The prehistoric era of India is the period when the human settlements actually began to take place, it is the period when the human race began to settle or initiate the basic life. However it is tough to assert the particular time for the beginning of this era thereby purely scientific techniques are used to comprehend the actual period of its origin. One technique is the radiocarbon technique in which, the loss of carbon is measured in the organic objects/material that takes place over a period of time. Another technique is the dendro-chronology in which the number of the rings in the wood is counted, the rings of the wood depict the time how older the wood is. The prehistoric era of India is fundamentally divided into four periods; the Old Stone Age (Paleolithic age), the Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic age), the New Stone Age, (Neolithic age) and the Metal Age. The Old stone age sites were generally located near the water resources. Paleolithic people used to live in rock caves and rock made shelters, they also lived in huts made up of leaves. People from the old stone age were called the hunter-gathers because they used to gather their food by hunting the animals and by gathering plants and tubers. Head axe, pebble tools were used as the hunting tools and also tools made up of large and hard stone known as quartzite were highly used. Kashmir, Sohan in Punjab, Chhotangpur in Jharkhand, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Singrauli basin in U.P and Karnataka were the main sites of the old stone age. The middle stone age is basically considered to be the transitional period between the Paleolithic and Neolithic age. However the hunting gathering was also continued in this period and different kinds of stone tools were used which were tiny artifacts known as microliths. The painting engraved on the caves and rock shelters give the idea about the kind of social and economic life of the people of this age. During this period, the hunting of animals was shifted to the hunting of small fishes and animals. Usage of arrows and bows was also initiated in this period. Animal domestication and horticulture also began in this period. Didwana in Rajasthan, Bankura and Purulia in West Bengal, Narmada Valley, Bhimbetka in MP and Navasa in Maharashtra are important sites for this age. The Neolithic age was highly characterized by the practice of domestication of animals, polishing the stone tools, agriculture and pottery making. The tools and techniques of stone tools making got greatly improvised. By Neolithic age people began to use clothes made up of wool and cotton. The Neolithic age was followed by the use of copper and bronze and eventually the process of melting the metal and crafting metal tools began to take place. And it finally proceeded into the Metal age when a numerous of copper objects, tools, pottery and beads were made. The Harappa culture is supposed to be an important part of this culture. Major cities of South India are considered to be highly active in making and using the copper and bronze artifacts, pottery and small weapons in the metal age.
