Neolithic Age
Table of Contents
Neolithic Age
Sankranti stage:-
Man made great progress in the Middle Stone Age.
Which separates the Pre-Stone Age from the Neolithic Age.
In this era, dense forests gradually grew in the areas which were covered with snow. Man made the dog a pet.
The dog started helping him in hunting.
The Mesolithic Age was characterized by the use of small tools.
These small tools are called miniature stones.
Some of these started being used as the tip of spears and some as the tip of arrows.
The humans of the Mesolithic Age used sled-like carts to move on the snow.
They used to harvest the wild grain crops growing in some areas.
Beginning of agriculture and animal husbandry:-
The transition from food gathering to grain production occurred gradually through the experiments of Middle Stone Age people.
Man saw plants growing naturally all around him.
They thought that this was natural, so they harvested ripe grains every year.
They did not know that grains could also be grown.
When the fertility of the land at one place ended or there was little or no production there,
then he moved to a new place where grains grew.
The man who first tried to grow plants from seeds can be considered the first great scientist.
Man found a reliable way to obtain food for food.
There is evidence to show that agriculture first started in such valleys on the borders of the deserts of Thailand and Arabia and Iran
where there was no shortage of water and
they are called cubic fertile regions.
The dense fertile region is native to sheep, goats, pigs and cattle.
Wheat and barley grew there like wild grass.
Even in Palestine in Western Asia, humans had greatly developed the culture of the Middle Stone Age.
Excavations at the Jericho level in Palestine have revealed layers of three cultures over Paleolithic remains.
They show the later development of settled village life.
Among these remains were well-built huts.
There was a brick and stone wall around the village to protect it from enemies.
This settlement dates back to 7000 BC.
It developed around 3000 AD, whose population was around 3000.
From the bones of many animals found there,
it has been estimated that the people there reared many animals, especially goats.
It seems that after dogs, goats would have been reared.
Like Jericho, ruins of many farming villages of that period have been found in northern Syria, Iran.
Development of settlements:-
Scholars are of the opinion that the Neolithic Age started when humans completely adopted the invention of agriculture.
In this era, life became so limited that this era is called the Neolithic Revolution.
In this way organized life started through agriculture and animal husbandry.
People started living in mud houses and houses made of wooden poles and thatched roofs.
Settlements developed into villages and some of them became such small reserved towns as a result of organized social life.
Invention of mixed farming:-
Various changes took place due to the development of agriculture.
Here some crops are produced for humans and some for animals.
In agriculture, apart from paddy, crops like maize, sorghum, pulses etc.
and vegetables were cultivated. Thus, along with agricultural work, animal husbandry was also done.
Smooth stone tools:-
The relatively greater utility and efficient construction of the tools of the Neolithic period differentiate them from the tools of the Palaeolithic period.
An important tool of the Neolithic period was a smooth stone axe.
This ax was made of fine grained stone pieces.
One end of it was chiseled and made smooth.
So that the cutting edge becomes sharp. By attaching it to one end of a stick,
it could be used as an axe.
The second important tool of the Neolithic period was the sickle.
This tool was made by attaching blades of thin pieces of stone to a wooden handle.
It was used for cutting and gathering crops.
There was a lot of progress in the weapons of war and hunting.
During this period, bow and arrow were used.
But the tips of the arrows now started being made sharper than before.
At some places man started using new weapons like slingshot.
Neolithic humans started making tools like needles and barbed sticks from animal bones and horns.
Invention of earthen pots:-
To store and cook food, utensils were required in which grains and liquids could be kept and which could be offered on fire.
At the beginning of the Neolithic period, baskets made of sticks and twigs were used to store fruits and dry goods.
They were filled with clay to hold liquids. Neolithic man easily learned to make round strips and ropes of fibres.
They soon learned to cook their pottery over very high fire.
After this the utensils became hard.
And water had no effect on them.
The invention of pottery is the specialty of Neolithic cultures.
Beginning of the art of spinning and weaving:-
The remains of the most ancient villages of the Neolithic era have been found in Western Asia.
From them we come to know the story of the beginning of the textile industry.
During this period, instead of clothes made of skin and leaves, everyone started wearing clothes made of cotton and wool.
Cotton began to be grown in the Indus Valley shortly after 3000 BC.
Around the same time, wool was used in Iraq,
but before fabric could be prepared, the two processes of spinning and weaving had to be invented and used equally.
The invention of machines like spindle for spinning, spindle for weaving and loom for weaving are great successes of human progress.
Improvement in community life:-
Systematic life and farming gave man leisure time.
Now he did not have to worry about getting food all the time.
In his free time he could make stone tools like spades or utensils.
Some people who did not need to produce their own food could engage themselves in other work.
As a result of this, division of labor took place.
Due to division of labor, specialization became possible for different groups.
In other words, by engaging in a work, they can understand the technique of doing that work better than others.
Orderly community life required rules to regulate the conduct of community members.
It is not possible to know how these rules were implemented.
It seems that decisions regarding the community were taken by the people collectively or by a council of elders.
This trend is prevalent among tribes.
At that time there were probably no kings and no government.
It is quite possible that Sardars might have been selected on the basis of leadership qualities;
Sardars could not pass on their posts to their sons.
Those chieftains had no privileges. Probably at that time agricultural land was considered the property of the entire community.
The community would give pieces of land to different families for farming.
Or the entire community worked on joint farms.
It is possible that gradually different families became owners of different land parcels and the land ceased to be the property of the entire community.
Like land, houses, utensils and jewelery would also have been the property of different families.
Religious beliefs of Neolithic people:-
The manner in which dead persons were buried provides some information about the religious beliefs of the Neolithic people.
The dead were buried in graves along with weapons, earthen utensils and food items.
It was believed that people would need these things even after death.
Such graves have also been found in the Palaeolithic period,
perhaps in the Neolithic period the importance of graves became more than before.
Now the entire community got food from the earth.
People of that time believed that the hopes of their dead ancestors
whose bodies were buried under the ground were helpful in the growth of crops.
There is also evidence that these people believed in ‘totems‘.
If a caste or a group of families living together accepts the shape of an animal or plant as the symbol of its caste or group,
then it was called the clan symbol of that caste or group.
In ancient times, people believed that animals and humans had the same ancestors and animals
were also friends or relatives of humans because they gave them food.
Even when humans started farming, their life was not completely secure;
they were always afraid that some major disaster might destroy the crops, domesticated animals or hunting animals.
These conditions of insecurity and man’s inability to understand the processes of nature led to the belief that the welfare of the community was tied to or completely dependent on the welfare of any particular animal.
Such beliefs were also formed about trees and plants.
Humans adopted certain animals as their tribal symbols as symbols of their ancestors and protectors.
Small clay figurines of women have been found in many Neolithic settlements in many parts of the world;
Who was called Mother Goddess. When man started cultivating the land,
the earth became mother and he started worshiping small idols in the belief that this would increase the fertility of the land.
Like the paintings on the caves of the Paleolithic period,
the music and dance of the Neolithic period were also related to the hopes and fears of humans.
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