1.
India
–
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
India
–
Flag
India
–
The granite
tower of
Brihadeeswarar Temple in
Thanjavur was completed in 1010 CE by
Raja Raja Chola I.
India
–
Writing the will and testament of the Mughal king court in Persian, 1590–1595
2.
Politics
–
Politics is the process of making decisions applying to all members of each group. More narrowly, it refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance — organized control over a human community, furthermore, politics is the study or practice of the distribution of power and resources within a given community as well as the interrelationship between communities. It is very often said that politics is about power, a political system is a framework which defines acceptable political methods within a given society. History of political thought can be traced back to antiquity, with seminal works such as Platos Republic, Aristotles Politics. Formal Politics refers to the operation of a system of government and publicly defined institutions. Political parties, public policy or discussions about war and foreign affairs would fall under the category of Formal Politics, many people view formal politics as something outside of themselves, but that can still affect their daily lives. Semi-formal Politics is Politics in government associations such as neighborhood associations, informal Politics is understood as forming alliances, exercising power and protecting and advancing particular ideas or goals. Generally, this includes anything affecting ones daily life, such as the way an office or household is managed, informal Politics is typically understood as everyday politics, hence the idea that politics is everywhere. The word comes from the same Greek word from which the title of Aristotles book Politics also derives, the book title was rendered in Early Modern English in the mid-15th century as Polettiques, it became politics in Modern English. The history of politics is reflected in the origin, development, the origin of the state is to be found in the development of the art of warfare. Historically speaking, all communities of the modern type owe their existence to successful warfare. Kings, emperors and other types of monarchs in many countries including China, of the institutions that ruled states, that of kingship stood at the forefront until the French Revolution put an end to the divine right of kings. Nevertheless, the monarchy is among the political institutions, dating as early as 2100 BC in Sumeria to the 21st century AD British Monarchy. Kingship becomes an institution through the institution of Hereditary monarchy, the king often, even in absolute monarchies, ruled his kingdom with the aid of an elite group of advisors, a council without which he could not maintain power. As these advisors and others outside the monarchy negotiated for power, constitutional monarchies emerged, long before the council became a bulwark of democracy, it rendered invaluable aid to the institution of kingship by, Preserving the institution of kingship through heredity. Preserving the traditions of the social order, being able to withstand criticism as an impersonal authority. Being able to manage a greater deal of knowledge and action than an individual such as the king. The greatest of the subordinates, the earls and dukes in England and Scotland
Politics
–
Political views differ on average across nations. A recreation of the
Inglehart –
Welzel Cultural Map of the World based on the
World Values Survey.
3.
History of India
–
Evidence of anatomically modern humans in the Indian subcontinent is recorded as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from about 500,000 years ago. A sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture developed in the Mature Harappan period and this civilisation collapsed at the start of the second millennium BCE and was later followed by the Iron Age Vedic Civilisation. The era saw the composition of the Vedas, the texts of Hinduism. The Vedic Civilisation extended over much of the Indo-Gangetic plain and witnessed the rise of major polities known as the Mahajanapadas, in one of these kingdoms, Magadha, Gautama Buddha and Mahavira propagated their Shramanic philosophies during the fifth and sixth century BCE. Most of the subcontinent was conquered by the Maurya Empire during the 4th, from the 3rd century BCE onwards Prakrit and Pali literature in the north and the Tamil Sangam literature in southern India started to flourish. Wootz steel originated in south India in the 3rd century BCE and was exported to foreign countries, various parts of India were ruled by numerous dynasties for the next 1,500 years, among which the Gupta Empire stands out. This period, witnessing a Hindu religious and intellectual resurgence, is known as the classical or Golden Age of India, Indian cultural influence spread over many parts of Southeast Asia which led to the establishment of Indianised kingdoms in Southeast Asia. Southern India saw the rise of imperial powers from the middle of the fifth century, most notable being the Chalukya, Chola, Pallava, Chera, Pandyan. The Chola dynasty conquered southern India and successfully invaded parts of Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, the early medieval period Indian mathematics influenced the development of mathematics and astronomy in the Arab world and the Hindu numerals were introduced. The 15th century saw the emergence of Sikhism, in the 16th century, Mughals came from Central Asia and gradually covered most of India. From the late 18th century to the century, large areas of India were annexed by the British East India Company of the British Empire. James Mill, in his The History of British India, distinguished three phases in the history of India, namely Hindu, Muslim and British civilisations and this periodisation has been influential, but has also been criticised for the misconceptions it gave rise to. Another influential periodisation is the division into ancient, classical, medieval and modern periods, according to Thapar, a periodisation could also be based on significant social and economic changes, which are not strictly related to a change of ruling powers. Tools crafted by proto-humans that have dated back two million years have been discovered in the northwestern part of the subcontinent. The ancient history of the region some of South Asias oldest settlements. The earliest archaeological site in the subcontinent is the Palaeolithic hominid site in the Soan River valley, soanian sites are found in the Sivalik region across what are now India, Pakistan, and Nepal. The first confirmed semi-permanent settlements appeared 9,000 years ago in the Bhimbetka rock shelters in modern Madhya Pradesh, early Neolithic culture in the Indian subcontinent is represented by the Bhirrana findings in Haryana, India as well as Mehrgarh findings in Balochistan, Pakistan. The Edakkal Caves are pictorial writings believed to date to at least 6,000 BCE, from the Neolithic man, the Stone Age carvings of Edakkal are rare and are the only known examples from South India
History of India
–
Bhimbetka rock painting,
Madhya Pradesh, India (c. 30,000 years old)
History of India
–
Stone age (5000 BCE) writings of
Edakkal Caves in
Kerala, India.
History of India
–
"Priest King" of
Indus Valley Civilisation
4.
List of Governors-General of India
–
The Court of Directors assigned a Council of Four to assist The Governor General, and decision of council was binding on Governor General during 1773-1784. The Saint Helena Act 1833 re-designated the office with the title of Governor-General of India, after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the company rule was brought to an end, and the British India along with princely states came under the direct rule of the Crown. The Government of India Act 1858 created the office of Secretary of State for India in 1858 to oversee the affairs of India, the existing Council of Four was formally renamed as the Council of Governor General of India or Executive Council of India. The Council of India was later abolished by Government of India Act 1935, following the adoption of the Government of India Act of 1858, the Governor-General as representing the Crown became known as the Viceroy. The designation Viceroy, although it was most frequently used in ordinary parlance, had no statutory authority, the Governor-General continued to be the sole representative of the Crown, and the Government of India continued to be vested in the Governor-General-in-Council. From the year 1858 onwards, the appointments of Governor-General of India were made by British Crown at the advice of Secretary of State for India. The office of Governor-General continued to exist as a ceremonial post in each of the new dominions until they adopted republican constitutions in 1950 and 1956 respectively, Council of India Secretary of State for India List of Presidents of India
List of Governors-General of India
List of Governors-General of India
List of Governors-General of India
List of Governors-General of India
5.
List of Prime Ministers of India
–
The Prime Minister of India is the chief executive of the Government of India. In Indias parliamentary system, the Constitution names the President as head of de jure. Appointed and sworn-in by the President, the Prime Minister is usually the leader of the party or alliance that has a majority in the Lok Sabha, since 1947, India has had fourteen Prime Ministers, fifteen including Gulzarilal Nanda who twice acted in the role. The first was Jawaharlal Nehru of the Indian National Congress party, who was sworn-in on 15 August 1947, serving until his death in May 1964, Nehru remains Indias longest-serving prime minister. He was succeeded by fellow Congressman Lal Bahadur Shastri, whose 19-month term also ended in death, Indira Gandhi, Nehrus daughter, succeeded Shastri in 1966 to become the countrys first woman premier. Eleven years later, she was voted out of power in favour of the Janata Party, after he resigned in 1979, his former deputy Charan Singh briefly held office until Indira Gandhi was voted back six months later. Indira Gandhis second stint as Prime Minister ended five years later on the morning of 31 October 1984 and that evening, her son Rajiv Gandhi was sworn-in as Indias youngest premier, and the third from his family. Thus far, members of Nehru–Gandhi dynasty have been Prime Minister for a total of 37 years and 303 days, rajivs five-year term ended with his former cabinet colleague, V. P. Singh of the Janata Dal, forming the year-long National Front coalition government in 1989. A six-month interlude under Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar followed, after which the Congress party returned to power, forming the government under P. V. Narasimha Rao in June 1991. After Vajpayee was sworn-in for the time, in 1999, he managed to lead his National Democratic Alliance government to a full five-year term. Vajpayee was succeeded by Congressman Manmohan Singh, the first Sikh premier, the incumbent Prime Minister of India is Narendra Modi who has headed the BJP-led NDA government since 26 May 2014 which is Indias first non-Congress single party majority government. Prime Ministers Office List of Prime Ministers of India by longevity List of Presidents of India
List of Prime Ministers of India
–
Narendra Modi is the current (15th)
Prime Minister of India, since 26 May 2014.
List of Prime Ministers of India
List of Prime Ministers of India
List of Prime Ministers of India
6.
Christian Era
–
The terms anno Domini and before Christ are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term anno Domini is Medieval Latin and means in the year of the Lord, There is no year zero in this scheme, so the year AD1 immediately follows the year 1 BC. This dating system was devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus of Scythia Minor, the Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world today. Traditionally, English followed Latin usage by placing the AD abbreviation before the year number, however, BC is placed after the year number, which also preserves syntactic order. The abbreviation is widely used after the number of a century or millennium. Because BC is the English abbreviation for Before Christ, it is sometimes concluded that AD means After Death. However, this would mean that the approximate 33 years commonly associated with the life of Jesus would not be included in either of the BC, astronomical year numbering and ISO8601 avoid words or abbreviations related to Christianity, but use the same numbers for AD years. The Anno Domini dating system was devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus to enumerate the years in his Easter table. His system was to replace the Diocletian era that had used in an old Easter table because he did not wish to continue the memory of a tyrant who persecuted Christians. The last year of the old table, Diocletian 247, was followed by the first year of his table. Thus Dionysius implied that Jesus Incarnation occurred 525 years earlier, without stating the year during which his birth or conception occurred. Blackburn & Holford-Strevens briefly present arguments for 2 BC,1 BC, There were inaccuracies in the list of consuls There were confused summations of emperors regnal years It is not known how Dionysius established the year of Jesuss birth. It is convenient to initiate a calendar not from the day of an event. For example, the Islamic calendar begins not from the date of the Hegira, at the time, it was believed by some that the Resurrection and end of the world would occur 500 years after the birth of Jesus. The old Anno Mundi calendar theoretically commenced with the creation of the based on information in the Old Testament. It was believed that, based on the Anno Mundi calendar, Anno Mundi 6000 was thus equated with the resurrection and the end of the world but this date had already passed in the time of Dionysius. The Anglo-Saxon historian the Venerable Bede, who was familiar with the work of Dionysius Exiguus, used Anno Domini dating in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731. e. On the continent of Europe, Anno Domini was introduced as the era of choice of the Carolingian Renaissance by the English cleric and scholar Alcuin in the late eighth century
Christian Era
–
Dionysius Exiguus invented Anno Domini years to
date Easter.
Christian Era
–
Anno Domini inscription at a cathedral in
Carinthia,
Austria.
Christian Era
–
Statue of
Charlemagne by
Agostino Cornacchini (1725), at
St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican, Italy. Charlemagne promoted the usage of the Anno Domini epoch throughout the
Carolingian Empire
7.
Narmada River
–
The Narmada, also called the Rewa, is a river in central India and the fifth longest river in the Indian subcontinent. It is the third longest river that flows entirely within India, after the Godavari, and it is also known as Life Line of Madhya Pradesh for its huge contribution to the state of Madhya Pradesh in many ways. It is one of three major rivers in peninsular India that run from east to west, along with the Tapti River. It is one of the rivers in India that flows in a rift valley, the other rivers which flow through rift valley include Damodar River in Chota Nagpur Plateau and Tapti. The Tapti River and Mahi River also flow through rift valleys, the Narmada River is also worshipped as mother goddess by Narmadeeya Brahmins. The importance of the Narmada River as sacred is testified by the fact that the pilgrims perform a pilgrimage of a parikrama or circumambulation of the river. The Narmada Parikrama, as it is called, is considered to be an act that a pilgrim can undertake. Many sadhus and pilgrims walk on foot from the Arabian Sea at Bharuch in Gujarat, along the river, to the source in Maikal Mountains in Madhya Pradesh and back along the opposite bank of the river. Important towns of interest in the valley are Jabalpur, Barwani, Hoshangabad, Harda, Narmada Nagar, Omkareshwar, Dewas, Mandla and Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh, and Rajpipla and Bharuch in Gujarat. In Indian history, Kannada emperor from Chalukya dynasty Pulakeshin II is said to have defeated emperor Harshavardhana of Kannauj on the banks of Narmada, teak and Indias best hardwood forests are found in the Narmada River basin and they are much older than the ones in the Himalayas. The lower Narmada River Valley and the uplands, covering an area of169,900 km2 consists of dry deciduous forests. The natural vegetation of the region is a three–tiered forest, the ecoregion is home to 76 species of mammals and to 276 bird species, none of which are endemic. According to the World Wildlife Fund, about 30% of the ecoregion is covered in relatively intact vegetation, the ecoregion includes some large blocks of habitat in the Vindhya and Satpura ranges. About 5% of the lies within protected areas, including Bandhavgarh, Panna. Some of the important national parks and wild life sanctuaries in the valley are the following, kanha National Park located in the upper reaches of Narmada, about 18 km from Mandla, boasts of several wild animals including the Tiger. Two tributaries of Narmada, namely, Hallon and Banjar, flow through this park and it is one of the best National Parks of Asia, which has been described vividly by Rudyard Kipling in his famous creation The Jungle Book. Satpura National Park, set up in 1981, is located in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh, Satpura National Park, being part of a unique ecosystem, is very rich in biodiversity. There are a variety of birds, hornbills and peafowl are the common birds
Narmada River
–
Narmada river bank near Jabalpur
Narmada River
–
Narmada river in Omkareshwar
Narmada River
–
The River Narmada flows through a
gorge of Marble rocks in
Bhedaghat
Narmada River
–
Marble rocks alongside Narmada River
8.
