Pre-history of Bihar

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Pre-history of Bihar

There are evidences of Mesolithic human Inhabitation in Bihar. Pre-historic

rock paintings have been discovered from the Kaimur, Nawada and Jamui
region of Bihar. These paintings depict the lifestyle of people during that
time. The pictures depict human activities like dancing, hunting walking etc.
These paintings are identical to those found in central and southern India
and also in Europe and Africa. The rock paintings of Spain’s Alta Mira and
France’s Lascaux share some common features with those discovered
from Bihar. Evidences of Neolithic settlement were discovered over the
bank of the Ganges at Chirand region of Bihar.

Traces of Mesolithic habitation are

found in Paisra ( munger) . Indian
Mesolithic period began with the
Holocene, however, in many
regions there are no such early
sites discovered as yet. In many
places it developed concurrently to
the Neolithic/Chalcolithic. In more
isolated regions hunter-gatherer
populations persisted until the Historic times. Stone tool manufacturing was
ceased with the popularization of iron.

Neolithic evidences in Bihar

Chirand

Chirand is a archaeological site in the Saran district of Bihar, India, situated

on the northern bank of the Ganga River. It has a large pre-historic mound
which is known for its continuous archaeological record from the Neolithic
age (about 2500–1345 BC) to the reign of the Pal dynasty who ruled during
the pre-medieval period. The excavations in Chirand have revealed
stratified Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Iron Age settlements, and transitions
in human habitation patterns dating from 2500 BC to 30 AD.

Chirand Neolithic group occupied the plains, while their contemporaries

inhabited the plateaus and hills. The occupational categorization in Chirand
covers three periods – Period I Neolithic (2500–1345 BC), Period II
Chalcolithic (1600 B.C) and Period III Iron age.Carbon dating of the top
layer of the Neolithiic period dates the layer between 1910 BC and 1600
BC. The lowest level of the finds date to 200 BC.

Neolithic people experienced an economy that included hunting, gathering,

fishing and animal rearing.Paddy husk impressions in some potsherds
indicate Neolithic involvement in cultivating rice and cereals such as wheat,
moong, masoor, and barley. Both cultivated and wild rice was harvested
during summer and again during winter.

The archaeological finds in Chirand are from a Neolithic deposit of 3.5

metres (11 ft) thickness, a Chalcolithic layer 5.5 metres (18 ft) thick and
iron age formation of 2.45 metres (8 ft 0 in) thickness. Copper was used
during the Chalcolithic period, while iron was found in the upper strata. A
cache of 88 Kushan period coins were unearthed at the site.

25,000 potsherds excavated from Chirand are grouped according to the

Period II Neolithic pottery appearing more refined than the Period I pottery,
all from smoothed clay mixed with mica. Most of the pottery was hand
made. Some vessels were made by turn table or dabbing. Half of the
potsherds are red ware and half are black and red ware from different
shapes and sizes of vases, bowls, and knobbed pottery.

Neolithic people lived in circular wattle and daub huts made of mud and
reeds with rammed floors. Earlier hut floors were built below ground level,
later hut floors were built at ground level. Hearths and oblong shaped
ovens were found in a semicircular hut. The white colour of the soil around
the hearth and the ovens found at the site pointed to animal meat roasted
in the ovens, likely for community feeding. Rice was a staple food. Mud
boundary walls of houses were traced. Burnt chunks of clay with reed or
bamboo impressions suggest that houses were destroyed by fire. Houses
were larger in size in the Chalcolithic period compared to the Neolithic
period, made of reeds and bamboo with mud plaster and flooring of fired
earth. A circular hearth and a few post-holes were also found.

The Neolithic stone implements of celts were found. Axes found were
made of quartzite, basalt and granite. The finds included nine types of
microliths. Waste flakes found in the area indicate prevalence of the
process of manufacture in a well established microlithic industry in the area
that included chert, chalcedony, agate and jasper, derived from the dry
river bed of the Son river. The final products in the collection are stone
discs in long, cylindrical and triangular shapes.