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PREHISTORIC ART
The distant past when there was no paper or language or the written word, and hence no books or
written document, is called as the Prehistoric period.
Palaeolithic period can be divided into three phases
(1) Lower Palaeolithic
(2) Middle Palaeolithic
(3) Upper Palaeolithic
We did not get any evidence of paintings from lower or middle palaeolithic age yet. In the Upper Palaeolithic
period, we see a proliferation of artistic activities.
Prehistoric paintings have been found in many parts of the world.
First discovery of rock paintings in the world was made in India (1867-68) by an Archaeologist, Archibold
Carlleyle, twelve years before the discovery of Altamira in Spain (site of oldest rock paintings in the
world).
In India, remnants of rock paintings have been found on the walls of caves situated in several districts of
Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Bihar and Uttarakhand.
Some of the examples of sites early rock paintings are Lakhudiyar in Uttarakhand, Kupgallu in
Telangana, Piklihal and Tekkalkotta in Karnataka, Bhimbetka and Jogimara in Madhya Pradesh
etc.
Paintings found here can be divided into three categories: Man, Animal and Geometric symbols.
There are two major sites of excellent prehistoric paintings in India:
(1) Bhimbetka Caves, Foothills of Vindhya, Madhya Pradesh.
(2) Jogimara caves, Amarnath, Madhya Pradesh.
Bhimbetka has about eight hundred rock shelters, five hundred of which bear paintings.
UPPER PALAEOLITHIC PERIOD
Paintings are linear representations, in green and dark red, of huge animal figures, such as Bisons,
Tigers, Elephants, Rhinos and Boars (junglee bhaisa) beside stick-like human figures.
Mostly they are filled with geometric patterns.
Green paintings are of dances and red ones of hunters.
A number of paintings of the stone age are found in Bhimbetka caves. located in MP. These caves are
natural Caves. These were used by early man beginning from Paleolithic Age. These caves were discovered by Dr. Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar, an Indian archeologist. In 2003 UNESCO inscribed the
Bhimbetka rock caves as a World Heritage Site.
The Bhimbetka caves are spread over 21 Villages covering an area of about 10,000 areas. The Caves are
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supposed to be associated with Pandavas. It is believed that Pandavas used these caves during their
phase of “Agyatavasa”.
MESOLITHIC PERIOD ART
The largest number of paintings belong this period. During this period the themes multiply but the
paintings are smaller in size. Hunting scenes predominate. The hunting scenes depict people hunting in
groups, armed with barbed spears (bhala), pointed sticks, arrows and bows.
In some paintings these primitive men are shown with traps and snares probably to catch animals. The
hunters are shown wearing simple clothes and ornaments. Sometimes, men have been adorned with
elaborate head-dresses, and sometimes painted with masks also.
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Elephant, bison, tiger, boar, deer, antelope, leopard, panther, rhinoceros, fish, frog, lizard,
squirrel and at times birds are also depicted. The Mesolithic artists loved to paint animals.
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Animals painted in naturalistic style and humans were depicted in a stylistic manner.
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In some pictures, animals are chasing men. In others they are being chased and hunted by men.
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Some of the animal paintings, especially in the hunting scenes, show a fear of animals, but
many others show a feeling of tenderness and love for them.
Women are painted both in the nude and clothed.
The young and the old equally find place in these paintings. Children are painted running,
jumping and playing.
Community dances provide a common theme. There are paintings of people gathering fruit or
honey from trees, and of women grinding and preparing food.
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Some of the pictures of men, women and children seem to depict a sort of family life.
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In many of the rock-shelters we find hand prints, fist prints, and dots made by the fingertips.
Some of the general features of Prehistoric paintings.
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Used colours, including various shades of white, yellow, orange, red ochre, purple, brown,
green and black. But white and red were their favourite.
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The paints used by these people were made by grinding various coloured rocks.
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They got red from Haematite (Geru in India).
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Green prepared from a green coloured rock called Chalcedony.
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White was probably from Limestone.