Hominid
–
Several revisions in classifying the great apes have caused the use of the term hominid to vary over time. Its original meaning referred only to humans and their closest non-extant relatives and that restrictive meaning has now been largely assumed by the term hominin, which comprises all members of the human clade after the split from the chimpanzees. The current, 21st-century meaning of hominid includes all the great apes including humans, the most recent common ancestor of all Hominidae lived roughly 14 million years ago, when the ancestors of the orangutans speciated from the ancestral line of the other three genera. Those ancestors of the family Hominidae had already speciated from the family Hylobatidae, in the early Miocene, about 22 million years ago, there were many species of arboreally adapted primitive catarrhines from East Africa, the variety suggests a long history of prior diversification. Fossils at 20 million years ago include fragments attributed to Victoriapithecus, the most recent of these far-flung Miocene apes is Oreopithecus, from the fossil-rich coal beds in northern Italy and dated to 9 million years ago. Species close to the last common ancestor of gorillas, chimpanzees and humans may be represented by Nakalipithecus fossils found in Kenya and Ouranopithecus found in Greece. Molecular evidence suggests that between 8 and 4 million years ago, first the gorillas, and then the split off from the line leading to the humans. Human DNA is approximately 98. 4% identical to that of chimpanzees when comparing single nucleotide polymorphisms, the earliest fossils argued by some to belong to the human lineage are Sahelanthropus tchadensis and Orrorin tugenensis, followed by Ardipithecus, with species Ar. kadabba and Ar. ramidus. The classification of the apes has been revised several times in the last few decades. The original meaning of the referred to only humans and their closest relatives—what is now the modern meaning of the term hominin. And the meaning of the taxon Hominidae changed gradually, leading to a different usage of hominid that today all the great apes including humans. A hominid is a member of the family Hominidae, the apes, orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees. A hominine is a member of the subfamily Homininae, gorillas, chimpanzees, a hominin is a member of the tribe Hominini, Chimpanzees and humans. A homininan is a member of the subtribe Hominina of the tribe Hominini, a human is a member of the genus Homo, of which Homo sapiens is the only extant species, and within that Homo sapiens sapiens is the only surviving subspecies. For each clade it is indicated approximately when newer extant clades emerged, some texts will refer to Homonini as the Hominina branch. Many scientists, including paleoanthropologists, continue to use the term hominid to mean humans, as mentioned, Hominidae was originally the name given to the family of humans and their close relatives, with the other great apes all being placed in a separate family, the Pongidae. However, that eventually made Pongidae paraphyletic because at least one great ape species proved to be more closely related to humans than to other great apes. Most taxonomists today encourage monophyletic groups—this would require, in this case, thus, many biologists now assign Pongo to the family Hominidae
Hominid
Hominid
–
Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii)
Hominid
–
A reconstruction of a female
Australopithecus afarensis (
National Museum of Natural History)
Hominid
–
Humans are one of the four
extant hominid genera.
9.
Soan Culture
–
The Soanian is an archaeological culture of the Lower Paleolithic in Pakistan. Contemporary to the Acheulean, it is named after the Soan Valley in Pakistan, Soanian sites are found along the Sivalik region in present-day India, Nepal and Pakistan. The term Soan Culture was first used by Hellmut De Terra in 1936, further archaeological research was conducted by Stephen Lycett in order to determine the morphometric assessment of the Soanian techno-complex. The result of this experiment concluded that the Soanian techno-complex contains a Mode 3 Levallois technique core component, on Adiyala and Khasala, about 16 km from Rawalpindi terrace on the bend of the river, hundreds of edged pebble tools were discovered. At Chauntra in Himachal Pradesh, hand axes and cleavers were found, tools up to two million years old have been recovered. In the Soan River Gorge, many fossil bearing rocks are exposed on the surface,14 million year old fossils of gazelle, rhinoceros, crocodile, giraffe and rodents have been found there. Some of these fossils are on display at the Pakistan Museum of Natural History in Islamabad, madrasian Culture Synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric cultures V. A. Ranov, D. Dorj, Lu Zün-E. History of civilizations of Central Asia, early man, as depicted by leading authorities at the International symposium, the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, March 1937. Ayer Publishing, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the Middle Pleistocene Pebble Tool Site of Durkadi in Central India. The Emergence of the Handaxe Tradition in Asia, with Special Reference to India, in V. N. Misra, Peter S. Bellwood. Recent advances in Indo-Pacific prehistory, proceedings of the symposium held at Poona. A Decade of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology in India, 1951-1960
Soan Culture
–
Soanian
10.
Sivalik Hills
–
The Sivalik Hills is a mountain range of the outer Himalayas identified as Manak Parbat in some Sanskrit texts. Shivalik literally means tresses of Shiva’, the width of the Sivalik Hills varies from 10 to 50 km, their average elevation is 1,500 to 2,000 m. Other spelling variations used include Shivalik and Siwalik, originating from the Hindi, other names include Churia hills, Chure hills, and Margalla hills. Geologically, the Sivalik Hills belong to the deposits of the outer Himalayas. They are chiefly composed of sandstone and conglomerate formations, which are the solidified detritus of the great mountain range to their north. The remnant magnetization of siltstones and sandstones suggests an age of 16-5.2 million years with Karnali River exposing the oldest part of the Sivalik Hills in Nepal. They are the southernmost and geologically youngest east-west mountain chain of the Himalayas and they have many sub-ranges and extend west from Arunachal Pradesh through Bhutan to West Bengal, and further westward through Nepal and Uttarakhand, continuing into Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir. The hills are cut through at wide intervals by numerous rivers flowing south from the Himalayas. They are bounded on the south by a system called the Main Frontal Thrust. Below this, the coarse alluvial Bhabar zone makes the transition to the level plains. North of the Sivalik Hills the 1, 500-3,000 meter Lesser Himalayas also known as the Mahabharat Range rise steeply along fault lines, in many places the two ranges are adjacent but in other places structural valleys 10–20 km wide separate them. Sivapithecus is among many fossil finds in the Siwalik region, the Siwalik Hills are also among the richest fossil sites for large animals anywhere in Asia. The Hills had revealed that all kinds of animals lived there and they were early ancestors to the sloth bear, Sivatherium, an ancient giraffe, Colossochelys atlas, a giant tortoise named the Siwaliks giant tortoise Megalochelys atlas amongst other creatures. The remains of the Lower Paleolithic Soanian culture have found in the Siwalik region. Contemporary to the Acheulean, the Soanian culture is named after the Soan Valley in the Siwalik Hills of Pakistan, the bearers of this culture were Homo erectus. People of the Lepcha tribe inhabit the Sikkim and Darjeeling areas, the Indian Navys Shivalik class frigate is named after these ranges
Sivalik Hills
–
Kalimpong town as viewed from a distant hill. In the background are the
Himalayas.
Sivalik Hills
–
The
Ganges cutting through the Sivalik Hills
Sivalik Hills
–
Sivalik Hills from Sukhna Lake
11.
Homo erectus
–
Homo erectus is an extinct species of hominid that lived throughout most of the Pleistocene geological epoch. Its earliest fossil evidence dates to 1.9 million years ago and extends to 70,000 years ago, or, possibly, as recently as 35,000 years ago. It is generally thought that H. erectus originated in Africa and spread from there, migrating throughout Eurasia as far as Georgia, India, Sri Lanka, China, a new debate appeared in 2013, with the documentation of the Dmanisi skulls.58 million years ago. From there it migrated, in part, by 2, the fossil record shows that its development from about 1.8 mya to one mya was widely distributed, in Africa, the Transcaucasus, Indonesia, and in Vietnam, China, and India. The second hypothesis is that H. erectus evolved in Eurasia and they occupied the Dmanisi site from 1.85 million to 1.77 million years ago, which was about the same time or slightly before their earliest evidence in Africa. There are several proposed explanations of the dispersal of H. erectus georgicus—including whether or not Africa is the source), the Dutch anatomist Eugène Dubois was fascinated by Darwins theory of evolution especially as it applied to humankind. In 1886, he set out for Asia—which then was the region accepted as the cradle of evolution despite Darwins theory of African origin. In 1891, his team discovered a human fossil on the island of Java, the Java fossil from Indonesia aroused much public interest. It was dubbed by the press as Java Man, but few scientists accepted Dubois argument that his fossil was the transitional form—the so-called missing link—between apes. Java Man is now classified as Homo erectus, most of the spectacular discoveries of H. erectus next took place at the Zhoukoudian Project, now known as the Peking Man Site, in Zhoukoudian, China. This site was first discovered by Johan Gunnar Andersson in 1921 and was first excavated in 1921, canadian anatomist Davidson Blacks initial description of a lower molar as belonging to a previously unknown species prompted widely publicized interest. Extensive excavations followed, which altogether uncovered 200 human fossils from more than 40 individuals including five nearly complete skullcaps, german anatomist Franz Weidenreich provided much of the detailed description of this material in several monographs published in the journal Palaeontologica Sinica. Throughout much of the 20th century, anthropologists debated the role of H. erectus in human evolution, early in the century, due in part to the discoveries at Java and Zhoukoudian, it was widely accepted that modern humans first evolved in Asia. From the 1950s forward, numerous finds in East Africa confirmed the hypothesis of an African genesis and it is now generally accepted that H. erectus descended from either, 1) the earliest hominin genera, or 2) the earliest Homo-species. East Africa provided sympatric coexistence for H. erectus and H, in the 1950s, archaeologists John T. Robinson and Robert Broom named Telanthropus capensis, Robinson had discovered a jaw fragment in 1949 in Swartkrans, South Africa. Later, Simonetta proposed to re-designate it to Homo erectus, in 1961, Yves Coppens discovered a skull of Tchadanthropus uxoris, then the earliest fossil human discovered in north Africa. It was reported that the fossil had been so eroded by sand that it mimicked the appearance of an australopith. Although at first considered to be a specimen of H. habilis, T. uxoris is no longer considered a valid taxon, and has been subsumed into H. erectus
Homo erectus
Homo erectus
–
Homo erectus,
University of Michigan Museum of Natural History, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Homo erectus
–
Skull of Homo erectus,
Indian Museum
Homo erectus
–
Dmanisi skull 3, Fossils skull
D2700 and D2735 jaw, two of several found in
Dmanisi in the
Georgian Caucasus.
12.
Chennai
–
Chennai /ˈtʃɛnnaɪ/, formerly known as Madras /məˈdrɑːs/ or /-ˈdræs/) is the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal, it is one of the biggest cultural, economic, according to the 2011 Indian census, it is the sixth-largest city and fourth-most populous urban agglomeration in India. The city together with the adjoining regions constitute the Chennai Metropolitan Area, Chennai is among the most visited Indian cities by foreign tourists. It was ranked 43rd most visited city in the world for year 2015, the Quality of Living Survey rated Chennai as the safest city in India. Chennai attracts 45 percent of tourists visiting India, and 30 to 40 percent of domestic health tourists. As such, it is termed Indias health capital, as a growing metropolitan city in a developing country, Chennai confronts substantial pollution and other logistical and socio-economic problems. Chennai has the third-largest expatriate population in India at 35,000 in 2009,82,790 in 2011, tourism guide publisher Lonely Planet named Chennai as one of the top ten cities in the world to visit in 2015. Chennai is ranked as a city in the Global Cities Index and was ranked the best city in India by India Today in the 2014 annual Indian city survey. In 2015 Chennai was named the hottest city by the BBC, National Geographic ranked Chennais food as second best in the world, it was the only Indian city to feature in the list. Chennai was also named the ninth-best cosmopolitan city in the world by Lonely Planet, the Chennai Metropolitan Area is one of the largest city economies of India. Chennai is nicknamed The Detroit of India, with more than one-third of Indias automobile industry being based in the city, in January 2015, it was ranked third in terms of per capita GDP. Chennai has been selected as one of the 100 Indian cities to be developed as a city under PM Narendra Modis flagship Smart Cities Mission. The name Madras originated even before the British presence was established in India, the name Madras is said to have originated from a Portuguese phrase mae de Deus which means mother of god, due to Portuguese influence on the port city. According to some sources, Madras was derived from Madraspattinam, a north of Fort St George. However, it is whether the name was in use before the arrival of Europeans. The British military mapmakers believed Madras was originally Mundir-raj or Mundiraj, Madras might have also been derived from the word Madhuras meaning juice of honey or sugarcane in Sanskrit. The nativity of name Chennai, being of Telugu origin is clearly proved by the historians. The first official use of the name Chennai is said to be in a deed, dated 8 August 1639
Chennai
–
Clockwise from top right:
Chennai Central,
Marina Beach,
Madras High Court,
TIDEL Park,
Ripon Building,
San Thome Basilica,
Kapaleeshwarar Temple,
Classical dance Bharata Natyam and
Valluvar Kottam.
Chennai
–
Clive House at
Fort St. George, Madras said to be the first English settlement in
India during 1609
Chennai
–
Surrender of the City of Madras in 1746 to de La Bourdonnais, by Jacques François Joseph Swebach
13.
Bifacial
–
A hand axe is a prehistoric stone tool with two faces that is the longest-used tool in human history. It is usually made from flint or chert and it is characteristic of the lower Acheulean and middle Palaeolithic periods. Its technical name comes from the fact that the model is a generally bifacial Lithic flake with an almond-shaped shape. Hand axes tend to be symmetrical along their axis and formed by pressure or percussion. The most common hand axes have an end and rounded base, which gives them their characteristic shape. Hand axes are a type of the somewhat wider biface group of two-faced tools or weapons, Hand axes were the first prehistoric tools to be recognized as such, the first published representation of a hand axe was drawn by John Frere and appeared in a British publication in 1800. Until that time, their origins were thought to be natural or supernatural and they were called thunderstones, because popular tradition held that they had fallen from the sky during storms or were formed inside the earth by a lightning strike and then appeared at the surface. They are used in rural areas as an amulet to protect against storms. Hand axe tools were used to butcher animals, to dig for tubers, animals and water, to chop wood and remove tree bark, to throw at prey. Four classes of hand axe are,1, Large, thick hand axes reduced from cores or thick flakes, referred to as blanks 2, French antiquarian André Vayson de Pradenne introduced the word biface in 1920. The expression faustkeil is used in German and it can be literally translated as hand axe, although in a stricter sense it means fist wedge. It is the same in Dutch where the expression used is vuistbijl which literally means fist axe, the same locution occurs in other languages. However, the impression of these tools were based on ideal pieces that were of such perfect shape that they caught the attention of non-experts. Their typology broadened the terms meaning, biface hand axe and bifacial lithic items are distinguished. A hand axe need not be an item and many bifacial items are not hand axes. Nor were hand axes and bifacial items exclusive to the Lower Palaeolithic period in the Old World and they appear throughout the world and in many different pre-historical epochs, without necessarily implying an ancient origin. Lithic typology is not a chronological reference and was abandoned as a dating system. The word biface refers to something different in English than biface in French or bifaz in Spanish, bifacially carved cutting tools, similar to hand axes, were used to clear scrub vegetation throughout the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods
Bifacial
–
Flint hand axe found in
Winchester
Bifacial
–
The first published picture of a hand axe, drawn by John Frere in the year 1800.
Bifacial
–
Acheulean hand axes from
Kent. The types shown are (clockwise from top) chordate, ficron and ovate.
Bifacial
–
Typical Acheulean hand axe
14.
