Human Evolution: The Old Stone Age (Part-1)

African Ancestors of Human Beings

The earth is over 4600 million years old. The evolution of its crust shows four stages. The fourth stage is called the quaternary. It is divided into two epoch called Pleistocene (ice age) and Holocene (post-ice age).

The first epoch is lasted from 2 million BC to 12,000 BC, The second begun in about 12,000 BC and continues to this day. Though life begun on the earth around 3500 million years ago, it was confined to plants and animals for many millennia. Humans appeared on the earth in pre-Pleistocene and early Pleistocene times. Several types of Human, called hominids, lived in southern and eastern Africa about 6 million years ago. The earliest humans were not very different from apes which first developed 30 million years ago. The birth of the creature called Australopithecus was the most momentous step in the evolution of the human line. Australopithecus is the term that originated in Latin and means southern ape. This species or family possessed both ape like and human characteristics , and originated roughly between 5.5 million and 1.5 million years ago. This creature was bipedal and pot-bellied, with a very small braincase measuring between 400 cubic centimeters. The Australopithecus was marked b y some elements found in other living beings called homos or human beings. Humans form part of the hominid line of evolution and Australopithecus was the last of the pre-human hominids. This is why this species is also called proto-human.

            The first important Homo or human was Homo habilis found in eastern and southern Africa about 2-1.5 million years ago. Homo habilis means a handy or skillful man. This first real human broke stone into pieces and sharpened the latter to use as tools. Fractured pieces of the stone have been found in the same places as the bones of Homo habilis. This creature had a lightly built braincase which measured 500-700 cubic centimeters. The second important step saw the appearance of Homo erectus means as erect or upright man. Its skull was strongly built, its braincase measuring 800-1200 cubic centimetres .

New types of stone tools have been found with Homo erectus. The hand axe is considered the most distinctive . It is believed that the Homo erectus people discovered how to make and use fire , and this kept them contrast to the Homo habilis, the Homo erectus travelled long distances. Their remains have been found not only in Africa but also in China, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

         The third step marked the emergence of Homo sapiens, which means wise man. Our own species evolved from Homo sapiens . It resembles the Neanderthal man found in western Germany around 230000-30000 years ago. It had a short body and very narrow forehead, but its braincase measured about 1200 to 1800 cubic centimetres. The race probably evolved in Europe, but the Neanderthal remains have also found in the Near East and elsewhere in the Old World.

           The full-fledged modern man called Homo sapiens is traceable to about 115,000 years ago in the southern Africa in the late Stone age called the Upper Palaeolithic. Compared to other hominid species, it had a large forehead and thinner bones. Modern man originally made diverse stone tools for different functions, but in is not clear whether he was anatomically equipped to speak. Till recent times it was thought that language originated around 35000 BC but now this date has been pushed back to 50000 BC. However, the Homo sapiens  had a large rounded braincase of about 1200-2000 cubic centimetres in volume. This enabled the modern human to function much more effectively and enabled him to modify the environment.

The Early Man in India

Only a few fossils relating to human evolution have been discovered in the subcontinent. None the less, some of the earliest skull fossils have been found in the Siwalik hills covering India and Pakistan. These skulls appear in the Potwar plateau, in the Punjab province of Pakistan, which developed on sandstone. These skulls are called Ramapithecus and Sivapithecus. They seem to possess some hominid features though they represent apes. Ramapithecus was the female, but both belonged to the same group. A representative of this group found in Greece is dated around 10 million years ago. This may be a ground for dating Ramapithecus and Sivapithecus, but these skulls are considered 2.2 million years old. In any case, there is nothing to show that this species spread in other parts of the subcontinent. It seems further evolution from the Siwalik category of hominids came to a dead end in the subcontinent, and this species became extinct.

            Nevertheless, an almost complete hominid skull was discovered in 1982 in the middle valley of the Narmada at Hathnora in MP. This fossilized skull was called Homo erectus or upright human, but is now automatically recognized as archaic Homo sapiens.   

        

      So far the remains of Homo sapiens have been not been found elsewhere in the subcontinent. However, the remains of a full-fledged modern man called Homo sapiens have been reported from Sri Lanka . The find place  is called Fa Hien, and the fossils found nearby are 34,000 years old. They represent the hunting and foraging life which is attributed to the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene periods in Sri Lanka. Fa Hien cave seems to be the earliest Upper Paleolithic site in the Indian subcontinent. Its artefacts are about 31,000 years old. Modern humans are considered 34,000 years old. In any case it seems that the earliest modern humans arrived in India from the South because of an early coastal migration around 50,000 years ago from Africa. They did not come from the North.