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Some sticky substances such as animal fat or gum or resin from trees may be used while mixing
rock powder with water.
Brushes were made of plant fibre.
It is believed that these colours remained thousands of years because of the chemical reaction
of the oxide present on the surface of rocks.
Paintings were found both from occupied and unoccupied caves. It means that these paintings
were sometimes used also as some sort of signals, warnings etc.
Many rock art sites of new painting are painted on top of an older painting.In Bhimbetka, we
can see nearly 20 layers of paintings, one on top of another. It shows the gradual development
of the human being from period to period.
The symbolism is inspiration from nature along with slight spirituality.
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Expression of ideas through very few drawings (representation of men by the stick like drawings).
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Use of many geometrical patterns.
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Scenes were mainly hunting and economic and social life of people.
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The figure of flora, fauna, human, mythical creatures, carts, chariots etc can be seen. More
importance for red and white colours.
The artists here made their paintings on the walls and ceilings of the rock shelters. Some of the
paintings are reported from the shelters where people lived. But some others were made in
places which do not seem to have been living spaces at all. Perhaps these places had some
religious importance.
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The men shown in the paintings appear adventurous and rejoicing in their lives.
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The animals are shown more youthful and majestic than perhaps they actually were.
The primitive artists seem to possess an intrinsic passion for storytelling. These pictures depict, in a
dramatic way, both men and animals engaged in the struggle for survival. In one of the scenes, a group
of people have been shown hunting a bison. In the process,some injured men are depicted lying scattered
on the ground. In another scene, an animal is shown in the agony of death and the men are depicted
dancing.
It is interesting to note that at many rock-art sites often a new painting is painted on top of an older
painting. At Bhimbetka, in some places, there are as many as 20 layers of paintings, one on top of
another. Why did the artists paint in the same place again and again? Maybe, this was because the artist
did not like his creation and painted another painting on the previous one, or some of the paintings and
places were considered sacred or special or this was because the area may have been used by different
generations of people at different times.
One important discovery is of the ostrich egg shells at over 40 sites in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and
Maharashtra, which shows that ostrich, a bird adapted to arid climate, was widely distributed in western
India during the later part of the upper Pleistocene. The earliest form of art is found in the form of ostrich
egg shell pieces engraved with cross-hatched designs from the upper Palaeolithic period.
KONDANA CAVE ART
40 rock paintings recently discovered in the Kondane caves in Raigarh district in Maharashtra.The images were found in both natural caves and man-made caves. The man-made caves also feature Buddhist
architecture such as a ‘chaitya’ (prayer hall) and a monastery.
The rock paintings, in red and black, were found in the corners and the ceilings of the caves. A striking
image found was that of a mythical figure, perhaps a demon. Other paintings reflected everyday life and
occupations such as hunting deer.The style and articulation of these paintings suggest that they have
been drawn during the late historical period of second century B.C. onwards because some of the caves
where these images have been found were excavated in the first century B.C.
Specialists in Buddhist studies are familiar with the Kondane caves. An unfinished Buddhist chaitya and
a vihara were found in two man-made caves in the group. A chaitya is a Buddhist prayer hall with a stupa
at one end. A vihara is a monastery. The Buddhist rock-cut architecture found in these caves belongs to
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the Hinayana phase of Buddhism.
TOOL MAKING ART
The Palaeolithic age belong to Pleistocene era and Mesolithic and Neolithic age belong to Holocene
era. The Pleistocene era began around 1.6 million years ago and Holocene era (or Recent period, in
which we live) began around about 10,000 years ago.
Decade = 10 years
Century = 100 years
Millennium = 1,000 years
Epoch = 1,000,000 years = 1 Million
Aeon = 1,000,000,000 years = 1 Billion
The Palaeolithic age has further been divided into 3 phase’s i.e. Early or lower Paleolithic — Middle
Palaeolithic and Upper Palaeolithic.
A general time range for the Lower Paleolithic is from 5,00,000 to 1,00,000 BC, the Middle Paleolithic
from about 1,00,000 to 40,000 BC and Upper Paleolithic from about 40,000 BC to 10,000 BC.