Microlith
–
A microlith is a small stone tool usually made of flint or chert and typically a centimetre or so in length and half a centimetre wide. They were made by people from 35,000 years ago to about 3,000 years ago, in Europe, north Africa, across Asia and in Australia, and used in spear points and arrowheads. Microliths are produced either a small blade or a larger blade-like piece of flint by abrupt or truncated retouching. The microliths themselves are sufficiently worked so as to be distinguishable from workshop waste or accidents, two families of microliths are usually defined, laminar and geometric. An assemblage of microliths can be used to date an archeological site, laminar microliths are associated with the end of the Upper Paleolithic and the beginning of the Epipaleolithic era, geometric microliths are characteristic of the Mesolithic and the Neolithic. Geometric microliths may be triangular, trapezoid or lunate, microlith production generally declined following the introduction of agriculture but continued later in cultures with a deeply rooted hunting tradition. Regardless of type, microliths were used to form the points of hunting weapons, such as spears and arrows, and other artifacts and are found throughout Africa, Asia and Europe. They were utilised with wood, bone, resin and fiber to form a tool or weapon. An average of six and eighteen microliths may often have been used in one spear or harpoon. Laminar microliths date from at least the Gravettian culture or possibly the start of the Upper Paleolithic era, noilles Burins and Microgravettes indicate that the production of microliths had already started in the Gravettian culture. This style of flint working flourished during the Magdalenian period and persisted in numerous Epipaleolithic traditions all around the Mediterranean basin. These microliths are slightly larger than the geometric microliths that followed and were made from the flakes of flint obtained ad hoc from a nucleus or from a depleted nucleus of flint. They were produced either by percussion or by the application of a variable pressure, there are three basic types of laminar microlith. The truncated blade type can be divided into a number of depending on the position of the truncation and according to its form, for example. Raclette scrapers are notable for their form, being blades or flakes whose edges have been sharply retouched until they are semicircular or even shapeless. Raclettes are indefinite cultural indicators, as they appear from the Upper Paleolithic through to the Neolithic, backed edge blades have one of the edges, generally a side one, rounded or chamfered by abrupt retouching. There are fewer types of blades, and may be divided into those where the entire edge is rounded. They are fundamental in the processes, and from them
Microlith
–
Backed edge bladelet
Microlith
–
Truncated bladelet
Microlith
–
Dufour bladelet
Microlith
–
Châtelperrón points
15.
Quartzite
–
Quartzite is a hard, non-foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to grey, though quartzites often occur in shades of pink. Other colors, such as yellow, green, blue and orange, are due to other minerals, when sandstone is cemented to quartzite, the individual quartz grains recrystallize along with the former cementing material to form an interlocking mosaic of quartz crystals. Most or all of the texture and sedimentary structures of the sandstone are erased by the metamorphism. The grainy, sandpaper-like surface becomes glassy in appearance, minor amounts of former cementing materials, iron oxide, silica, carbonate and clay, often migrate during recrystallization and metamorphosis. This causes streaks and lenses to form within the quartzite, orthoquartzite is a very pure quartz sandstone composed of usually well-rounded quartz grains cemented by silica. Orthoquartzite is often 99% SiO2 with only minor amounts of iron oxide and trace resistant minerals such as zircon, rutile. Although few fossils are present, the original texture and sedimentary structures are preserved. The term is traditionally used for quartz-cemented quartz arenites. Quartzite is very resistant to weathering and often forms ridges. The nearly pure silica content of the rock provides little for soil, therefore, because of its hardness and angular shape, crushed quartzite is often used as railway ballast. Quartzite is a stone and may be used to cover walls, as roofing tiles, as flooring. Its use for countertops in kitchens is expanding rapidly and it is harder and more resistant to stains than granite. Crushed quartzite is used in road construction. High purity quartzite is used to produce ferrosilicon, industrial silica sand, during the Paleolithic quartzite was used, in addition to flint, quartz, and other lithic raw materials, for making stone tools. Quartzite is also found in the Morenci Copper Mine in Arizona, the town of Quartzsite in western Arizona derives its name from the quartzites in the nearby mountains in both Arizona and Southeastern California. A glassy vitreous quartzite has been described from the Belt Supergroup in the Coeur d’Alene district of northern Idaho, in the United Kingdom, a craggy ridge of quartzite called the Stiperstones runs parallel with the Pontesford-Linley fault,6 km north-west of the Long Mynd in south Shropshire
Quartzite
–
Blue Quartzite from
Maurienne valley in the
French Alps
Quartzite
–
Quartzite has a grainy, sandpaper-like surface which becomes glassy in appearance
Quartzite
–
Abandoned quartzite mine in
Kakwa Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada
Quartzite
–
Quartzite biface
hand axe from
Stellenbosch, South Africa
16.
Pleistocene
–
The Pleistocene is the geological epoch which lasted from about 2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the worlds most recent period of repeated glaciations. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period, the Pleistocene is the first epoch of the Quaternary Period or sixth epoch of the Cenozoic Era. In the ICS timescale, the Pleistocene is divided into four stages or ages, all of these stages were defined in southern Europe. In addition to this subdivision, various regional subdivisions are often used. Charles Lyell introduced the term pleistocene in 1839 to describe strata in Sicily that had at least 70% of their molluscan fauna still living today and this distinguished it from the older Pliocene Epoch, which Lyell had originally thought to be the youngest fossil rock layer. The Pleistocene has been dated from 2.588 million to 11,700 years before present and it covers most of the latest period of repeated glaciation, up to and including the Younger Dryas cold spell. The end of the Younger Dryas has been dated to about 9640 BC, the IUGS has yet to approve a type section, Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point, for the upper Pleistocene/Holocene boundary. The proposed section is the North Greenland Ice Core Project ice core 75°06 N 42°18 W, the lower boundary of the Pleistocene Series is formally defined magnetostratigraphically as the base of the Matuyama chronozone, isotopic stage 103. Above this point there are notable extinctions of the calcareous nanofossils, Discoaster pentaradiatus, the Pleistocene covers the recent period of repeated glaciations. The name Plio-Pleistocene has, in the past, been used to mean the last ice age. The revised definition of the Quaternary, by pushing back the date of the Pleistocene to 2.58 Ma. Pleistocene climate was marked by repeated glacial cycles in which continental glaciers pushed to the 40th parallel in some places and it is estimated that, at maximum glacial extent, 30% of the Earths surface was covered by ice. In addition, a zone of permafrost stretched southward from the edge of the sheet, a few hundred kilometres in North America. The mean annual temperature at the edge of the ice was −6 °C, during interglacial times, such as at present, drowned coastlines were common, mitigated by isostatic or other emergent motion of some regions. The effects of glaciation were global, antarctica was ice-bound throughout the Pleistocene as well as the preceding Pliocene. The Andes were covered in the south by the Patagonian ice cap, there were glaciers in New Zealand and Tasmania. The current decaying glaciers of Mount Kenya, Mount Kilimanjaro, glaciers existed in the mountains of Ethiopia and to the west in the Atlas mountains. In the northern hemisphere, many glaciers fused into one, the Cordilleran ice sheet covered the North American northwest, the east was covered by the Laurentide
Pleistocene
–
The maximum extent of
glacial ice in the north polar area during the Pleistocene period.
Pleistocene
–
Ice ages as reflected in atmospheric CO 2, stored in bubbles from glacial ice of
Antarctica.
Pleistocene
–
Pleistocene of
Northern Spain showing
woolly mammoth,
cave lions eating a
reindeer,
tarpans, and
woolly rhinoceros.
Pleistocene
–
Pleistocene of
South America showing
Megatherium and two
Glyptodon.
17.
Paleolithic
–
The Paleolithic is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools and covers roughly 95% of human technological prehistory. It extends from the earliest known use of tools, probably by Homo habilis initially,2.6 million years ago. The Paleolithic era is followed by the Mesolithic, the date of the Paleolithic–Mesolithic boundary may vary by locality as much as several thousand years. During the Paleolithic period, humans grouped together in small societies such as bands, the Paleolithic is characterized by the use of knapped stone tools, although at the time humans also used wood and bone tools. Other organic commodities were adapted for use as tools, including leather and vegetable fibers, however, due to their nature, surviving artifacts of the Paleolithic era are known as paleoliths. About 50,000 years ago, there was a increase in the diversity of artifacts. For the first time in Africa, bone artifacts and the first art appear in the archaeological record, the first evidence of human fishing is also noted, from artifacts in places such as Blombos cave in South Africa. The new technology generated an explosion of modern humans which is believed to have led to the extinction of the Neanderthals. Humankind gradually evolved from members of the genus Homo—such as Homo habilis. The climate during the Paleolithic consisted of a set of glacial and interglacial periods in which the climate periodically fluctuated between warm and cool temperatures, by c. 50,000 – c. 40,000 BP, the first humans set foot in Australia. By c. 45,000 BP, humans lived at 61°N latitude in Europe, by c. 30,000 BP, Japan was reached, and by c. 27,000 BP humans were present in Siberia, above the Arctic Circle. At the end of the Upper Paleolithic, a group of humans crossed Beringia, the term Paleolithic was coined by archaeologist John Lubbock in 1865. It derives from Greek, παλαιός, palaios, old, and λίθος, lithos, stone, human evolution is the part of biological evolution concerning the emergence of anatomically modern humans as a distinct species. The Paleolithic Period coincides almost exactly with the Pleistocene epoch of geologic time and this epoch experienced important geographic and climatic changes that affected human societies. During the preceding Pliocene, continents had continued to drift from possibly as far as 250 km from their present locations to positions only 70 km from their current location. South America became linked to North America through the Isthmus of Panama, most of Central America formed during the Pliocene to connect the continents of North and South America, allowing fauna from these continents to leave their native habitats and colonize new areas. Africas collision with Asia created the Mediterranean Sea, cutting off the remnants of the Tethys Ocean, climates during the Pliocene became cooler and drier, and seasonal, similar to modern climates. The formation of an Arctic ice cap around 3 million years ago is signaled by a shift in oxygen isotope ratios and ice-rafted cobbles in the North Atlantic
Paleolithic
–
This
cranium, of
Homo heidelbergensis, a
Lower Paleolithic predecessor to
Homo neanderthalensis and possibly
Homo sapiens, dates to sometime between 500,000 and 400,000 BP.
Paleolithic
–
The Paleolithic climate consisted of a set of glacial and interglacial periods.
Paleolithic
–
Many great mammals such as
woolly mammoths,
woolly rhinoceros, and
cave lions inhabited places like Siberia during the Pleistocene.
Paleolithic
–
Paleoindians hunting a
glyptodon. Glyptodons were hunted to extinction within two millennia after humans' arrival to South America.
18.
Neolithic
–
It ended when metal tools became widespread. The Neolithic is a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops, the beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to be in the Levant about 10, 200–8800 BC. It developed directly from the Epipaleolithic Natufian culture in the region, whose people pioneered the use of wild cereals, which then evolved into true farming. The Natufian period was between 12,000 and 10,200 BC, and the so-called proto-Neolithic is now included in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic between 10,200 and 8800 BC. By 10, 200–8800 BC, farming communities arose in the Levant and spread to Asia Minor, North Africa, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat, millet and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep. By about 6900–6400 BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order, the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery. Early Japanese societies and other East Asian cultures used pottery before developing agriculture, unlike the Paleolithic, when more than one human species existed, only one human species reached the Neolithic. The term Neolithic derives from the Greek νέος néos, new and λίθος líthos, stone, the term was invented by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system. In the Middle East, cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th millennium BC, early development occurred in the Levant and from there spread eastwards and westwards. Neolithic cultures are attested in southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia by around 8000 BC. The total excavated area is more than 1,200 square yards, the Neolithic 1 period began roughly 10,000 years ago in the Levant. A temple area in southeastern Turkey at Göbekli Tepe dated around 9500 BC may be regarded as the beginning of the period. This site was developed by nomadic tribes, evidenced by the lack of permanent housing in the vicinity. At least seven stone circles, covering 25 acres, contain limestone pillars carved with animals, insects, Stone tools were used by perhaps as many as hundreds of people to create the pillars, which might have supported roofs. Other early PPNA sites dating to around 9500–9000 BC have been found in Jericho, Israel, Gilgal in the Jordan Valley, the start of Neolithic 1 overlaps the Tahunian and Heavy Neolithic periods to some degree. The major advance of Neolithic 1 was true farming, in the proto-Neolithic Natufian cultures, wild cereals were harvested, and perhaps early seed selection and re-seeding occurred. The grain was ground into flour, emmer wheat was domesticated, and animals were herded and domesticated
Neolithic
–
An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools. Neolithic stone artifacts are by definition polished and, except for specialty items, not chipped.
Neolithic
–
Algerian cave paintings depicting hunting scenes
Neolithic
–
Female figure from
Tumba Madžari,
Republic of Macedonia
Neolithic
–
Skara Brae, Scotland. Evidence of home furnishings (shelves)
19.
Bhimbetka rock shelters
–
The Bhimbetka rock shelters are an archaeological site of the Paleolithic, exhibiting the earliest traces of human life on the Indian Subcontinent, and thus the beginning of the Indian Stone Age. It is located in the Raisen District in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, near Abdullaganj town, at least some of the shelters were inhabited by Homo erectus over 100,000 years ago. Some of the Stone Age rock paintings found among the Bhimbetka rock shelters are some 30,000 years old, the caves also deliver early evidence of dance. They were declared a World Heritage Site in 2003, the name Bhimbetka is associated with Bhima, a hero-deity of the epic Mahabharata. The word Bhimbetka is said to derive from Bhimbaithka, meaning sitting place of Bhima, the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetaka lies 9 km from Obedullaganj city in the Raisen District of Madhya Pradesh and 45 kilometers south of Bhopal at the southern edge of the Vindhya hills. South of these shelters are successive ranges of the Satpura hills. Later V. S. Wakankar, while travelling by train to Bhopal, saw some rock formations similar to those he had seen in Spain and he visited the area with a team of archaeologists and discovered several prehistoric rock shelters in 1957. Since then more than 750 such shelters have been identified, of which 243 are in the Bhimbetka group and 178 in the Lakha Juar group, Archaeological studies revealed a continuous sequence of Stone Age cultures, as well as the world’s oldest stone walls and floors. Barkheda has been identified as the source of the raw materials used in some of the monoliths discovered at Bhimbetka, the rock shelters and caves of Bhimbetka have a large number of paintings. The oldest paintings are considered to be 30,000 years old, the colors used are vegetable colors which have endured through time because the drawings were generally made deep inside a niche or on inner walls. The drawings and paintings can be classified under seven different periods, period I -, These are linear representations, in green and dark red, of huge figures of animals such as bison, tigers and rhinoceroses. Period II -, Comparatively small in size the stylised figures in this group show linear decorations on the body. In addition to there are human figures and hunting scenes, giving a clear picture of the weapons they used, barbed spears, pointed sticks. The depiction of communal dances, birds, musical instruments, mothers and children, pregnant women, men carrying dead animals, drinking and burials appear in rhythmic movement. Period IV & V -, The figures of this group have a schematic and decorative style and are painted mainly in red, white, the association is of riders, depiction of religious symbols, tunic-like dresses and the existence of scripts of different periods. The religious beliefs are represented by figures of yakshas, tree gods, period VI & VII -, These paintings are geometric linear and more schematic, but they show degeneration and crudeness in their artistic style. The colors used by the dwellers were prepared by combining manganese, hematite. One rock, popularly referred to as “Zoo Rock”, depicts elephants, Barasingha, bison, Paintings on another rock show a peacock, a snake, a deer and the sun
Bhimbetka rock shelters
–
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Bhimbetka rock shelters
–
Entrance of Bhimbetka
Bhimbetka rock shelters
–
Cave #2, which is now supposed to be the auditorium of the early humans
Bhimbetka rock shelters
–
A view of
Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary
20.
