Evolution of Indian culture and civilization Paper 1 unit 1.

1 Referred to Page number 11

of PDF 105.2
Pre-harappan Culture:
1. 2700 to 2400 BC
2. Sites:
a. Killi gul Muhammed and mihir garh- Balochistan
b. Damp Saddat -Balochistan
c. Mohenjo Daro -Sindh
d. Harappa- Punjab
e. Kali Bangan- Northern Rajasthan
3. Stretched up to indo-iranian border
4. Common features:
a. Stood at threshold of urbanisation
b. Fortification skill, elaborate housing and pottery
c. Cattle breeding= economic subsistence
d. Trade and Commerce started(First time)

Harappan culture or Indus Valley Civilization:

1. 2500 to 1500 BC
2. Bronze age civilization
3. Extended from Gujarat to Iran border
4. Indus river= centre of the Civilization extended up to Ghaggar-hakra river
Referred to PDF 105.3
5. Dependent on monsoon
6. population 50 lakh
7. Famous for town planning:
a. Water supply system( irrigation)
b. Drainage system well connected
c. Rectangular Road, Footpath ,Street torches
d. bathroom present at the backyard
e. Cluster of large residence and non residents building
f. Baked brick homes
g. no man land between two houses
h. continuous water supply by water tank
i. Great granaries, Great bath
8. Arts:
a. famous dancing girl at Mohenjo Daro
b. Figure of men and women, animal and birds made on Terracotta and the carving
on the seal.
9. Economics:
a. Standardisation in weight and measures
b. Metallurgy was Flourishing industry with copper, Bronze, lead and tin
c. Seal product and Seal carving were present
d. Wheat and Barley main crop
 e. Sheep, goat and buffalo domesticated
f. Gold, copper, tin imported & agriculture product exported
g. Dockyard of Lothal( Existence of trade)
10. Highly equipped ceramic, Sophisticated pottery( red and grey ware)
11. Social life:
a. Jewellery like bangles, bracelet ,anklet ,earrings =Women
b. Fishing regular occupation, hunting and bullfighting pastimes
12. Religion and burial method:
a. Deity was pasupati,In yogic posture, three face and two horns Surrounded by
four animal elephant, tiger, rhino And buffalo
b. Female deity= mother Goddesses On Terracotta figure
c. At Lothal the burial pit lined with front brick
d. Symmetries at Mohenjo Daro, Harappa, Kalibangan, lothal and Rupar
e. Pot burial practices
13. John Marshall= prominent feature of Indus religion
a. A great male God and mother goddess
b. deification of animal and plant
c. Symbolic representation of phallus (Linga) and vulva (yoni)
d. Use of bath and water in religious practice
e. Indus Valley seals show a seated figure with Horn headdress Surrounded by
animals=> Early form of Hindu God Shiva or Rudra Associated with asceticism,
Yoga and Linga=> Lord of animal, Having three Eyes.
14. Reason for Extinction of IVC
a. wheeler= Aryans invaded and destroyed
b. Change in the course of Indus river and climate
c. drought and decline in trade with Egypt and Mesopotamia

Post Harappan:
1. Sites:
a. Sindh= Jhukar and lakhan jo daro, chanhudaro and amri
b. North valley of indus system:kattalai,loebner, and timagraha
c. Saurashtra and Gujarat: Prabhas Patan, rangpur, RojDi, Lothal
d. Punjab= harappa, Doab region of Saraswati and drishadvati, mitawa , siswal,
bara, hulas, sanghol
2. Features of post Harappan culture:
a. Jhukar culture= round bottom seal
b. chanhudaro= reuse of earlier building bricks and breakdown of older planned
layout
c. mundigak= reconstruction of brickwork
d. kattalai= two horse burial + master
e. harappa= all cemeteries of harappa culture

Iron age of India

1. 1200 to 600 BC
 2. Iron Age emerged during Vedic period
3. Features:
a. Beginning of rural settlement
b. sophisticated tools and weapon of iron alloying with carbon content
c. Famous pottery= Northern black polished ware ,painted grey ware

Contribution of tribal culture to Indian civilization:

1. Tribal influence on two civilization:
a. Aryan civilization= Influence of tribes on Aryan=> Tribalization of Aryans, & Vice
versa is aryanization of tribal
b. Post Vedic civilization
2. Verrier elwin=Migration of foreign tribes into Mainland India
a. Sabari tribe in Indian Mythology
b. Eklavya(bhill) Masted archery more than Aryans
c. Bheema( Aryans) Married Hidimba( tribal)
d. Munda supported Kaurava at Kurukshetra war
e. Odia, Marathi and Bengali= tribal language + Sanskrit or Pali
f. Gond considered themselves as descendant of Ravana
3. Indian musical instrument like flute, drum, dance, folklores, folktail, And festival Found
their way into Indian tradition
4. Ancient Indian literature Like Panchatantra, Vishnu Puran, Harsh Charita talks about
tribal

PalaeoAnthropological Paper 2 unit 1.2 PDF 106.2

evidence from India with special reference to siwaliks and Narmada basin
(Ramapithecus, sivapithecus and Narmada man)
Paleoanthropology is the study of human evolution through the fossil and
archaeological records.
1. Indian Fossil= Limited and primitive=> acidic nature of soil
2. Kenneth h Kennedy= ramapithecus, sivapithecus, brahma pithecus and
sugrivapithecus=>Called as “god Apes of Sivalensis”
3. Ramapithecus:
a. Edward Lewis
b. 14 to 10 million a year ago( miocene)
c. Siwalik Hills & Similar at Kanya, Turkey, Hungary, greece
d. Only dentition is available
e. Anatomical characteristic:
i. Vertically implanted incisors and Canines
ii. thick enamelled molar and premolar =>Heavy chewing
iii. Size of front teeth and cheek teeth nearly same
iv. Maxilla reduced in size=> chewing muscles
v. Diet=meat with nuts, fruits and seed
f. Debate on phylogenetic status:
 i. 1934, Lewis= Ramapithecus→ hominidae family→Ancestor of
australopithecus→General acceptance with discoveries of miocene apes
at Kenya, Turkey, Greece
ii. 1980,Discovery of key facial and the post cranial remains Of sivapithecus
=>Lost its place in hominidae & Molecular clock=>Human diverged from
apes around 5 million year ago
iii. African dryopithecines= ancestor of ramapithecus and sivapithecus
iv. Dentition and facial=>Sivapithecus = ramapithecus
Canine=>Sivapithecus> ramapithecus
Ramapithecus= female
v. Ramapithecus= late miocene hominoids→ Give rise to orangutan
4. Sivapithecus:
a. David philbeam
b. 14 to 12 million years ago
c. foothills of Himalaya
d. Similar fossils at Turkey, Italy and Pakistan
e. Dentition and postcranial fossils are available
f. Anatomical characteristic:
i. Good size ranging between 70 to 150 lb
ii. Ape like locomotion= Brachiation
iii. Sexual dimorphism
iv. Large upper Central Incisor And good size canines
v. Flat and thick enamelled molar
vi. Facial= concave profile And projecting incisors
vii. Nuts and fallback food
g. Phylogenetic status:
i. Same point of phylogenetic status of ramapithecus from 2nd point
onwards
5. Narmada man:
a. Arun Sonakia, 1982
b. 0.7 million year ago
c. Hathnora Madhya Pradesh, Narmada Valley
d. Broken skull is available as fossil =Identified as homo erectus, archaic man
e. Anatomical characteristic:
i. Similar to those of homo erectus
ii. Other features:
● Cranial capacity= 1155 to 1421 cc
● Elevated cranial vault
● Furrowing of sagittal ridge
● Large external auditory meatus (ear hole)
● Long temporal bone
Referred to PDF 106.2
f. Phylogenetic status:
 i. 1997 AR sankhyan →Discovered postcranial remains right and left
clavicle and partial 9th left Rib =>Short, robust archaic hominin With
stature and Shoulder width found in the shortest female Andaman Pygmy
ii. Not similar to homo erectus & Higher probability of archaic homo Sapiens
iii. 2004, Delhi= concluded to be erectus
iv. Recent Interpretation= Homo heidelberGensis
v. 2016, sankhyan= two distinct species inhabited Narmada Valley
Heidelbergensis and erectus

