The Prehistoric Period Or Stone Age
The prehistoric period or the stone age in the history of mankind can roughly be dated from 200000 BC to about 3500-2500 BC, when the first. Civilization began to take shape. The history of India is no exception. The first modern human being or the Homo sapiens set foot on the Indian subcontinent anywhere between 200000 BC and 40000 BC and they soon spread throughout a large part of the subcontinent, including peninsular India. The Stone Age People continuously flooded the Indian subcontinent in waves after waves of migration from what is present-day Iran. These primitive people moved in groups of few ‘families’ and lived mainly on hunting and gathering.
Stone Age
    The age the prehistoric man began to use stones for utilitarian purpose is termed as the Stone Age. Man appeared on earth in the early Pliestocene period when true Ox, true elepahant and true horse also originated. The age is divided into three broad divisions: Paleolithic Age ( from unknown till 8000 BC), Mesolithic Age (8000 BC—4000 BC) and the Neolithic Age (4000 BC—2500 BC) on the basis of the specialization of the stone tools. Which were during that time.
Sub Phases
| Prehistoric Cultures in India | Timeline |
| Paleolithic Age | 2 million BC – 10.000 BC |
| Mesolithic Age | 10,000 BC – 8000 BC |
| Neolithic Age | 8000 BC – 4000 BC |
| Chalcolithic Age | 4000 BC – 1500 BC |
| Iron Age | 1500 BC – 600 BC |
Some Facts
- On the basis of the scientific study, geologists fix age of the earth as 4,600 million years.
- The fossils of the earliest humans found in Africa were about 4.2 million years old.
- The earliest human beings were shorter in height and had a smaller brain.
- About 42-lakhs years ago, Human being evolves and the present form reached about 50,000 years ago.
- The fossils found in Africa, China, Java, Sumatra, and southern Europe portray the various stages and periods of human development.
- In India, the only hominid fossil found from ‘Hathnaura’ in the Narmada Valley.