Madhya Pradesh
–
Madhya Pradesh is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, nicknamed the heart of India due to its geographical location in India, Madhya Pradesh is the second-largest state in the country by area. With over 75 million inhabitants, it is the fifth-largest state in India by population and it borders the states of Uttar Pradesh to the northeast, Chhattisgarh to the southeast, Maharashtra to the south, Gujarat to the west, and Rajasthan to the northwest. Its total area is 308,252 km², subsequently, the region was ruled by the major dynasties of India. By the early 18th century, the region was divided into small kingdoms which were captured by the British and incorporated into Central Provinces and Berar. This state was the largest in India by area until 2000, in recent years, the states GDP growth has been above the national average. Rich in mineral resources, MP has the largest reserves of diamond, more than 30% of its area is under forest cover. Its tourism industry has seen growth, with the state topping the National Tourism Awards in 2010–11. Isolated remains of Homo erectus found in Hathnora in the Narmada Valley indicate that Madhya Pradesh might have been inhabited in the Middle Pleistocene era, painted pottery dated to the later mesolithic period has been found in the Bhimbetka rock shelters. Chalcolithic sites belonging to Kayatha culture and Malwa culture have been discovered in the part of the state. The city of Ujjain arose as a centre in the region. It served as the capital of the Avanti kingdom, other kingdoms mentioned in ancient epics — Malava, Karusha, Dasarna and Nishada — have also been identified with parts of Madhya Pradesh. Chandragupta Maurya united northern India around 320 BCE, establishing the Mauryan Empire, ashoka the greatest of Mauryan rulers brought the region under firmer control. After the decline of the Maurya empire, the region was contested among the Sakas, the Kushanas, the Satavahanas, Heliodorus, the Greek Ambassador to the court of the Shunga king Bhagabhadra erected the Heliodorus pillar near Vidisha. Ujjain emerged as the predominant commercial centre of western India from the first century BCE, the Satavahana dynasty of the northern Deccan and the Saka dynasty of the Western Satraps fought for the control of Madhya Pradesh during the 1st to 3rd centuries CE. The Satavahana king Gautamiputra Satakarni inflicted a defeat upon the Saka rulers and conquered parts of Malwa. Subsequently, the region came under the control of the Gupta empire in the 4th and 5th centuries, and their southern neighbours, the attacks of the Hephthalites or White Huns brought about the collapse of the Gupta empire, which broke up into smaller states. The king Yasodharman of Malwa defeated the Huns in 528, ending their expansion, later, Harsha ruled the northern parts of the state
Madhya Pradesh
–
Seal of Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
–
Location of Madhya Pradesh (marked in red) in
India
Madhya Pradesh
–
Mesolithic rock painting, Bhimbetka, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Madhya Pradesh
–
Stupa no. 3, Sanchi
21.
Cave painting
–
Cave paintings are painted drawings on cave walls or ceilings, mainly of prehistoric origin, to some 40,000 years ago in Eurasia. The exact purpose of the Paleolithic cave paintings is not known, evidence suggests that they were not merely decorations of living areas since the caves in which they have been found do not have signs of ongoing habitation. They are also located in areas of caves that are not easily accessible. Some theories hold that cave paintings may have been a way of communicating with others, the paintings are remarkably similar around the world, with animals being common subjects that give the most impressive images. Humans mainly appear as images of hands, mostly hand stencils made by blowing pigment on a hand held to the wall. The earliest known cave paintings/drawings of animals are at least 35,000 years old and are found in Pettakere cave on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, previously it was believed that the earliest paintings were in Europe. The earliest non-figurative rock art dates back to approximately 40,000 years ago, nearly 340 caves have now been discovered in France and Spain that contain art from prehistoric times. But subsequent technology has made it possible to date the paintings by sampling the pigment itself, the choice of subject matter can also indicate chronology. For instance, the reindeer depicted in the Spanish cave of Cueva de las Monedas places the drawings in the last Ice Age. The oldest date given to a cave painting is now a pig that has a minimum age of 35,400 years old at Pettakere cave in Sulawesi. Indonesian and Australian scientists have dated other non-figurative paintings on the walls to be approximately 40,000 years old, the method they used to confirm this was dating the age of the stalactites that formed over the top of the paintings. The art is similar in style and method to that of the Indonesian caves as there were also hand stencils and this date coincides with the earliest known evidence for Homo sapiens in Europe. Because of the cave arts age, some scientists have conjectured that the paintings may have made by Neanderthals. The earliest known European figurative cave paintings are those of Chauvet Cave in France and these paintings date to earlier than 30,000 BCE according to radiocarbon dating. Some researchers believe the drawings are too advanced for this era, the radiocarbon dates from these samples show that there were two periods of creation in Chauvet,35,000 years ago and 30,000 years ago. In 2009, cavers discovered drawings in Coliboaia Cave in Romania, an initial dating puts the age of an image in the same range as Chauvet, about 32,000 years old. Some caves probably continued to be painted over a period of thousands of years. This was created roughly between 10,000 and 5,500 years ago, and painted in rock shelters under cliffs or shallow caves, though individual figures are less naturalistic, they are grouped in coherent grouped compositions to a much greater degree
Cave painting
–
Cave of Altamira, near
Santander,
Spain.
Cave painting
–
Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for Cave of the Hands) in the Santa Cruz province in
Argentina
Cave painting
–
Cueva de las Monedas
Cave painting
–
Spanish cave painting of bulls.
22.
Stone
–
Rock or stone is a natural substance, a solid aggregate of one or more minerals or mineraloids. For example, granite, a rock, is a combination of the minerals quartz, feldspar. The Earths outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock, rock has been used by mankind throughout history. The minerals and metals found in rocks have been essential to human civilization, three major groups of rocks are defined, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. The scientific study of rocks is called petrology, which is a component of geology. At a granular level, rocks are composed of grains of minerals, the aggregate minerals forming the rock are held together by chemical bonds. The types and abundance of minerals in a rock are determined by the manner in which the rock was formed, many rocks contain silica, a compound of silicon and oxygen that forms 74. 3% of the Earths crust. This material forms crystals with other compounds in the rock, the proportion of silica in rocks and minerals is a major factor in determining their name and properties. Rocks are geologically classified according to such as mineral and chemical composition, permeability, the texture of the constituent particles. These physical properties are the end result of the processes that formed the rocks, over the course of time, rocks can transform from one type into another, as described by the geological model called the rock cycle. These events produce three general classes of rock, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic, the three classes of rocks are subdivided into many groups. However, there are no hard and fast boundaries between allied rocks, hence the definitions adopted in establishing rock nomenclature merely correspond to more or less arbitrary selected points in a continuously graduated series. Igneous rock forms through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava and this magma can be derived from partial melts of pre-existing rocks in either a planets mantle or crust. Typically, the melting of rocks is caused by one or more of three processes, an increase in temperature, a decrease in pressure, or a change in composition, igneous rocks are divided into two main categories, plutonic rock and volcanic. Plutonic or intrusive rocks result when magma cools and crystallizes slowly within the Earths crust, a common example of this type is granite. Volcanic or extrusive rocks result from magma reaching the surface either as lava or fragmental ejecta, the chemical abundance and the rate of cooling of magma typically forms a sequence known as Bowens reaction series. Most major igneous rocks are found along this scale, about 64. 7% of the Earths crust by volume consists of igneous rocks, making it the most plentiful category. Of these, 66% are basalts and gabbros, 16% are granite, only 0. 6% are syenites and 0. 3% peridotites and dunites
Stone
–
Balanced Rock stands in the
Garden of the Gods park in
Colorado Springs
Stone
–
Rock outcrop along a mountain creek near
Orosí,
Costa Rica.
Stone
–
Sample of igneous
gabbro
Stone
–
Sedimentary sandstone with iron oxide bands
23.
Edakkal Caves
–
Edakkal Caves are two natural caves at a remote location at Edakkal,25 km from Kalpetta in the Wayanad district of Kerala in Indias Western Ghats. They lie 1,200 m above sea level on Ambukutty Mala, inside the caves are pictorial writings believed to date to at least 6,000 BCE, from the Neolithic man, indicating the presence of a prehistoric civilization or settlement in this region. The Stone Age carvings of Edakkal are rare and are the known examples from south India. These are not technically caves, but rather a cleft, rift or rock shelter approximately 96 ft by 22 ft, on one side of the cleft is a rock weighing several tons that covers the cleft to form the roof of the cave. The carvings are of human and animal figures, tools used by humans and of symbols yet to be deciphered, the petroglyphs inside the cave are of at least three types. The oldest may date back to over 8,000 years, evidences suggest that the Edakkal caves were inhabited several times at different points in history. The caves were discovered by Fred Fawcett, an official of the erstwhile Malabar state in 1890 who immediately recognised their anthropological and historical importance. He wrote an article about them, attracting the attention of scholars, the caves contain drawings that range over periods from the Neolithic as early as 5,000 BC to 1,000 BCE. The youngest group of paintings have been in the news for a connection to the Indus Valley Civilization. Historian Raghava Varier of the Kerala State Archaeology Department identified a depiction as “a man with jar cup” that is the most distinct motif of the Indus valley civilization, the finding, made in September 2009, indicates that the Harappan civilization was active in the region. The “a man with jar cup” symbol from Edakkal seems to be similar to the Indus motif than those already known from Tamil Nadu. Mr. Varier said “The discovery of the symbols are akin to that of the Harappan civilization having predominantly Dravidian culture and testimony to the fact that cultural diffusion could take place. It is wrong to presume that the Indus culture disappeared into thin air. ”Iravatham Mahadevan, petroglyph Rock art Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka Edakkal Caves Website On a history trail cave-biology. org Cave biology in India
Edakkal Caves
–
Stone age writing
Edakkal Caves
–
Petroglyphs dating back to about 6000 BC
Edakkal Caves
–
Light shining through Edakkal caves
24.
35th century BCE
–
The 35th century BC in the Near East sees the gradual transition from the Chalcolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Proto-writing enters transitional stage, developing towards writing proper, wheeled vehicles are now known beyond Mesopotamia, having spread north of the Caucasus and to Europe. The civilization used a form of the Indus signs, the so-called Indus script. Only approximate dating is possible for mid-4th millennium artifacts. Kish tablet Bronocice pot Ginger The Sahara desert starts to form from semi-arid savannah, C.3500 BC, First known zoo at Hierakonpolis. C.3400 BC, Sumerian temple record keepers redesign the seal in the form of a cylinder. C.3500 BC, Pictographic proto-writing starts developing towards writing proper in Sumer, C.3500 BC, The first monument of which there is still a trace is built on the Hill of Tara, the ancient seat of the High King of Ireland. C.3500 BC, Tin is discovered, see, List of sovereign states in the 35th century BC
35th century BCE
–
The head of EA 32751 ("Ginger") showing the preserved hair. Photo taken in 2011.
25.
Indus Valley Civilization
–
The Indus Valley Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation mainly in the northwestern regions of South Asia, extending from what today is northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India. Along with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia it was one of three early civilisations of the Old World, and of the three, the most widespread, at its peak, the Indus Civilisation may have had a population of over five million. Inhabitants of the ancient Indus river valley developed new techniques in handicraft, the Indus cities are noted for their urban planning, baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems, and clusters of large non-residential buildings. The discovery of Harappa, and soon afterwards, Mohenjo-Daro, was the culmination of work beginning in 1861 with the founding of the Archaeological Survey of India in the British Raj, excavation of Harappan sites has been ongoing since 1920, with important breakthroughs occurring as recently as 1999. This Harappan civilisation is called the Mature Harappan culture to distinguish it from the cultures immediately preceding and following it. The early Harappan cultures were preceded by local Neolithic agricultural villages, as of 1999, over 1,056 cities and settlements had been found, of which 96 have been excavated, mainly in the general region of the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra Rivers and their tributaries. Among the settlements were the urban centres of Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Dholavira, Ganeriwala in Cholistan. The Harappan language is not directly attested and its affiliation is uncertain since the Indus script is still undeciphered, a relationship with the Dravidian or Elamo-Dravidian language family is favoured by a section of scholars. Recently, Indus sites have been discovered in Pakistans northwestern Frontier Province as well, other IVC colonies can be found in Afghanistan while smaller isolated colonies can be found as far away as Turkmenistan and in Maharashtra. The largest number of colonies are in the Punjab, Sindh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Indus Valley sites have been found most often on rivers, but also on the ancient seacoast, for example, Balakot, and on islands, for example, Dholavira. There is evidence of dry river beds overlapping with the Hakra channel in Pakistan, many Indus Valley sites have been discovered along the Ghaggar-Hakra beds. Among them are, Rupar, Rakhigarhi, Sothi, Kalibangan, Harappan Civilisation remains the correct one, according to the common archaeological usage of naming a civilisation after its first findspot. John wrote, I was much exercised in my mind how we were to get ballast for the line of the railway and they were told of an ancient ruined city near the lines, called Brahminabad. Visiting the city, he found it full of hard well-burnt bricks, and, convinced there was a grand quarry for the ballast I wanted. These bricks now provided ballast along 93 miles of the track running from Karachi to Lahore. In 1872–75, Alexander Cunningham published the first Harappan seal and it was half a century later, in 1912, that more Harappan seals were discovered by J. J. H. MacKay, and Marshall. By 1931, much of Mohenjo-Daro had been excavated, but excavations continued, such as that led by Sir Mortimer Wheeler, director of the Archaeological Survey of India in 1944. Among other archaeologists who worked on IVC sites before the independence in 1947 were Ahmad Hasan Dani, Brij Basi Lal, Nani Gopal Majumdar, and Sir Marc Aurel Stein
Indus Valley Civilization
–
Indus Valley Civilization
Indus Valley Civilization
–
Ceremonial vessel, Harappan, 2600–2450 BCE.
LACMA
Indus Valley Civilization
–
Excavated ruins of
Mohenjo-daro, with the
Great Bath in the front
Indus Valley Civilization
–
Indus Valley pottery, 2500–1900 BCE
26.
Indus script
–
The Indus script is a corpus of symbols produced by the Indus Valley Civilization during the Kot Diji and Mature Harappan periods between 3500 and 1900 BCE. In spite of attempts, the script has not yet been deciphered. There is no known bilingual inscription to help decipher the script, however, some of the syntax varies depending upon location. The first publication of a seal with Harappan symbols dates to 1875, since then, over 4,000 inscribed objects have been discovered, some as far afield as Mesopotamia. In the early 1970s, Iravatham Mahadevan published a corpus and concordance of Indus inscriptions listing 3,700 seals and 417 distinct signs in specific patterns and he also found that the average inscription contained five symbols, and the longest inscription contained only 14 symbols in a single line. He also established the direction of writing as right to left, Early examples of the symbol system are found in an Early Harappan and Indus civilisation context, dated to possibly as early as the 35th century BCE. Often, animals such as bulls, elephants, rhinoceros, water buffaloes, after 1900 BCE, the systematic use of the symbols ended, following the final stage of the Mature Harappan civilization. A few Harappan signs have been claimed to appear until as late as around 1100 BCE, the thermoluminescence date for the pottery is 1528 BCE. This evidence has been used to claim that a late Harappan script was used until around 1500 BCE, the characters are largely pictorial but include many abstract signs. The inscriptions are thought to have been written from right to left. The number of signs is about 400. Since this is too large a number for each character to be a phonogram, it is taken that it must, instead, Asko Parpola, reviewing the Farmer, Sproat, and Witzel thesis in 2005, stated that their arguments can be easily controverted. He cited the presence of a number of rare signs in Chinese. Revisiting the question in a 2007 lecture, Parpola took on each of the 10 main arguments of Farmer et al. presenting counterarguments for each. A2009 paper published by Rajesh P N Rao, Iravatham Mahadevan, a follow-up study presented further evidence in terms of entropies of longer sequences of symbols beyond pairs. However, Sproat claimed that there existed a number of misunderstandings in Rao et al, Rao et al. s argument against Sproats claims, and Sproats reply, were published in Computational Linguistics in December 2010. The June 2014 issue of Language carries a paper by Sproat that provides evidence that the methodology of Rao et al. is flawed. Rao et al. s rebuttal of Sproats 2014 article and Sproats response are published in the December 2015 issue of Language, over the years, numerous decipherments have been proposed, but there is no established scholarly consensus
Indus script
–
Unicorn seal of Indus Valley,
Indian Museum
Indus script
–
Seal impression showing a typical inscription of five characters
Indus script
–
Collection of seals
27.