Ethnoarchaeology in India Paper 2 unit 1.3 PDF 107.1

Concept of ethnoarchaeology:
1. Ethnoarchaeology= using information from living culture( ethnology, Ethnography) To
understand pattern found at archaeological site
2. i.e.Study material remains→ how useful in modern society→ apply knowledge to past
3. Coined by Jesse fewkes
4. Lewis binford=Studied present day hunting and butchering strategy and tools among
Nunamiut eskimos of Alaska→Hunting gathering Society of prehistoric Times.
5. Technique used
a. Catchment area analysis
b. Logical positivism and logico-deductive reasoning
c. controlled horizontal excavation
d. interpretative analysis
e. Site formation analysis
6. Salient feature:
a. Analyse ‘why of tool’ rather than ‘what of tool’.Example= abundant tool→
frequently made and discarded & Rare one→ Reused several times
b. Helps in identifying specific use of particular artefact=>How people in the past
have lived
7. Limitation:
a. Project reality but not Empirical reality
b. Cannot be used to compare simultaneous site
c. Cognition of present-day society and the past cannot be equated
d. Analogy cannot be accurately use because of discontinuity between ancient and
present time

Survivals and parallel among the hunting,foraging,fishing,pastoral and peasant

communities including art and craft producing community
1. survival
E.b. tylor= Concept of survival in “primitive culture”
a. Formulated doctrine of culture survival= analyse symbol and meaning of social
custom
b. Survival termed as Custom lost its utility due to poor integration with rest of
culture
 c. Making of pottery is example Earlier as cooking pot out of clay And now out of
metal
Malinowski= Reject notion of practice that have no utility
2. Parallels= Material and non material phenomena which are uniform among different
societies
Tylor= Psychic unity of mankind= Similarity in the Mental framework→ Different societies
find same solution to same problem Independently
3. Case study
● Utility of circular hut with diameter less than 3 metre among Neo chalcolithic of
Andhra Pradesh and South India →Chenchus sleep outside hut and use hut to
cook or store →birhors refuse to live in government constructed structure
● Birhor today hunt and share meet→ how hunting gathering tribe survived for
thousands of year in tekkalakote an arid zone
● The juangs-keonjhar→Dormitory called mando ghar →Wooden log burning in a
simmering way→Believed to be auspicious →Survival of prehistoric
Practices(Mahapatra and Tripathi).
● Onges of Andaman and Nicobar→Decorate their body with microliths for purpose
of tattooing→No microlith site→ Parallel to Prehistoric practices
● Nolia of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha border→ Use net and boat for fishing→
Boat are devoid of iron as inauspicious→ Parallel
Build their house in circular shape→ Survival of prehistoric culture

Ethnographical studies of important tribes

1. Todas:
a. Inhabiting Nilgiri Hills
b. Pastoralist
c. Polyandrous society
d. 2 moieties=tharatharol & teiveilol
e. Female are polluted individual=> menstrual cycle
f. Practice child marriage
g. Father is identified by bow and arrow ceremony
h. No Tribal chief→ Council of 5 elders
i. Dairy activities performed by male(Female impure)=>Economy depend on buffalo
j. Fair and good looking people
k. First tribal influenced by British and use train service
Referred to Paper 2 page number 25
2. Chenchus:
a. PVTGs
b. Economic substance= hunting and gathering
c. Exogamous Clan with animal totemism
d. No child marriage, Divorce is very easy
e. Elder man governs
f. Local deity= garela maisamma
3. Khasis:
a. Matriarchal and matrilineal Society
b. Megalith construction =Sentimental attachment
c. Monogamous
d. Exogamous, No child marriage
e. Presence of chief as well as council of minister
f. Animism
4. Oraons:
a. From hunting gathering to agriculture
b. Nuclear family
c. Widow remarriage= junior levirate
d. paraha panchayat
e. Animism.
f. Dharmesh, a spirit ,Supreme Deity & also Witchcraft and sorcery
g. Youth dormitories= Dhum Khuria
5. Bhils:
a. Largest tribe In India
b. Cousin marriages
c. Agriculture
d. animism
6. Gonds
a. Hunting and gathering
b. youth dormitories= Ghotul
c. Monogamy
d. panchayat
7. Santhal
a. Settled agriculture
b. monogamous but sometime practise sororate
c. Believer of witchcraft,magic, sorcery
d. Displaced population of Chota Nagpur Plateau because of mining and
developmental activities
8. Bhotias:
a. Uttarakhand
b. Live in 2 house( At high altitude in summer and at low altitude in winter)
c. Village exogamy
d. Marriage by capture and elopement
e. Punishment offered by panchayat= mass feast (Peaceful resolution)
9. Birhor:
a. PVTGs, Chhota Nagpur Plateau
b. Hunting and food gathering, consume monkey’s flesh
c. Youth dormitories= Gatiora
d. Depopulating tribe