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PREHISTORIC CULTURES IN INDIA
 * Evolution of Human Life

Meaning of Prehistory: The past of humanity began long ago. Most of it went unrecorded and this unwritten past constitutes prehistory. But a small fraction of the humanity’s past was recorded or written down, and it is this written past that constitutes history. Prehistory has been divided into various ages or periods on the basis of the nature of material remains of the past. Radiation Theory: An interesting theory holds that modern humans evolved from Homo erectus, fairly recently, in Africa, and then peopled the Earth by migrating along different routes. This view is called the Radiation Theory and is supported by the genetic evidence of modern human populations. Human DNA from al races and regions of the Earth is nearly identical, implying that our species has a fairly recent and common point of origin. Parallel Evolution Theory: Another theory holds that modern humans evolved in parallel, from several dispersed Homo erectus populations, at roughly the same time. Some intermingling of these regional populations was going on. The fossil evidence supports this theory. Hominid Fossil Evidence: Africa is said to be the cradle of human race. Anthropologists have unearthed the oldest human skeletons in East Africa, in places such as Hadar, Olduvai, Laetoli, etc. One of the best preserved human remnants is a female skeleton found at Hadar in Ethiopia.Anthropologists assembled about 40% of the young girl that was given the nickname “Lucy”. Lucy belongs to the Australopethicus category. Hathnora Evidence: Till recently, there was no unequivocal evidence of the occurrence of a true hominid fossil anywhere in the Indian subcontinent. This is in sharp contrast with the number of such finds in eastern and southern Africa, Europe and parts of Asia, including China, and Java in Indonesia. The discovery of such a fossil at Hathnora( near Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh) in the Narmada valley by a geologist in 1982, put the subcontinent on the global map of hominid fossil finds. The Hathnora specimen or the Narmada Man, according to the discoverer, dates from the Middle Pleistocene and belongs to the Homo erectus variety of hominid fossils. However, in his opinion, it differs from all the known sub-species of Homo erectus in having comparatively larger eranial capacity, higher vault and mental eminence. Further, this is also supposed to represent an advanced stage of Homo erectus. Subsequently, a controversy has developed regarding the evolutionary status of the Narmada skull: Homo erectus or Archaic Homo sapiens? However, the balance of current opinion seems to favour the latter position. As of now, the age of the specimen is put in the range of 27 to 32 years; it is a female (not male as originally thought) skull and its cranial capacity is in the range of 1155 to 1421 cc, values which are high for African and Asian Homo erectus but closer to ranges for Homo sapiens. Basis for Periodization: The earliest traces of human existence in India, so far discovered, go back to the period between 3, 00,000 and 2, 00,000 BC. A large number of primitive stone tools found in the Soan Valley and South India suggests this.