Carnelian
–
Carnelian is a brownish-red mineral commonly used as a semi-precious gemstone. Similar to carnelian is sard, which is harder and darker. Both carnelian and sard are varieties of the mineral chalcedony colored by impurities of iron oxide. The color can vary greatly, ranging from orange to an intense almost-black coloration. It is most common in Brazil, India, Siberia and Germany, the bow drill was used to drill holes into carnelian in Mehrgarh between 4th-5th millennium BC. Carnelian was recovered from Bronze Age Minoan layers at Knossos on Crete in a form that demonstrated its use in decorative arts, carnelian was used widely during Roman times to make engraved gems for signet or seal rings for imprinting a seal with wax on correspondence or other important documents. Hot wax does not stick to carnelian, sard was used for Assyrian cylinder seals, Egyptian and Phoenician scarabs, and early Greek and Etruscan gems. The Hebrew odem, the first stone in the High Priests breastplate, was a red stone, probably sard, although now the more common term, carnelian is a 16th-century corruption of the 14th-century word cornelian. The Oxford English Dictionary calls carnelian a perversion of cornelian, by subsequent analogy with the Latin word caro, carnis, flesh. According to Pliny the Elder, sard derives its name from the city of Sardis in Lydia, the names carnelian and sard are often used interchangeably, but they can also be used to describe distinct subvarieties. The general differences are as follows, All of these properties vary across a continuum, carnelian List of minerals Sardonyx Mindat article on carnelian Mindat article on sard
Carnelian
–
Polished carnelian/sard pebbles. Scale is in millimeters.
Carnelian
–
Carnelian
intaglio with a
Ptolemaic queen, Hellenistic artwork,
Cabinet des Médailles
Carnelian
–
Necklace with gold beads and carnelian beads,
Cypriot artwork with
Mycenaean inspiration, ca. 1400–1200 BC. From
Enkomi.
British Museum
Carnelian
–
This Egyptian necklace consists of biconical carnelian beads, beads of rolled strips of sheet gold, and ten amulets. The Walters Art Museum.
28.
27th century BCE
–
The 27th century BC was a century which lasted from the year 2700 BC to 2601 BC.2700 BC-2660 BC, Early Dynastic period ended in Ancient Egypt. This period includes 1st and 2nd Dynasties, C.2700 BC, Merit-Ptah is worlds first female physician mentioned by name. C.2700 BC, Old Kingdom started in Ancient Egypt,2686 BC, Egypt, End of Second Dynasty, start of Third Dynasty. C.2685 BC, Bull lyre, from the tomb of Queen Puabi and it is now in University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. C.2681 BC – c.2662 BC, Reign of Djoser, Pharaoh of Egypt, C.2667 BC, Pharaoh Djoser starts to rule. C.2648 BC, Pharaoh Djoser dies,2630 BC –2611 BC, Imhotep, Vizier of Egypt, constructs the Pyramid of Djoser 2613 BC, Egypt—End of Third Dynasty, start of Fourth Dynasty. C.2613 BC –2494 BC, The Great Sphinx at Giza is built, C.2601 BC – c.2515 BC, Great Pyramids at Giza are built for Menkaure, Khafre and Khufu. C.2697 BC, The Yellow Emperor starts to reign in China, C.2640 BC, The cultivation and weaving of silk starts to be a closely guarded secret in China. C.2685 BC, Bull lyre, from the tomb of Queen Puabi and it is now in University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. 2627 BC –2000 BC, Construction of the Caral metropolis in Peru 2600 BC, the civilization began using the mature Indus script for its writing system. 2600 BC, End of the Early Dynastic II Period and the beginning of the Early Dynastic IIIa Period in Mesopotamia,2700 BC, Mesoamericans begin to plant and domesticate corn. 2900 BC –2334 BC, Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period, Djoser, first Pharaoh of the Third dynasty of Egypt Imhotep, Vizier of Egypt and architect Merit Ptah, chief physician in Egypt
27th century BCE
–
Statuette of
Imhotep in the
Louvre. He is the first architect and physician whose name was recorded and has survived to modern times.
29.
26th century BCE
–
The 26th century BC was a century which lasted from the year 2600 BC to 2501 BC. c.2900 BC –2334 BC, Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period continue. C.2600 BC, The Harappan civilization rises to become a powerful civilization, C.2600 BC, Pre-Palace Period, phase I, in Crete c.2600 BC –2500 BC, Wild horses still provide hunting feasts in Denmark. C.2600 BC –1900 BC, Large water tank, possibly a public or ritual bathing area, Mohenjo-Daro, Indus Valley Civilization, C.2589 BC, Pharaoh Khufu starts to rule. C.2575 BC, Old Kingdom in Egypt 4th Dynasty Snofru is Pharaoh, C.2570 BC, Khafra started to rule in Ancient Egypt. C.2566 BC, Pharaoh Khufu dies, C.2558 BC, Pharaoh Khafra starts to rule. C.2550 BC, Estimated date of completion of the Great Pyramid of Giza. c.2550 BC, Egyptian rulers contact Western Desert oases and it is now kept at University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia. C.2533 BC, Menkaura started to rule in Ancient Egypt, C.2532 BC, Pharaoh Khafra dies. C.2532 BC, Pharaoh Menkaura starts to rule, C.2510 BC –2460 BC, Ti watching a hippopotamus hunt, tomb of Ti, Saqqara, Fifth dynasty of Egypt, is made. Discovered by French archeologist Auguste Mariette in 1865, C.2503 BC, Pharaoh Menkaura dies. C.2500 BC, Menkaura and a Queen, perhaps his wife, Queen Khamerernebty II sculpture and it is now in Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Butmir culture existed in Butmir, near Ilidža, Bosnia and Herzegovina,2575 BC—Old Kingdom in Egypt, 4th Dynasty, Sneferu is Pharaoh. Khufu dies Rock drawings at Rødøy in Norway show the use of skis Bactrian Camel and Dromedary are domesticated
26th century BCE
–
Picture of the Great Pyramid of Khufu
30.
Harappa
–
Harappa is an archaeological site in Punjab, Pakistan, about 24 km west of Sahiwal. The site takes its name from a village located near the former course of the Ravi River. The current village of Harappa is 6 km from the ancient site, although modern Harappa has a legacy railway station from the period of the British Raj, it is today just a small crossroads town of population 15,000. The site of the ancient city contains the ruins of a Bronze Age fortified city, which was part of the Cemetery H culture and the Indus Valley Civilization, centered in Sindh and the Punjab. Per archaeological convention of naming a previously unknown civilization by its first excavated site, the ancient city of Harappa was heavily damaged under British rule, when bricks from the ruins were used as track ballast in the construction of the Lahore-Multan Railway. In 2005, an amusement park scheme at the site was abandoned when builders unearthed many archaeological artifacts during the early stages of building work. A plea from the Pakistani archaeologist Ahmad Hasan Dani to the Ministry of Culture resulted in a restoration of the site, the Indus Valley Civilization has its earliest roots in cultures such as that of Mehrgarh, approximately 6000 BCE. The two greatest cities, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, emerged circa 2600 BCE along the Indus River valley in Punjab, the bricks discovered were made of red sand, clay, stones and were baked at very high temperature. As early as 1826 Harappa located in west Punjab attracted the attention of a British officer in India, Indus Valley civilization was mainly an urban culture sustained by surplus agricultural production and commerce, the latter including trade with Sumer in southern Mesopotamia. Both Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa are generally characterized as having differentiated living quarters, flat-roofed brick houses, the weights and measures of the Indus Valley Civilization, on the other hand, were highly standardized, and conform to a set scale of gradations. Distinctive seals were used, among other applications, perhaps for identification of property, although copper and bronze were in use, iron was not yet employed. Wheel-made pottery—some of it adorned with animal and geometric motifs—has been found in profusion at all the major Indus sites, harappans had many trade routes along the Indus River that went as far as the Persian Gulf, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. Some of the most valuable things traded were carnelian and lapis lazuli, what is clear is that Harappan society was not entirely peaceful, with the human skeletal remains demonstrating some of the highest rates of injury found in South Asian prehistory. The excavators of the site have proposed the following chronology of Harappas occupation, Ravi Aspect of the Hakra phase, kot Dijian phase, c.2800 –2600 BC. Harappan Phase, c.2600 –1900 BC, transitional Phase, c.1900 –1800 BC. Late Harappan Phase, c.1800 –1300 BC, by far the most exquisite and obscure artifacts unearthed to date are the small, square steatite seals engraved with human or animal motifs. A large number of seals have been found at sites as Mohenjo-Daro. Many bear pictographic inscriptions generally thought to be a form of writing or script, despite the efforts of philologists from all parts of the world, and despite the use of modern cryptographic analysis, the signs remain undeciphered
Harappa
–
A large well and bathing platforms are remains of Harappa's final phase of occupation from 2200 to 1900 BC.
Harappa
–
Map showing the sites and extent of the
Indus Valley Civilisation. Harappa was the center of one of the core regions of the Indus Valley Civilization, located in central
Punjab. The
Harappan architecture and Harrapan Civilization was one of the most developed in the old
Bronze Age.
Harappa
–
Coach driver 2000 B.C.E. late Harappa figure from
Daimabad hoard,
Indus Valley Civilization
Harappa
–
Miniature Votive Images or Toy Models from Harappa, ca. 2500. Hand-modeled terra-cotta figurines with polychromy.
31.
Lothal
–
Lothal is one of the most prominent cities of the ancient Indus valley civilisation, located in the Bhāl region of the modern state of Gujarāt and dating from 3700 BCE. Discovered in 1954, Lothal was excavated from 13 February 1955 to 19 May 1960 by the Archaeological Survey of India, the official Indian government agency for the preservation of ancient monuments. It was a vital and thriving trade centre in ancient times, with its trade of beads, gems and valuable ornaments reaching the far corners of West Asia, the techniques and tools they pioneered for bead-making and in metallurgy have stood the test of time for over 4000 years. Lothal is situated near the village of Saragwala in the Dholka Taluka of Ahmedabad district and it is six kilometres south-east of the Lothal-Bhurkhi railway station on the Ahmedabad-Bhavnagar railway line. It is also connected by roads to the cities of Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Rajkot. The nearest cities are Dholka and Bagodara, the findings consist of a mound, a township, a marketplace, and the dock. Adjacent to the excavated areas stands the Archaeological Museum, where some of the most prominent collections of Indus-era antiquities in India are displayed, when British India was partitioned in 1947, most Indus sites, including Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, became part of Pakistan. The Archaeological Survey of India undertook a new program of exploration, many sites were discovered across northwestern India. Lothal stands 670 kilometers from Mohenjo-daro, which is in Sindh, the meaning of Lothal in Gujarati to be the mound of the dead is not unusual, as the name of the city of Mohenjo-daro in Sindhi means the same. People in villages neighbouring to Lothal had known of the presence of an ancient town, as recently as 1850, boats could sail up to the mound. In 1942, timber was shipped from Broach to Saragwala via the mound, a silted creek connecting modern Bholad with Lothal and Saragwala represents the ancient flow channel of a river or creek. Speculation suggests that owing to the small dimensions of the main city, Lothal was not a large settlement at all. However, the ASI and other contemporary archaeologists assert that the city was a part of a river system on the trade route of the ancient peoples from Sindh to Saurashtra in Gujarat. Lothal provides with the largest collection of antiquities in the archaeology of modern India and it is essentially a single culture site—the Harappan culture in all its variances is evidenced. An indigenous micaceous Red Ware culture also existed, which is believed to be autochthonous, two sub-periods of Harappan culture are distinguished, the same period is identical to the exuberant culture of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. After the core of the Indus civilisation had decayed in Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, Lothal seems not only to have survived and its constant threats - tropical storms and floods - caused immense destruction, which destabilised the culture and ultimately caused its end. Topographical analysis also shows signs that at about the time of its demise, thus the cause for the abandonment of the city may have been changes in the climate as well as natural disasters, as suggested by environmental magnetic records. Lothal is based upon a mound that was a salt marsh inundated by tide, small channel widths when compared to the lower reaches suggest the presence of a strong tidal influence upon the city—tidal waters ingressed up to and beyond the city
Lothal
–
Archaeological remains at the lower town of Lothal
Lothal
–
To the northwest of Lothal lies the
Kutch (see also
Dholavira) peninsula, which was a part of the
Arabian Sea until very recently in history. Owing to this, and the proximity of the
Gulf of Khambhat, Lothal's river provided direct access to sea routes. Although now sealed off from the sea, Lothal's topography and geology reflects its maritime past.
Lothal
–
An ancient well, and the city drainage canals
Lothal
–
The bathroom-toilet structure of houses in Lothal
32.
Kalibangan
–
Kalibangān is a town located at 29. 47°N74. 13°E /29.47,74. It is also identified as being established in the triangle of land at the confluence of Drishadvati, the prehistoric and pre-Mauryan character of Indus Valley Civilization was first identified by Luigi Tessitori at this site. Kalibangans excavation report was published in its entirety in 2003 by the Archaeological Survey of India,34 years after the completion of excavations, the report concluded that Kalibangan was a major provincial capital of the Indus Valley Civilization. Kalibangan is distinguished by its unique fire altars and worlds earliest attested ploughed field, the identity of Kalibangan as a pre-historic site was discovered by Luigi Pio Tessitori, an Italian Indologist. He was doing research in ancient Indian texts. He was surprised by the character of ruins in that area, at that time ASI had some excavations done on Harappa, but they never had any idea about the character of the ruins. In fact, Tessitori is the first person to recognize that the ruins are Prehistoric, amlānand Ghosh was the first person to recognise this site as Harappan and marked it out for excavations. Under the leadership of B. B, Lal, Balkrishna Thapar, M. D. Khare, K. M. Shrivastava and S. P. Jain carried out excavations for 9 years in 9 successive excavation sessions. Two ancient mounds were excavated, spread over half kilometre, on western side is the smaller mound,9 meters high and known as citadel. Eastern mound is higher and bigger, known as lower city, other nearby sites belonging to IVC include Balu, Haryana, Kunal, Haryana, Banawali etc. Traces of pre-Harappan culture have found only at the lower levels of the western mound. According to archaeological evidence, the Indus Valley culture existed at the site from the age to the Harappan age. This earlier phase is labelled Kalibangan-I or Period-I, similarity of pottery relates Kalibangan-I with the Sothi culture because a lot of this pottery was later discovered at Sothi village in North Western India. In this phase, the settlement was fortified, using dried mud bricks and this fort had been built twice in different periods. Earlier, fort wall had a thickness of 1.9 meters, brick size was 20 ×20 ×10 cm in both construction-phases. The citadel mound is a parallelogram about 130 meters on the east-west axis and 260 meters on the north-south, town planning was like that of Mohenjodaro or Harappa. The direction of houses and brick sizes was markedly different from that used in the Harappan phase, some burnt wedge shaped bricks also have been found. Lal, former DG of ASI writes, Kalibangan in Rajasthan has given the evidence of the earliest ploughed agricultural field ever revealed through an excavation and it has been found south east of the pre-Harappan settlement, outside the fort
Kalibangan
–
The western mound of Kalibangan, known as the Citadel
Kalibangan
–
Ruins of Kalibanga. Brick wall can be seen in the hole in the centre.
