Microlithic industry is easy to identify: usually less than 1 to 5 cm long
implements made mostly on short parallel-sided blades. In addition to the
‘pigmy’ versions of the upper Paleolithic types, such as points, scrapers,
burins, awls, etc., we also see lunates or crescents and the so-called
geometric shapes of rhomboids and trapezes, and triangles. The
distribution of early, truly Mesolithic evidence in India is still limited, but
the distribution of microlithic sites is very vast. In fact, it is easier to note
the areas without microliths than those with them. Except in a limited
section of the Ganga plain, i.e. near Banaras, microliths are not yet known
to occur elsewhere in the Indo-Gangetic plain. The hilly areas of the
northeast too have not yet shown any clear proof of the existence of this
industry. Otherwise, microliths are more common than paleoliths in the
sense that they are far more visible in the subcontinent.)
Excavated Sites At present, however, we have very limited knowledge of the
early Mesolithic in India. There are only seven or eight excavated sites with
proper occupational evidence and early dates in admittedly limited areas of
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and an assortment of
rock paintings which still seem to be confined only to the central Indian
highlands from Uttar Pradesh to Gujarat. Further, at least two of the sixth
millennium BC sites among them—Bagor, and Adamgarh—show
domestication of cattle and sheep/goat where people might already have
given up some of their hunting-gathering activities.
BHIMBETKA CAVES
Located about 45 km northeast of Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, these caves
were accidentally discovered in 1957-58 by Dr. Vishnu Wakankar of
Vikram University, Ujjain. Subsequent excavations yielded remains,
serially from the Lower Palaeolithic Age to the Early Medieval Ages. The
caves have rock paintings, going back to 15,000 years ago in vivid and
panoramic detail. The most ancient scenes are believed to be commonly
belonging to the Mesolithic Age. Executed mainly in red and white, with
the occasional use of green and yellow and themes taken from the
everyday events, the scenes