In 1863, John Lubbock divided the stone age into two parts, the Paleolithic and the Neolithic. A few
years later, Edouard Larter suggested the division of the Paleolithic into Lower, Middle and Upper
Paleolithic, largely on the basis of changes in fauna associated with the different tool types. The use of
term Mesolithic is relatively recent.
LOWER PALAEOLITHIC/EARLY OLD STONE AGE
Tool types of this phase mainly include Handaxes, Cleavers, Choppers and Chopping Tools.
Some important representative sites, from where the tools belonging to the period have been discovered
are: Soan river valley (Punjab, Pakistan), Kashmir, Belan valley (U.P), Didwana (Rajasthan) and Bhimbetka
(M.P.).
Two famous cultural traditions of Lower Paleolithic Age are Sohanian Culture and the Acheulian
culture.
The name Sohanian Culture is derived from the Soan valley (now in Pakistan) or Sohan river, a tributary
of Indus. The sites of Sohanian culture were found in the Siwalik Hills in North-west India and Pakistan.
The name Acheulian or ‘Madrasian’ culture is named after French site of St. Acheul (Madras)
MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC
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The dominant tool types being Blades, Points and Borers
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The time period extends from 100,000 B.C. to about 40,000 B.C.
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The representative site to a great extent coincides with that of lower Palaeolithic.
UPPER PALAEOLITHIC OR LATE OLD STONE AGE
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The upper Palaeolithic tool types are characterized by “Burins” and “Scrappers”
The representative sites being Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Central M.P, Southern
U.P. and South Bihar
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The earliest painting of the Stone Age belongs to this period.
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The most commonly used stone for making tools was Quartzite, Chalcedony, Agate, Chert and
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Jasper. The tools made were generally of hard rock quartzite so the Palaeolithic man was
called Quartzite Man.
FRESH EVIDENCE OF STONE AGE CULTURES IN KERALA
North Kerala is fast emerging as the site of fresh discoveries of remnants of Stone Age cultures. The
discoveries include many Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Megalithic, and Neolithic tools and several Megalithic sites in the region. Findings include the typical Palaeolithic hand-axe from Vanimel river basin
(Kozhikode) and pointed choppers and side scrapers from Anakkayam and Cheerkkayam river basin
of Chandragiri (Kasaragod) are some of the first-time evidence of Palaeolithic implements in these districts. This disproves 19th century British geo-archaeologist Foote’s argument that Kerala was unsuitable for prehistoric habitation due to the absence of quartzite, thick forests and heavy rainfall in the State
SOCIETY DURING PRE HISTORIC AGE
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It was like ‘Band Society‘. Bands are small communities, usually consisting of less than 100
people.
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They are nomadic to some extent moving from one place to another, depending on the seasonal
availability of the animals they hunt and the plant food they gather.
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Members of the bands are usually related to each other through kinship, and their division of labour
is based on age and sex.
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The exchange of good is based on reciprocity, not on commercial exchange.
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No single person owns the natural resources they all depend on.
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No formal government or chief or leader in the band.
In most modern hunter gatherer communities, men hunt and women gather food, and a similar division
of labour probably existed in palaeolithic times. But if plant food had greater dietary importance, it can
be inferred that women must have contributed in major way to the subsistence base of palaeolithic
communities.
The dietary habits of the people include both vegetarian as well as meat products.
People were scared of thunder and lightning and worshiped them. They wore leaves, skin of animals and
barks of trees.
We can have an idea about the social life and economic activities of the Mesolithic people from the art
and paintings. It also tells us about division of labor on the basis of sex.
The subject matter of the paintings are mostly wild animals and hunting scenes, though there are some
related to human social and religious life such as sexual activity, child birth, rearing of children, burial
ceremony, gathering plant resources, trapping animals, eating together, dancing and playing instruments.
Mesolithic man in rejoicing moods is to be seen in the paintings at Bhimbetka. Some of the dances may
be of ritual significance. The musical instruments depicted are the blowpipes and horns.
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