Kalibangan
–
The passage to the graveyard
33.
Dholavira
–
This village is 165 km from Radhanpur. Also known locally as Kotada timba, the site contains ruins of an ancient Indus Valley Civilization/Harappan city and it is one of the five largest Harappan sites and most prominent archaeological sites in India belonging to the Indus Valley Civilization. It is also considered as having been the grandest of cities of its time and it is located on Khadir bet island in the Kutch Desert Wildlife Sanctuary in the Great Rann of Kutch. The 47 ha quadrangular city lay between two streams, the Mansar in the north and Manhar in the south. The site was occupied from c.2650 BCE, declining slowly after about 2100 BCE and it was briefly abandoned then reoccupied until c.1450 BCE. The site was discovered in 1967-1968 by J. P. Joshi ex, D. G. of A. S. I. and is the fifth largest of eight major Harappan sites. It has been under excavation since 1990 by the Archaeological Survey of India, the other major Harappan sites discovered so far are, Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Ganeriwala, Rakhigarhi, Kalibangan, Rupnagar and Lothal. R. S. S. Bisht, and there were 13 field excavations between 1990 and 2005, archaeologists believe that Dholavira was an important centre of trade between settlements in south Gujarat, Sindh and Punjab and Western Asia. Estimated to be older than the port-city of Lothal, the city of Dholavira has a shape and organization. The area measures 771.1 m in length, and 616.85 m in width, unlike Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, the city was constructed to a pre-existing geometrical plan consisting of three divisions – the citadel, the middle town, and the lower town. The acropolis and the town had been furnished with their own defence-work, gateways, built-up areas, street system, wells. The acropolis is the most thoroughly fortified and complex area in the city, the towering castle stands is defended by double ramparts. Next to this stands a place called the bailey where important officials lived, the city within the general fortifications accounts for 48 ha. There are extensive structure-bearing areas which are outside yet integral to the fortified settlement, beyond the walls, another settlement has been found. Dholavira is flanked by two water channels, the Mansar in the north, and the Manhar in the south. S. Bist. One of the features of Dholavira is the sophisticated water conservation system of channels and reservoirs. The city had massive reservoirs, three of which are exposed and they were used for storing fresh water brought by rains or to store water diverted from two nearby rivulets. This clearly came in response to the climate and conditions of Kutch
Dholavira
–
Layout of Dholavira
Dholavira
–
One of the water reservoirs, with steps, at Dholavira
Dholavira
–
Ten Indus glyphs discovered near the northern gate of Dholavira
34.
Mohenjo-daro
–
Mohenjo-daro is an archeological site in the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Mohenjo-daro was abandoned in the 19th century BCE as the Indus Valley Civilization declined, significant excavation has since been conducted at the site of the city, which was designated an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. The site is threatened by erosion and improper restoration. Mohenjo-daro, the name for the site, has been variously interpreted as Mound of the Dead Men in Sindhi. The citys original name is unknown, based on his analysis of a Mohenjo-daro seal, Iravatham Mahadevan speculates that the citys ancient name could have been Kukkutarma. Cock-fighting may have had ritual and religious significance for the city, with domesticated chickens bred there for sacred purposes, Mohenjo-daro may also have been a point of diffusion for the eventual worldwide domestication of chickens. Mohenjo-daro is located west of the Indus River in Larkana District, Sindh, Pakistan and it is sited on a Pleistocene ridge in the middle of the flood plain of the Indus River Valley, around 28 kilometres from the town of Larkana. The Indus still flows east of the site, but the Ghaggar-Hakra riverbed on the side is now dry. Mohenjo-daro was built in the 26th century BCE and it was one of the largest cities of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, also known as the Harappan Civilization, which developed around 3,000 BCE from the prehistoric Indus culture. Mohenjo-daro was the most advanced city of its time, with remarkably sophisticated civil engineering, when the Indus civilization went into sudden decline around 1900 BCE, Mohenjo-daro was abandoned. The ruins of the city remained undocumented for around 3,700 years until R. D and this led to large-scale excavations of Mohenjo-daro led by Kashinath Narayan Dikshit in 1924–25, and John Marshall in 1925–26. In the 1930s, major excavations were conducted at the site under the leadership of Marshall, D. K. Dikshitar, further excavations were carried out in 1945 by Ahmad Hasan Dani and Mortimer Wheeler. The last major series of excavations were conducted in 1964 and 1965 by Dr. George F. Dales, a dry core drilling conducted in 2015 by Pakistans National Fund for Mohenjo-daro revealed that the site is larger than the unearthed area. Mohenjo-daro has a layout based on a street grid of rectilinear buildings. Most were built of fired and mortared brick, some incorporated sun-dried mud-brick, the covered area of Mohenjo-daro is estimated at 300 hectares. The Oxford Handbook of Cities in World History offers an estimate of a peak population of around 40,000. The sheer size of the city, and its provision of buildings and facilities. The city is divided into two parts, the so-called Citadel and the Lower City
Mohenjo-daro
–
The excavated ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Sindh, Pakistan, in 2010.
Mohenjo-daro
–
Map showing the major sites and theorised extent of the
Indus Valley Civilisation, including the location of the Mohenjo-daro site.
Mohenjo-daro
–
"The Dancing Girl", a bronze statuette at the
National Museum of Pakistan collection.
Mohenjo-daro
–
"The Priest-King", a seated stone sculpture at the
National Museum, Karachi.
35.
Metropolis
–
The term is Greek and means the mother city of a colony, that is, the city which sent out settlers. This was later generalized to a city regarded as a center of an activity, or any large. A big city belonging to an urban agglomeration, but which is not the core of that agglomeration, is not generally considered a metropolis. The plural of the word is most commonly metropolises, although the correct plural is metropoles, in the ancient past, metropolis was the designation for a city or state of origin of a colony. Many large cities founded by ancient civilizations have been considered important world metropoles of their times due to their large populations, some of these ancient metropoles survived until the modern days and are among the worlds oldest continuously inhabited cities. This usage equates the province with the diocese or episcopal see, in modern usage the word has come to refer to a metropolitan area, a set of adjacent and interconnected cities clustered around a major urban center. In this sense, metropolitan usually means spanning the whole metropolis or proper of a metropolis, the concept of a global city is of a city that has a direct and tangible effect on global affairs through socioeconomic means. The term has become familiar, because of the rise of globalization. An attempt to define and categorize world cities by financial criteria was made by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, the study ranked cities based on their provision of advanced producer services such as accountancy, advertising, finance and law. The inventory identifies three levels of cities and several sub-ranks. A metropolis is not necessarily a global city—or, being one, it not be among the top-ranking—due to its standards of living, development. A metropolis that is also a city is a global metropolis. Cairo and Alexandria are considered Egypts biggest metropolis, lagos is Nigerias biggest metropolis city. In South Africa, a municipality or Category A municipality is a municipality which executes all the functions of local government for a conurbation. This is by contrast to areas which are rural, where the local government is divided into district municipalities. There are eight municipalities in South Africa. In the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, there are eleven metropolitan areas, Dhaka North, Dhaka South, Gazipur Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet, Barisal, lands are highly priced and residents are considered to have a better urban lifestyle. Special police departments are allotted for the cities, and there are city corporations for which mayors are elected for five-year regimes
Metropolis
–
Tokyo, the world's largest metropolis
Metropolis
–
São Paulo, the largest metropolis of the
Southern Hemisphere
Metropolis
–
The
Colosseum at night
Metropolis
–
A wide angle shot of the Mediterranean coastline of Alexandria.
36.
18th century BCE
–
The 18th century BC was the century which lasted from 1800 BC to 1701 BC.1800 BC, Iron age in India 1800 BC, Beginning of the Nordic Bronze Age in the period system devised by Oscar Montelius. 1800 BC –1300 BC, Troy VI flourishes, C.1800 BC, Sedentary Mayan communities in Mesoamerica c.1800 BC, Hyksos start to settle in the Nile Delta. They had the capital at Avaris in northeastern Nile Delta,1800 BC Adichanallur urn-burial site in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu. In 2004, a number of dating from around 3,800 years ago. 1800 BC Indo-Aryan migration c.1792 BC –1750 BC, – Hammurabi rules Babylonia and has to deal with Mari, C.1792 BC –1750 BC, – Stela of Hammurabi, from Susa is made. It is now in Musée du Louvre, Paris,1787 BC –1784 BC, Amorite conquests of Uruk and Isin. 1786 BC, Egypt, Queen Sobekneferu dies, end of Twelfth Dynasty, start of Thirteenth Dynasty, start of Fourteenth Dynasty. 1779 BC, Zimrilim, the King of Mari, starts to rule,1770 BC, Babylon, capital of Babylonia becomes the largest city of the world, taking the lead from Thebes, capital of Egypt. 1766 BC, Shang conquest of Xia Dynasty,1764 BC –1750 BC, Wars of Hammurabi. 1757 BC, Mari sacked by Hammurabi,1757 BC, Zimrilim, the King of Mari, dies. 1750 BC, Hyksos occupation of Northern Egypt,1750 BC, A colossal volcanic eruption at Mount Veniaminof, Alaska. C.1750 BC, Vedic period starts in India, C.1750 BC, Investiture of Zimrilim, facsimile of a wall painting on mud plaster from the Zimrilim palace at Mari, Court 106, is made. It is now in Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1740–1720 BC, reigns of pharaoh Neferhotep I and his brother Sobekhotep IV, marking the apex of the Egyptian 13th Dynasty. 1749 BC –1712 BC, Mesopotamian Rebellions, early Unetice culture, beginning of the Bronze Age in Central Europe. Minoan civilization, phase II of the Middle period, C.1700 BC, The last species of mammoth became extinct on Wrangel Island. C.1700 BC, Indus Valley Civilization comes to an end but is continued by the Cemetery H culture c.1700 BC, Minoan Old Palace period ends and Minoan Second Palace period starts in Crete. C.1700 BC, Aegean metalworkers are producing decorative objects rivaling those of Ancient Near East jewelers, C.1700 BC, Lila-Ir-Tash started to rule the Elamite Empire. C.1700 BC, Bronze Age starts in China, C.1700 BC, Shang Dynasty starts in China
18th century BCE
–
An inscription of the
Code of Hammurabi, one of the earliest known sets of laws
37.
Adichanallur
–
Adichanallur is an archaeological site in Thoothukudi district in Tamil Nadu, India. The town is known locally as Aathichanallur, and has been the site of a number of important archaeological finds. Korkai the capital of the Early Pandyan Kingdom is located about 15 km from Adichanallur, in 2004, a number of skeletons dating from around 3,800 years ago were found buried in earthenware urns. More than 160 urns have been found and these urns also contained writing, which according to some ASI archaeologists, is very rudimentary Tamil Brahmi. The script is dated to 500-300 BC, later, a three-tier burial system was discovered in which earlier generations were buried in urns at 10 feet depth and recent ones above them. Soon the habitation site of the people who were buried was also discovered recently, analyzing the habitation site, it was understood that people lived in a fortified town and it had a separate potters quarters. There was also evidence of activity and archaeologists think that it was a crowded busy town. Sherds were also found with writings in Tamil-Brahmi scripts, new initiative involves setting up of site museums. Efforts are on to set up museums in the places from where significant objects are excavated. At present, they are lying in Chennai, the idea is to set up a museum in Adichanallur itself and putting on display whatever had been excavated from there. ADICHANALLUR has a history of excavation, the urn-burial site was brought to light when a German, Dr. Jagor, conducted a haphazard excavation at the place in 1876. An Englishman called Alexander Rea, who was the Superintending Archaeologist, a Frenchman called Louis Lapique had also conducted an excavation in 1904. The site was first brought to notice in 1876 when it was visited by Dr. Jagor of Berlin, accompanied by the Collector of Tinnevelly, excavations by Dr. Rea says these articles were taken away by Dr. Jagor for the Berlin Museum. In his first excavations, Rea discovered about 1,872 objects, traces of cloth, urns with mica pieces, and husks of rice and millet were found in pots inside the urns. Lamp stands, hanging lamps, bell-mouthed jars, chatties, necklaces, wire bangles, swords, spears, importantly, several gold diadems with a hole on each end for tying them around the forehead were found. Rea also discovered a number of figurines of the buffalo, the goat or the sheep, the cock, the tiger, the antelope. On its decay, the leg and arm bones fell over and rested against one side of the urn, while the skull, ribs, and vertebrae dropped down to the bottom. This was the position in which every complete skeleton, without exception, was found, G. Besides, he discovered a figurine of a Mother-Goddess
Adichanallur
–
City Corporations
38.
Indo-Aryan migration
–
The Iranian languages were brought into Iran by the Iranians, who were closely related to the Indo-Aryans. The proto-Indo-Iranians then migrated southwards to the Bactria-Margiana Culture, from which they borrowed their distinctive religious beliefs, given these similarities, a single source or origin was proposed, which was diffused by migrations from some original homeland. This linguistic argument is supported by archeological and anthropological research, Genetic research reveals that those migrations form part of a complex genetical puzzle on the origin and spread of the various components of the Indian population. Literary research reveals similarities between various, geographically distinct, Indo-Aryan historical cultures, the Indo-Aryan migrations started in approximately 1800 BCE, after the invention of the war chariot, and also brought Indo-Aryan languages into the Levant and possibly Inner Asia. The theory posits that these Indo-Aryan speaking people may have been a diverse group of people who were united by shared cultural norms and language, referred to as aryā. The Indo-Aryan Migration theory is part of a theoretical framework. This framework explains the similarities between a range of contemporary and ancient languages. It combines linguistic, archaeological and anthropological research and this provides an overview of the development of indo-European languages, and the spread of these Indo-European languages by migration and acculturation. The linguistic part traces the connections between the various Indo-European languages, and reconstructs proto-Indo-European and this is possible because the processes that change languages are not random, but follow strict patterns. Especially sound shifts, the changing of vowels and consonants, are important, although grammar, historical-comparative linguistics thus makes it possible to see great similarities between languages which at first sight might seem very different. Various characteristics of the Indo-European languages argue against an Indian origin of these languages, the archaeological part posits an Urheimat at the Pontic steppes, which developed after the introduction of cattle at the steppes around 5,200 BCE. The oldest nucleus may have been the Samara culture, at a bend in the Volga, a wider horizon developed, called the Kurgan culture by Marija Gimbutas in the 1950s. From this area, which included various subcultures, Indo-European languages spread west, south. These languages may have carried by small groups of males. Eastward emerged the Sintashta culture, from which developed the Andronovo culture and this culture interacted with the Bactria-Margiana Culture, out of this interaction developed the Indo-Iranians, which split around 1800 BCE into the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians. The Indo-Aryans migrated to the Levant, northern India, and possibly south Asia, the migration into northern India was not a large-scale immigration, but may have consisted of small groups which were genetically diverse. Their culture and language spread by the mechanisms of acculturalisation. Indo-European languages probably spread through language shifts, small groups can change a larger cultural area, and elite male dominance by small groups may have led to a language shift in northern India
Indo-Aryan migration
–
A 1910 depiction of Aryan's entering India from Hutchinson's History of the Nations
Indo-Aryan migration
–
Scheme of Indo-European migrations, of which the Indo-Aryan migrations form a part, from c. 4000 to 1000 BCE according to the
Kurgan hypothesis. * The magenta area corresponds to the assumed
Urheimat (
Samara culture,
Sredny Stog culture) and the subsequent
Yamna culture. * The red area corresponds to the area which may have been settled by Indo-European-speaking peoples up to c. 2500 BCE. * The orange area to 1000 BCE.
