Bihar is one of India’s richest regions for Stone Age archaeology, providing crucial insights into early human life. Excavations across the state reveal the development of tool-making, hunting, gathering, and early settlements. The Stone Age in Bihar is divided into three main stages: Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic.
1. Palaeolithic Age in Bihar
Important Palaeolithic sites in Bihar include Munger and Nalanda. The Palaeolithic period is further divided into three phases:
a) Early or Lower Palaeolithic (500,000 – 50,000 BC)
- Lifestyle: Early humans were hunter-gatherers, relying on small game, fish, and birds for survival.
- Tools: Simple quartz pebbles called chopping tools.
- Significance: Marks the beginning of human tool-making and adaptation in Bihar.
b) Middle Palaeolithic (50,000 – 40,000 BC)
- Lifestyle: Hunter-gatherers who gradually learned to control fire.
- Tools: Blades, points, borers, and scrapers made from flakes.
- Major Sites: Mirzapur (though outside Bihar, techniques found here influenced Bihar regions).
c) Upper Palaeolithic (40,000 – 10,000 BC)
- Lifestyle: Modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) lived in rock shelters and caves.
- Achievements: Earliest evidence of paintings and symbolic art.
- Tools: Advanced blades and burins.
- Major Sites: Belan Valley, with influence on Bihar’s regions.
2. Mesolithic Age in Bihar
The Mesolithic period is a transitional stage between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic. Key evidence from Bihar includes Paisara (Munger).
- Lifestyle: Hunting, fishing, and food gathering; gradually domestication of animals began.
- Agriculture: Evidence of plant cultivation appears during this age in nearby regions, influencing Bihar’s early farming practices.
- Tools: Small, refined stone implements for daily use.
3. Neolithic Age in Bihar
Bihar also hosts some of India’s early Neolithic settlements.
- Lifestyle: Humans began permanent settlements, farming, and domesticating animals.
- Agriculture: Cultivation of wheat and barley.
- Tools and Technology:
- Polished stone axes and bone tools.
- Early pottery and use of the wheel for transport.
- Major Sites: Senwar (Bihar), along with influences from Maski, Brahmagiri, Hallur, and other contemporary Neolithic sites.
- Significance: Marks the transition to food production, village life, and complex social organization.
Conclusion
Bihar’s Stone Age heritage illustrates human evolution in tool-making, subsistence, and settlement patterns:
- From simple stone tools and hunting in the Palaeolithic,
- To animal domestication and food gathering in the Mesolithic,
- And finally to agriculture, permanent villages, and polished tools in the Neolithic.
