Tracing Humanity’s Footsteps - ©RohitSinghNegi_Reshmi Nair

TRACING HUMANITY’S FOOTSTEPS

From the World’s Oldest Archaeological Sites to India’s Ancient Heritage

Human history is far older than written texts or recorded dynasties. Across the world, archaeological sites reveal stories of early humans — their tools, art, settlements, and evolving cultures — spanning millions of years.

🔴Context

Oldest Global Archaeological Sites and India’s own rich and continuous Archaeological record, which is being transformed by exciting new discoveries every year.

🔴World’s Oldest Archaeological Sites — 

A Timeline

• Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) — \~1.8 million years ago

Earliest Oldowan Stone Tools 

• Dmanisi (Georgia) — 1.8 million years ago

Earliest human migration out of Africa

• Atapuerca (Spain) — 1.2 million years ago,Hominin fossils, Acheulean tools

• Gesher Benot Ya’aqov (Israel) —780,000 years ago

• Advanced tools, evidence of controlled fire

• Jebel Irhoud (Morocco) — 300,000 years ago

Earliest Homo Sapiens Fossils

• Blombos Cave (South Africa) —100,000–75,000 years ago

Shell beads, early symbolic art:-

• Chauvet Cave (France)— \~36,000 years ago

• Magnificent Upper Paleolithic cave paintings.

🔴India’s Archaeological Journey — From the Stone Age to Civilisation

India offers one of the richest archaeological records in the world — stretching back over half a million years.

Recent finds in Kutch, Tamil Nadu, and Haryana are adding exciting new chapters to this story.

1️⃣ Lower Paleolithic Sites (500,000 – 100,000 years ago)

Early human ancestors:

Acheulean handaxes and cleavers

Key Sites:

• Attirampakkam (Tamil Nadu) 385,000 years ago

• Isampur, Hunsgi-Baichbal (Karnataka)

• Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh

2️⃣ Middle Paleolithic Sites (100,000 – 40,000 years ago)

Flake tools, points, scrapers — evolutionary advances in tool-making

Key Sites:

• Mangar Bani (Haryana) -100,000–80,000 years ago

• Jwalapuram (Andhra Pradesh) — tools associated with the pre and post Toba Volano super-eruption, showing continuity of human existence.

• Bhimbetka, Narmada Valley

3️⃣ Upper Paleolithic Sites (40,000 – 10,000 BCE)

Blade tools, symbolic behavior, early art

Key Sites:

• Bhimbetka — cave art

• Patne (Maharashtra)

• Kurnool caves(Andhra Pradesh)

4️⃣ Mesolithic Sites(10,000 – 6,000 BCE)

Microliths, hunter-gatherers transitioning to early villages

Key Sites:

• Bagor (Rajasthan)

• Langhnaj (Gujarat)

• Adamgarh (Madhya Pradesh)

5️⃣ Neolithic Sites(7000 – 2000 BCE)

Agriculture, pottery, domestication of animals

Key Sites:

• Burzahom (Kashmir) — pit dwellings

• Hallur, Brahmagiri, Piklihal (Karnataka)

• Chirand (Bihar)

• Chettimedu Pathur (Tamil Nadu) — recent child burial find (2500–3000 BCE)

 6️⃣ Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Sites (3500 – 1200 BCE)

Introduction of copper tools, painted pottery, village life

Key Sites:

• Ahar-Banas (Rajasthan)

• Malwa (Madhya Pradesh)

• Jorwe (Maharashtra)

7️⃣ Indus Valley Civilization (2600 – 1900 BCE)

Urban centers, drainage, script, trade networks

Note :- Early Harappan Sites are (5300 years ago) Settlement

Key Sites:

• Dholavira

• Lothal

• Kalibangan

• Rakhigarhi

• Gola Dhoro (Kutch) — small craft and trade center (2500–2000 BCE)

• Lakhapar(Kutch) — newly discovered 

8️⃣ Iron Age & Early Historic Period (1200 BCE onward)

Iron tools, second urbanization, early kingdoms, inscriptions

Key Sites:

• Painted Grey Ware (PGW) sites — Early Iron Age

• Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW)— early states

• Keeladi (Tamil Nadu) — Urban Settlement dating back to 6th century BCE — showing South India’s early cities as old as those of the Ganga plains*

• Jawadhu Hills (Tiruvannamalai) — Neolithic and Megalithic burial sites

• Adichanallur(Tamil Nadu) — Iron Age burials, early Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions

• Perumbalai (Dharmapuri, TN) — 6th century BCE artifacts, terracotta figures

• Vembakkottai (Virudhunagar, TN) — Neolithic tools, megalithic urns

🔴Why These New Discoveries Matter

• The Lakhapar settlement in Kutch expands our understanding of Harappan spread around Dholavira.

• The Keeladi Excavations confirm a thriving Early Urban Culture in Tamil Nadu by the 6th century BCE — parallel to the Ganges Valley Cities.

• Sites like Jawadhu Hills, Chettimedu and Adichanallur reveal continuity from Neolithic to Iron Age, providing a more complete South Indian timeline.

🔴Conclusion: India in the Global Human Story

From half-a-million-year-old Acheulean tools to the grandeur of Indus cities and early Tamil kingdoms — India’s archaeological heritage is among the richest in the world. Each new find — from Mangar Bani’s Middle Paleolithic Tools to Kutch’s Harappan graves— reminds us that India has long been a vibrant and continuous center of human activity. And with dozens of new sites being surveyed every year — this ancient story is only just beginning to be told.

© Rohit Singh Negi/ Dr.Reshmi Nair