Indo-Aryan migration
–
An early 20th century depiction of Aryans settling in agricultural villages in India
Indo-Aryan migration
–
Language families in the
Indian subcontinent.
39.
15th century BCE
–
The 15th century BC is a century which lasted from 1500 BC to 1401 BC.1504 BC –1492 BC, Egypt conquers Nubia and the Levant. 1500 BC –1400 BC, The Rigveda was composed around this time,1500 BC –1400 BC, The Battle of the Ten Kings took place around this time. C.1490 BC, Cranaus, legendary King of Athens, is deposed after a reign of 10 years by his son-in-law Amphictyon of Thessaly, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha. 1487 BC, Amphictyon, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha and legendary King of Athens, dies after a reign of 10 years and is succeeded by Erichthonius I of Athens, C.1480 BC, Queen Hatsheput succeeded by her stepson and nephew Thutmosis III. C.1469 BC, In the Battle of Megiddo, Egypt defeats Canaan, C.1460 BC, The Kassites overrun Babylonia and found a dynasty there that lasts for 576 years and nine months. 1437 BC, Legendary King Erichthonius I of Athens dies after a reign of 50 years and is succeeded by his son Pandion I.1430 BC –1160 BC,1430 BC –1178 BC, Beginning of Hittite empire. C.1420 BC, Crete conquered by Mycenae—start of the Mycenaean period,1400 BC, In Crete the use of bronze helmets. 1400 BC, Palace of Minos destroyed by fire, C.1400 BC, Linear A reaches its peak of popularity. C.1400 BC, The height of the Canaanite town of Ugarit, royal Palace of Ugarit is built. Myceneans conquers Greece and border of Anatolia, see, List of sovereign states in the 15th century BC
15th century BCE
–
Statue of Thutmosis III at the
Kunsthistorisches Museum,
Vienna
40.
Vedic Period
–
The Vedic period was the period in Indian history during which the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, were composed. During the early part of the Vedic period, the Indo-Aryans settled into northern India, scholars consider Vedic civilisation to have been a composite of the Indo-Aryan and Harappan cultures. The end of the Vedic period witnessed the rise of large, around the beginning of the Common Era, the Vedic tradition formed one of the main constituents of the so-called Hindu synthesis. The commonly proposed period of earlier Vedic age is dated back to 2nd millennium BCE, after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilisation, which ended c.1900 BCE, groups of Indo-Aryan peoples migrated into north-western India and started to inhabit the northern Indus Valley. The knowledge about the Aryans comes mostly from the Rigveda-samhita, which was composed between c and they brought with them their distinctive religious traditions and practices. The Vedic beliefs and practices of the era were closely related to the hypothesised Proto-Indo-European religion. According to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the zone between the Zeravshan River and Iran. It was a mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements. At least 383 non-Indo-European words were borrowed from this culture, including the god Indra, Indra was the subject of 250 hymns, a quarter of the Rig Veda. He was associated more than any other deity with Soma, a stimulant drug probably borrowed from the BMAC religion and his rise to prominence was a peculiar trait of the Old Indic speakers. These migrations may have been accompanied with violent clashes with the people who inhabited this region. The Rig Veda contains accounts of conflicts between the Aryas and the Dasas and Dasyus, the Rig Veda describes Dasas and Dasyus as people who do not perform sacrifices or obey the commandments of gods. Their speech is described as mridhra which could variously mean soft, uncouth, hostile, other adjectives which describe their physical appearance are subject to many interpretations. Internecine military conflicts between the tribes of Vedic Aryans are also described in the Rig Veda. Most notable of such conflicts was the Battle of Ten Kings, which took place on the banks of the river Parushni. The battle was fought between the tribe Bharatas, led by their chief Sudas, against a confederation of ten tribes— Puru, Yadu, Turvasha, Anu, Druhyu, Alina, Bhalanas, Paktha, Siva, Vishanin. Bharatas lived around the regions of the river Saraswati, while Purus, their western neighbours. The other tribes dwelt north-west of the Bharatas in the region of Punjab, division of the waters of Ravi could have been a reason for the war
Vedic Period
–
Aryans settling in India
Vedic Period
–
Vedic period
Vedic Period
–
Modern replica of utensils and
falcon shaped altar used for
Agnicayana, an elaborate
srauta ritual originating from the
Kuru Kingdom, around 1000 BCE.
Vedic Period
–
Ceramic goblet from Navdatoli,
Malwa, 1300 BCE.
41.
13th century BCE
–
The 13th century BC was the period from 1300 to 1201 BC.1300 BC, Cemetery H culture comes to an end in the Indus Valley. 1292 BC, End of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, start of the Nineteenth Dynasty,1282 BC, Pandion II, legendary King of Athens, dies after a nominal reign of 25 years. He reportedly only reigned in Megara while Athens and the rest of Attica were under the control of an alliance of Nobles led by his uncle Metion and his four sons lead a successful military campaign to regain the throne. Aegeus becomes King of Athens, Nisos reigns in Megara, Lykos in Euboea,1279 BC, Ramesses II becomes leader of Ancient Egypt. 1278 BC, Seti I dies,1 year after his son,1274 BC, The Battle of Kadesh in Syria. Egyptians and Hittites sign the earliest known peace treaty at the end of the Battle of Kadesh,1269 BC, Ramses II, king of ancient Egypt, and Hattusilis III, king of the Hittites, sign the earliest known peace treaty. 1251 BC, A solar eclipse on this date might mark the birth of legendary Heracles at Thebes,1250 BC, Wu Ding King of Shang Dynasty to 1192 BC.1250 BC, The Lion Gate at Mycene is constructed. C.1230 BC, Aegeus, legendary King of Athens, receives a message that his designated heir Theseus. Theseus had been sent to his overlord Minos of Crete as an offering to the Minotaur, medus, Aegeus only other son, had been exiled in Asia and would become legendary ancestor to the Medes. Believing himself without heirs the King commits suicide after a reign of 48 years and he is succeeded by Theseus, who actually still lives. The Aegean Sea is reportedly named in his honor,1210 BC, Pharaoh Merneptah defeats a Libyan invasion. 1213 BC, Theseus, legendary King of Athens, is deposed and succeeded by Menestheus, great-grandson of Erechtheus, Menestheus is reportedly assisted by Castor and Polydeuces of Sparta, who want to reclaim their sister Helen from her first husband Theseus. The latter seeks refuge in Skyros, whose King Lycomedes is an old friend, Lycomedes, however, considers his visitor a threat to the throne and proceeds to assassinate him. 1212 BC, Death of Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses the Great,1207 BC, Pharaoh Merneptah claims a victory over the people of Israel. 1206 BC, Approximate starting date of Bronze age collapse, a period of migration, unrest and destruction in the eastern Mediterranean and Near East. 1204 BC, Theseus, legendary King of Athens, is deposed after a reign of 30 years and succeeded by Menestheus, great-grandson of Erichthonius II of Athens and second cousin of Theseus father Aegeus. Menestheus is reportedly assisted by Castor and Polydeuces of Sparta, who want to reclaim their sister Helen from her first husband Theseus, Theseus seeks refuge in Skyros, whose King Lycomedes is an old friend and ally. Lycomedes, however, considers his visitor a threat to the throne, C.1200 BC, Earliest writing that survived exists in Ancient China
13th century BCE
–
Eastern Hemisphere in 1300 BC.
13th century BCE
–
Chinese ritual bronze wine vessel,
Shang Dynasty, 13th century BC,
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.
42.
Cemetery H culture
–
The Cemetery H culture was a Bronze Age culture in the Punjab, north-western India, from about 1900 BCE until about 1300 BCE. It has been related to both the phase of the Harappan civilisation, and the Indo-Aryan migrations. The Cemetery H culture was located in and around the Punjab region in present-day India and it was named after a cemetery found in area H at Harappa. Remains of the culture have been dated from about 1900 BCE until about 1300 BCE, according to Kennedy and Mallory & Adams, the Cemetery H culture also shows clear biological affinities with the earlier population of Harappa. Some traits of the Cemetery H culture have been associated with the Swat culture, according to Parpola, the Cemetery H culture represents a first wave of Indo-Aryan migration from as early as 1900 BCE, which was followed by a migration to the Punjab c. Together with the Gandhara grave culture and the Ochre Coloured Pottery culture, the distinguishing features of this culture include, The use of cremation of human remains. The bones were stored in painted pottery burial urns and this is completely different from the Indus civilization where bodies were buried in wooden coffins. The urn burials and the skeletons were nearly contemporaneous. Reddish pottery, painted in black with antelopes, peacocks etc. sun or star motifs, expansion of settlements into the east. Apparent breakdown of the trade of the Indus civilization, with materials such as marine shells no longer used. Continued use of mud brick for building, cremation in India is first attested in the Cemetery H culture, a practice previously described in the Vedas. The Rigveda contains a reference to the practice, in RV10.15.14. Indus Valley Tradition Painted Grey Ware Copper Hoard Culture http, //www. harappa. com harappa. com http, //pubweb. cc. u-tokai. ac. jp/indus/english/3_1_01. html journal
Cemetery H culture
–
Geography of the Rigveda, with
river names; the extent of the
Swat and Cemetery H cultures are indicated.
43.
12th century BCE
–
The 12th century BC is the period from 1200 to 1101 BC. The Late Bronze Age collapse in the ancient Near East and eastern Mediterranean is often considered to begin in this century,1200 BC, The first civilization in Central and North America develops in about 1200 BC in the coastal regions of the southern part of the Gulf of Mexico. Known as the Olmec civilization, its site is at San Lorenzo. Read more 1200 BC, The Phoenicians found the port of Lisbon, Portugal 1197 BC, The beginning of first period by Shao Yongs concept of the I Ching,1197 BC, Ramses III of Egypt repels attacks by northern invaders. 1194 BC, The beginning of the legendary Trojan War,1192 BC, Wu Ding, King of Shang Dynasty, died. 1191 BC, Menestheus, legendary King of Athens, dies during the Trojan War after a reign of 23 years and is succeeded by his nephew Demophon, other accounts place his death a decade later and shortly after the Trojan War. 1186 BC, End of the Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt, start of the Twentieth Dynasty, april 24,1184 BC, Traditional date for the fall of Troy, Asia Minor to the Mycenaeans and their allies. This marks the end of the Trojan War of Greek mythology,1181 BC, Menestheus, legendary King of Athens and veteran of the Trojan War, dies after a reign of 23 years and is succeeded by his nephew Demophon, a son of Theseus. Other accounts place his death a decade earlier and during the Trojan War,1180 BC, The last Kassite King, Anllil-nadin-akhe, is defeated by the Elamites 1180 BC, Collapse of Hittite power in Anatolia with the destruction of their capital Hattusa. April 16,1178 BC, A solar eclipse may mark the return of Odysseus, legendary King of Ithaca and he discovers a number of suitors competing to marry his wife Penelope, whom they believe to be a widow, in order to succeed him on the throne. He organizes their slaying and re-establishes himself on the throne,1160 BC, Death of Pharaoh Ramesses V, from smallpox. 1159 BC, The Hekla 3 eruption triggers an 18-year period of climatic worsening,1154 BC, Death of King Menelaus of Sparta. 1154 BC, Death of exiled Queen Helen of Sparta at Rhodes, C.1150 BC, End of Egyptian rule in Palestine. 1147 BC, Demophon, legendary King of Athens and veteran of the Trojan War,1137 BC, Ramses VII begins his reign as the sixth ruler of the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt. 1135 BC, Oxyntes, legendary King of Athens, dies after a reign of 12 years and is succeeded by his elder son Apheidas,1134 BC, Apheidas, legendary King of Athens, is assassinated and succeeded by his younger brother Thymoetes after a reign of 1 year. 1126 BC, Thymoetes, legendary King of Athens, dies childless after a reign of 8 years and he is succeeded by his designated heir Melanthus of Pylos, a fifth-generation descendant of Neleus who had reportedly assisted him in battle against the Boeotians. 1122 BC, Legendary founding date of the city of Pyongyang, C.1120 BC, destruction of Troy VIIb11115 BC, Tiglath-Pileser I becomes King of Assyria. 1110 BC, Cádiz founded by Phoenicians in southwestern Spain,1100 BC, Tiglath-Pileser I of Assyria conquers the Hittites
12th century BCE
–
Walls of the excavated city of
Troy, supposed center of the legendary
Trojan War
44.
Rigveda
–
The Rigveda is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns. It is one of the four sacred texts of Hinduism known as the Vedas. The text is a collection of 1,028 hymns and 10,600 verses, a good deal of the language is still obscure and many hymns as a consequence seem unintelligible. The hymns are dedicated to Rigvedic deities, for each deity series the hymns progress from longer to shorter ones, and the number of hymns per book increases. In the eight books that were composed the earliest, the hymns predominantly discuss cosmology, Rigveda is one of the oldest extant texts in any Indo-European language. 1700–1100 BC has also been given, some of its verses continue to be recited during Hindu rites of passage celebrations such as weddings and religious prayers, making it probably the worlds oldest religious text in continued use. This redaction also included some additions and orthoepic changes to the Vedic Sanskrit such as the regularization of sandhi, the Padapatha and the Pratisakhya anchor the texts fidelity and meaning, and the fixed text was preserved with unparalleled fidelity for more than a millennium by oral tradition alone. In order to achieve this the oral tradition prescribed very structured enunciation, involving breaking down the Sanskrit compounds into stems and inflections and this interplay with sounds gave rise to a scholarly tradition of morphology and phonetics. The Rigveda was probably not written down until the Gupta period, the oral tradition still continued into recent times. The text is organized in 10 books, known as Mandalas, of varying age, the family books, mandalas 2–7, are the oldest part of the Rigveda and the shortest books, they are arranged by length and account for 38% of the text. Within each book, the hymns are arranged in collections each dealing with a deity, Agni comes first, Indra comes second. They are attributed and dedicated to a rishi and his family of students, within each collection, the hymns are arranged in descending order of the number of stanzas per hymn. If two hymns in the collection have equal numbers of stanzas then they are arranged so that the number of syllables in the metre are in descending order. The second to seventh mandalas have a uniform format, the eighth and ninth mandalas, comprising hymns of mixed age, account for 15% and 9%, respectively. The first and the tenth mandalas are the youngest, they are also the longest books, of 191 suktas each, however, adds Witzel, some hymns in Mandala 8,1 and 10 may be as old as the earlier Mandalas. The first mandala has an arrangement not found in the other nine mandalas. The ninth mandala is arranged by both its structure and hymn length, while the first eighty four hymns of the tenth mandala have a structure different than the remaining hymns in it. Each mandala consists of hymns called sūkta intended for various rituals, the sūktas in turn consist of individual stanzas called ṛc, which are further analysed into units of verse called pada
Rigveda
–
Rigveda (
padapatha) manuscript in
Devanagari, early 19th century. After a scribal benediction ("śrīgaṇéśāyanamaḥ;; Aum(3);;"), the first line has the opening words of RV.1.1.1 (agniṃ; iḷe; puraḥ-hitaṃ; yajñasya; devaṃ; ṛtvijaṃ). The
Vedic accent is marked by underscores and vertical overscores in red.
