Prehistoric Assam

2.1 Paleolithic Cultures

🔸 Sites:

• • • • Rongram Valley (Garo Hills):

        • Belongs to the Middle Pleistocene period (781,000–126,000 years ago).

        • Known for handaxe-cleaver tools showing similarities with the Abbevillio-Acheulean culture.

      • Daphabum (Lohit District, Arunachal Pradesh):

        • Tools made of metamorphic rock, signifying early human activity.

      • Khangkhui (Ukhrul, Manipur):

        • A cave-based site dating to the Late Pleistocene, showing advanced Paleolithic occupation.

🔸 Tools and Characteristics:

• • • • Tools made of stone, particularly handaxes and cleavers.

      • Designed for hunting and food gathering.

      • Lack of human skeletal remains in Assam due to climatic and soil conditions, which are not favorable for preservation.

 2.2 Microlithic Cultures

🔸 Tools and Settlement Patterns:

• • • • Found between neolithic layers and virgin soil in Rongram Valley.

      • Microliths made from dolerite, unlike other Indian regions.

      • Evidence of crude handmade pottery, indicating hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

      • Populations were likely semi-nomadic, living in temporary shelters.

 2.3 Neolithic Cultures

🔸 Important Sites:

1. 1. 1. 1. Daojali Hading (Dima Hasao)

         2. Sarutaru (Kamrup District)

         3. Selbagiri (Garo Hills)

🔸 Tools, Artifacts, and Cultivation Practices:

• • • • Tools include ground and polished stone tools like celts, hatchets, and grooved hammer stones.

      • Practiced shifting cultivation (jhum)—still in use by some tribal communities.

      • Associated with Hoabinhian culture, showing connections to Southeast Asian cultures.

      • Neolithic habitation mostly on hills and highlands, likely due to seasonal flooding in the plains.

🔸 Important Explorers and Findings:

• • • • W. Penny (Biswanath): Discovered large collections of Neolithic tools.

      • J.H. Hutton, J.P. Mills, K.L. Barua, and others: Collected and classified stone tools.

      • Tools stored in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford—largest number from Biswanath.

      • J.H. Hutton classified tools into:

        1. Triangular

        2. Rectangular

        3. Shouldered type

      • A.H. Dani divided Neolithic Assam into six archaeological zones:

        1. Cachar Hills

        2. Sadiya Frontier

        3. Naga Hills

        4. Khasi Hills

        5. Garo Hills

        6. Brahmaputra Valley

 2.4 Megalithic Cultures

🔸 Khasi and Naga Practices:

• • • • Rich Megalithic traditions among Khasi and Naga tribes, some of which continue till today.

      • Use of stone monuments for burial, ancestor worship, and ceremonial purposes.

🔸 Cultural and Religious Implications:

• • • • These practices were precursors to fertility cults, Shaktism, and Vajrayana Buddhism.

      • Shows a cultural affinity with Southeast Asia rather than mainland India.

      • Despite the absence of a formal Metal Age, the Megalithic phase fills that cultural gap in Assam.