Rayalaseema in Neolithic Age

        In the History of mankind where revolutionary changes took place,it was described by the scientist Gardon Childe as the Neolithic Age. Historians considered it to be a Neolithic Revolution.

        During this period man ended his nomadic life and the phase of hunting food and transitioned to the phase of food production. He started farming. He used stone tools for farming. Humans began living a settled life during the Neolithic Revolution around 12,000 years ago.

     For the first time rural systems were formed and the foundations of future civilizations were laid during this period.

Neolithic people were skilled farmers, manufacturing a range of tools necessary for the tending, harvesting and processing of crops (such as sickle blades and grinding stones) and food production (e.g. pottery, bone implements). They were also skilled manufacturers of a range of other types of stone tools and ornaments

This era started at different times in different parts of the world. The spread of the Neolithic from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic in the Near East to Europe was first studied quantitatively in the 1970s and its Age in Northern Europe is upto 170 BC whereas In China it extended to 1200 BC. According to Taylor, a British archaeologist in India the Mesolithic in India, the Copper Age, continued contemporary with the Indus Civilization (6000-2000 BC). 

 Earliest evidence of Neolithic period Both in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh states marked only after 2000 BC. Robert Brucefoote found several evidences of used semi polished axes in Anantapuram.

      Robert Brucefoote found a stone axe of this period at Vaddamanu village in Guntur district also 

        Neolithic people made extensive use of blades made of chert stone. Ash mounds during this period have been found at Utkur (Telangana), Palavai (Anantapur district), Kupal and Pikliha in Karnataka.  Based on these evidences the Neolithic people practiced agriculture and animal husbandry. During this period, crops like sorghum, ragi, ulava, green gram etc. were cultivated. 

 . Husbandry has a long history, starting with the Neolithic Revolution when animals were first domesticated and used for agriculture. Wide range of buffaloes, cows, goats, sheep and pigs were used as livestock. Evidences of many animals like dogs, bulls, and other animals were tamed found in Vidapanakallu mandal of Anantapur district. 

     New Stone Age tools have been found in many parts of Rayalaseema particularly at Bethancharla (Kurnool district), Veerapuram, Giddalur, Tadipatri etc. Here the humans also invented the cart wheel in this era and made carts. 

Knives made of a kind of marble were found at Giduganur. 

     The first potter's wheel was invented in Mesopotamia around 6,000 B.C. This invention revolutionized the way people made pottery, allowing them to create pots of different shapes and sizes. 

 First reference of pottery in this age. It is hand-made pottery . Pottery is made by forming a clay body into objects of a desired shape and heating them to high temperatures (600–1600 °C) in a pit or kiln. Hand made and fired pots of the early period were found here. Firing served to harden the clay and make the bottom of the pot red in colour and the upper part blackb in colour.

     Kanigiri, Darshi, Vemavaram, Pusalapadu, Kurichedu in Prakasam district, Palavai in Anantapur district in Rayalaseema, Patapadu, Bastipada in Kurnool district are the main towns of this era.

     Archeologists found many used skilled and varied tools like axes, hammers and chisels. Chert,Black sand, basalt rock, and

dolomite were provided the main source of tools and weapons during this period. 

     ‌Stones were piled in a circle and sticks were arranged as bars and roofed with reed grass. Houses were built next to each other so that animals could not attack from the back of the house. In Gandlur village near Sattenapalli in Guntur district there is a big rock in the ground. The rock was removed and 8 houses were arranged in caves. In the center of one of these houses was a baby Kalebaran in a pot

These have been radiocarbon dated to between 1540 В.С., 1100 В.С. This evidence has led to the use of the term Neolithic Ash Dunes in the literature.

      It was during this era that religious beliefs began. Masculinity has begun. According to Robert Bruspoot during this era first at 'Raichur' 

  'Linga worship' started.  Division of labor also took place.

      "Pictures of a man wearing a bow" were found in Chinthagunta village of Konakanamitla mandal of Prakasam district.

___ Pilla Kumaraswamy 

References:

An outline of Indian Prehistory__D K Bhattacharya

(History of Andhras - Culture__Dr. Yam. Abdul Karim)

(Social and Cultural History of Andhra Pradesh

Dr. P. Joginaidu)

History and Culture of Andhra Pradesh__ Syed Raja