Chirki-Nevasa: Maharashtra
  • Hunsgi and Yediyapur: Karnataka
  • Attirampakkam: Tamil Nadu
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