India: An Archaeological History Palaeolithic Beginnings to Early Historic Foundations

by Chakrabarti, Dilip K.

• ISBN13: 9780195658804
• ISBN10: 0195658809
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-11-29
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Much more than a compendium of ancient Indian archaeological data, this book presents the flow of India's grassroots archaeological history in all its continuities and diversities from its Palaeolithic beginnings to c. 300 AD, when early historic India assumed its basic form.

Author Biography

Dilip K. Chakrabarti is University Lecturer in South Asian Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, Cambridge University.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction	p. 1
Ancient India: The Importance of Archaeological Evidence	p. 1
The Development of Archaeological Research in the Subcontinent	p. 4
Aims and Structure	p. 19
The Land Mass	p. 20
Peoples and Languages: The Basic Classificatory Frameworks	p. 30
Concluding Remarks	p. 39
The Palaeolithic Context	p. 41
Research Background	p. 41
Skeletal Evidence	p. 48
The Earliest Dates of Palaeolithic Tools in the Sub-continent	p. 51
Distribution, Stratigraphy, Climate	p. 54
Chronology	p. 74
Cultural Evidence	p. 75
The Evidence of Art(?)	p. 88
Concluding Remarks	p. 89
The Mesolithic Horizon and Associated Rock Art	p. 91
The Concept of a Mesolithic Level and Its Distribution	p. 92
Climate	p. 95
Chronology	p. 98
Cultural Evidence	p. 100
Associated Rock Art	p. 110
Concluding Remarks	p. 116
The Growth of Villages: From Baluchistan to Haryana and Gujarat	p. 117
The Mountainous Rim in the North-west: Baluchistan	p. 117
The Mountainous Rim in the North-west: Bannu	p. 136
The Western Fringe of the Indus-Hakra Alluvium: The Gomal Valley	p. 138
The Western Fringe of the Indus-Hakra Alluvium: Kirthar Piedmont and Kohistan	p. 138
The Western Fringe of the Indus-Hakra Alluvium: The Potwar Plateau	p. 140
The Indus-Hakra Plain	p. 140
The Aravalli Belt: The Growth of an Early Metallurgical Centre	p. 146
Gujarat	p. 147
Toward the Indus Civilization	p. 148
The Indus or Harappan Civilization	p. 151
Name	p. 151
Distribution	p. 153
Origin	p. 160
Morphology of Some Major Sites	p. 164
General Features of Harappan Civilization	p. 179
Chronological Framework	p. 198
Political and Social Framework	p. 199
Decline and Transformation	p. 200
Neolithic-Chalcolithic and Iron-Bearing Cultures Beyond the Harappan Distribution Zone	p. 205
Complexities of the Beginning of Food Production in non-Harappan India	p. 205
The Mountains in the North	p. 209
Rajasthan	p. 216
Madhya Pradesh	p. 221
Maharashtra	p. 224
Karnataka, Andhra, Tamil Nadu	p. 236
Orissa, the North-eastern States, West Bengal and Bihar	p. 239
Uttar Pradesh	p. 247
The Significance of the Indian Neolithic-Chalcolithic and Iron-bearing Cultures beyond the Harappan Distribution Zone	p. 260
The Archaeological Foundations of Early Historic India	p. 262
The Historical Framework of Early Historic Indian Archaeology	p. 265
Settlement Contexts	p. 279
Inscriptions	p. 290
Coins	p. 295
Sculpture, Terracotta, painting	p. 300
Architecture	p. 309
Concluding Observations	p. 315
Some General Issues	p. 319
Geography	p. 319
Prehistory	p. 321
Settlement	p. 324
Agriculture	p. 326
Metallurgy	p. 329
Trade and Trade Routes	p. 333
Notes	p. 339
Bibliography	p. 348
Index	p. 367
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