45.
11th century BCE
–
The 11th century BC comprises all years from 1100 BC to 1001 BC. Although many human societies were literate in this period, some of the individuals mentioned below may be rather than historically accurate. 1089 BC, Melanthus, legendary King of Athens, dies after a reign of 37 years and is succeeded by his son Codrus,1069 BC, Ramses XI dies, ending the Twentieth Dynasty. He is succeeded by Smendes I, who founds the Twenty-first Dynasty,1068 BC, Codrus, legendary King of Athens, dies in battle against Dorian invaders after a reign of 21 years. Athenian tradition considers him the last King to have absolute power. Modern historians consider him the last King whose life account is part of Greek mythology and he is succeeded by his son Medon. 1050 BC, Philistines capture the Ark of the Covenant from Israel in battle,1048 BC, Medon, King of Athens, dies after a reign of 20 years and is succeeded by his son Acastus. 1046 BC, King Wu of Zhou overthrows the last Shang Dynasty King Di Xin,1044 BC, On the death of Smendes I, king of Egypt, he is succeeded by two co-regents, Psusennes I and Neferkare Amenemnisu. 1042 BC, King Cheng of Zhou succeeds King Wu as ruler of the Zhou Dynasty in China, C.1040 BC, David, King of Israel, is born. 1039 BC, Neferkare Amenemnisu, king of Egypt, dies, C.1020 BC, Destruction of Troy VIIb2. 1026 BC, Saul the King becomes the first king of the Israelites,1020 BC, King Kang of Zhou succeeds King Cheng as ruler of the Zhou Dynasty in China. 1012 BC, Acastus, King of Athens, dies after a reign of 36 years and is succeeded by his son Archippus,1003 BC, David succeeds Saul the King. 1000s BC, Earliest evidence of farming in the Kenya highlands, C.1000 BC, Latins arrive in Italy. C.1000 BC, Archaeological evidence obtained from inscriptions excavated in 2005 dates the Tamil language, see, List of sovereign states in the 11th century BC
11th century BCE
–
David and Saul (1885) by
Julius Kronberg. The two men are considered the first Kings of the
United Monarchy of Israel
46.
10th century BCE
–
The 10th century BC started the first day of 1000 BC and ended the last day of 901 BC. This period followed the Bronze Age collapse in the Near East, the Greek Dark Ages which had come about in 1200 BC continued. The Neo-Assyrian Empire is established towards the end of the 10th century BC, in Iron Age India, the Vedic period is ongoing. In China, the Zhou Dynasty is in power, the European Bronze Age continued with Urnfield culture. Japan was inhabited by an evolving hunter-gatherer society during the Jomon period,1000 BC, India—Iron Age of India. Iron Age kingdoms rule India—Panchala, Kuru, Kosala, Videha are Janapada states,993 BC, Amenemope succeeds Psusennes I as king of Egypt. 993 BC, Archippus, Archon of Athens dies after a reign of 19 years and is succeeded by his son Thersippus,984 BC, Osorkon the Elder succeeds Amenemope as king of Egypt. 982 BC, The end of first period by Sau Yungs concept of the I Ching,978 BC, Siamun succeeds Osorkon the Elder as king of Egypt. 967 BC, Solomon becomes king of the Israelites, according to the Books of Kings,967 BC, Tiglath-Pileser II becomes King of Assyria. 965 BC, David, king of the ancient Israelites, died,962 BC, Solomon becomes king of Israel, following the death of his father, King David. 959 BC, Psusennes II succeeds Siamun as king of Egypt,957 BC, Solomon completes the construction of the First Temple in Jerusalem. C.953 BC, Alternative date to the Founding of Rome,952 BC, Thersippus, King of Athens dies after a reign of 41 years and is succeeded by his son Phorbas. 947 BC, Death of King Mo of Zhou, King of the Zhou Dynasty of China,946 BC, King Gong of Zhou becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of China. 945 BC, Egypt, Psusennes III dies, the last king of the Twenty-first Dynasty, Shoshenq I succeeds him, the founder of the Twenty-second Dynasty. 935 BC, Death of King Gong of Zhou, King of the Zhou Dynasty of China,935 BC, Death of Tiglath-Pileser II king of Assyria. 934 BC, King Yi of Zhou becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of China,925 BC, Solomon, king of the ancient Israelites, died. C.925 BC, Partition of ancient Israel into the Kingdoms of Judah,924 BC, Osorkon I succeeds his father Shoshenq I as king of Egypt. 922 BC, Phorbas, Archon of Athens, dies after a reign of 30 years and is succeeded by his son Megacles,912 BC, Adad-nirari II succeeds his father Ashur-Dan II as king of Assyria
10th century BCE
–
Gold burial mask of
Pharaoh Psusennes I, discovered 1940 by
Pierre Montet.
10th century BCE
–
Map of the world in 1000 BC
47.
Megalith
–
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. The word megalithic describes structures made of large stones without the use of mortar or concrete. For later periods, the monolith, with an overlapping meaning, is more likely to be used. The word megalith comes from the Ancient Greek μέγας and λίθος, megalith also denotes an item consisting of rock hewn in definite shapes for special purposes. It has been used to describe buildings built by people from parts of the world living in many different periods. A variety of stones are seen as megaliths, with the most widely known megaliths not being sepulchral. The construction of these took place mainly in the Neolithic and continued into the Chalcolithic. At a number of sites in eastern Turkey, large ceremonial complexes from the 9th millennium BC have been discovered and they belong to the incipient phases of agriculture and animal husbandry. Large circular structures involving carved megalithic orthostats are a feature, e. g. at Nevalı Çori. Although these structures are the most ancient megalithic structures known so far, at Göbekli Tepe, four stone circles have been excavated from an estimated 20. Some measure up to 30 metres across, as well as human figures, the stones carry a variety of carved reliefs depicting boars, foxes, lions, birds, snakes and scorpions. Dolmens and standing stones have been found in areas of the Middle East starting at the Turkish border in the north of Syria close to Aleppo. They can be encountered in Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Israel, Jordan, the largest concentration can be found in southern Syria and along the Jordan Rift Valley, however they are being threatened with destruction. They date from the late Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age, megaliths have also been found on Kharg Island and pirazmian in Iran, at Barda Balka in Iraq, and at Jaintapur in Bangladesh. A semicircular arrangement of megaliths was found in Israel at Atlit Yam and it is a very early example, dating from the 7th millennium BC. The most concentrated occurrence of dolmens in particular is in an area on both sides of the Jordan Rift Valley, with greater predominance on the eastern side. They occur first and foremost on the Golan Heights, the Hauran, and in Jordan, in Saudi Arabia, only very few dolmen have been identified so far in the Hejaz. They seem, however, to re-emerge in Yemen in small numbers, the standing stone has a very ancient tradition in the Middle East, dating back from Mesopotamian times
Megalith
–
Megalithic grave "
Harhoog " in
Keitum,
Sylt, Germany.
Megalith
–
Clooneen wedge tomb,
the Burren, Co. Clare, Ireland
Megalith
–
Stonehenge,
Wiltshire, United Kingdom, is one of the world's best known megalithic structures.
Megalith
–
Megalithic structure at
Atlit Yam, Israel
48.
Kuru (kingdom)
–
However, traditions and legends about the Kurus continued into the post-Vedic period, providing the basis for the Mahabharata epic. The Kurus figure prominently in the later Rigveda, the Kurus here appear as a branch of the early Indo-Aryans, ruling the Ganga-Jamuna Doab and modern Haryana. The focus in the later Vedic period shifted out of Punjab, into the Doab, the increasing number and size of Painted Grey Ware settlements in the Doab area shows this. These developments resulted in the enlargement of certain settlements such as Hastinapur. These settlements slowly began to acquire characteristics of towns, the Kuru tribe was formed, in the Middle Vedic period, as a result of the alliance and merger between the Bharata and Puru tribes. With their center of power in the Kurukshetra region, the Kurus formed the first political center of the Vedic period, the first Kuru capital was at Āsandīvat, identified with modern Assandh in Haryana. Later literature refers to Indraprastha and Hastinapura as the main Kuru cities, the Atharvaveda praises Parikshit, the King of the Kurus, as the great ruler of a thriving, prosperous realm. Other late Vedic texts, such as the Shatapatha Brahmana, commemorate Parikshits son Janamejaya as a conqueror who performed the ashvamedha. The Kurus declined after being defeated by the non-Vedic Salva tribe, in the post Vedic period, the Kuru dynasty evolved into Kuru and Vatsa janapadas, ruling over Upper Doab/Delhi/Haryana and lower Doab, respectively. The Vatsa branch of the Kuru dynasty further divided into branches at Kaushambi, the tribes that consolidated into the Kuru Kingdom or Kuru Pradesh were largely semi-nomadic, pastoral tribes. However, as settlement shifted into the western Ganges Plain, settled farming of rice, Vedic literature of this time period indicates the growth of surplus production and the emergence of specialized artisans and craftsmen. Iron was first mentioned as śyāma ayas in the Atharvaveda, a text of this era, another important development was the fourfold varna system, which replaced the twofold system of arya and dasa from the Rigvedic times. The Brahmin priesthood and Kshatriya aristocracy, who dominated the arya commoners, Kuru kings ruled with the assistance of a rudimentary administration, including purohita, village headman, army chief, food distributor, emissary, herald and spies. They extracted mandatory tribute from their population of commoners as well as from neighboring tribes. They led frequent raids and conquests against their neighbors, especially to the east, to aid in governing, the kings and their Brahmin priests arranged Vedic hymns into collections and developed a new set of rituals to uphold social order and strengthen the class hierarchy. High-ranked nobles could perform very elaborate sacrifices, and many rituals primarily exalted the status of the king over his people, the ashvamedha or horse sacrifice was a way for a powerful king to assert his domination in northern India. The epic poem, the Mahabharata, tells of a conflict between two branches of the reigning Kuru clan possibly around 1000 BCE, however, archaeology has not furnished conclusive proof as to whether the specific events described have any historical basis. The existing text of the Mahabharata went through many layers of development, within the frame story of the Mahabharata, the historical kings Parikshit and Janamejaya are featured significantly as scions of the Kuru clan
Kuru (kingdom)
–
Modern replica of utensils and
falcon shaped altar used for
Agnicayana, an elaborate
srauta ritual from the Kuru period.
Kuru (kingdom)
–
Kuru and other Vedic kingdoms
Kuru (kingdom)
–
Modern performance of
Agnicayana, an elaborate
srauta ritual from the Kuru period
Kuru (kingdom)
–
Books (parva s)
49.
Panchala
–
Panchala was an ancient kingdom of northern India, located in the Ganges-Yamuna Doab of the upper Gangetic plain. During Late Vedic times, it was one of the most powerful states of the Indian subcontinent, by the c. 5th century BCE, it had become an oligarchic confederacy, considered as one of the solasa mahajanapadas of the Indian subcontinent. After being absorbed into the Mauryan Empire, Panchala regained its independence until it was annexed by the Gupta Empire in the 4th century CE, the Panchalas occupied the country to the east of the Kurus, between the upper Himalayas and the river Ganges. It roughly corresponded to modern Budaun, Farrukhabad and the districts of Uttar Pradesh. The country was divided into Uttara-Panchala and Dakshina-Panchala, the northern Panchala had its capital at Ahichatra, while southern Panchala had it capital at Kampilya or Kampil in Farrukhabad district. The famous city of Kanyakubja or Kannauj was situated in the kingdom of Panchala, the Panchala janapada is believed to have been formed by multiple janas. The Shatapatha Brahmana suggests that Panchala was the name of the Krivi tribe. The later Vedic literature uses the term Panchala to describe the close associates of the Kurus, the Mahabharata sometimes mentions the Srnjayas as a tribe or a family among the Panchalas, sometimes uses the two terms as synonyms, although it also mentions the two separately at some places. According to the political scientist Sudama Misra, the name of the Panchala janapada suggests that it was a fusion of five janas, ray Chaudhuri theorized that these five clans were the Krivis, the Turvashas, the Keshins, the Srinjayas, and the Somakas. The names of the last two clans, the Somakas and the Srinjayas, are mentioned in the Mahabharata and the Puranas. King Drupada, whose daughter Draupadi was married into the Pandavas, originally a monarchical clan, the Panchalas appear to have switched to republican corporation around 500 BCE. The Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya mentions Panchala as one of the sixteen mahajanapadas of the c. 6th century BCE, the 4th century BCE Arthashastra also attests the Panchalas as following the Rajashabdopajivin constitution. Panchala was annexed into the Magadha empire during the reign of Mahapadma Nanda in the mid-4th century BCE, numismatic evidence reveals the existence of independent rulers of Panchala during the post-Mauryan period. Most of the coins issued by them are found at Ahichatra, the reverse bears depictions of the deities or sometimes of their attributes, whose names form a component of the issuers names. Shaunakayaniputra Vangapala, ruler of Ahichatra, whom Vaidehiputra Ashadhasena mentioned as his grandfather in his Pabhosa inscription, is identified with king Vangapala, the name of Damagupta is also found on a clay sealing. The last independent ruler of Ahichatra was probably Achyuta, who was defeated by Samudragupta, after which, the coins of Achyuta found from Ahichatra have a wheel of eight spokes on the reverse and the legend Achyu on the obverse. Kuru Kingdom Vedic period Painted Grey Ware culture Mahajanapadas Mahabharata Coins of Panchala janapada Coins of Post-Mauryan Panchala Kingdom Panchal Details from IGNCA
Panchala
–
Coin of Agnimitra, showing the depiction of
Agni with flaming hair on the obverse, and a reverse showing the three dynastic symbols of the Panchala rulers and a legend naming the king: Agimitasa.
Panchala
–
The position of the Panchala kingdom in
Iron Age Vedic India.
Panchala
–
Coin of Achyuta, the last Panchala king, showing an 8-spoked wheel and the king's name: Achyu.
50.
Kosala
–
Kosala was an ancient Indian kingdom, corresponding roughly in area with the region of Awadh in present-day Uttar Pradesh. It emerged as a state during the late Vedic period. However, it was weakened by a series of wars with the neighbouring kingdom of Magadha and. The Kosala region had three cities, Ayodhya, Saket and Shravasti, and a number of minor towns as Setavya, Ukattha, Dandakappa, Nalakapana. According to the Puranas and the Ramayana epic, Ayodhya was the capital of Kosala during the reign of Ikshvaku, Shravasti is recorded as the capital of Kosala during the Mahajanapada period, but post-Maurya kings issued their coins from Ayodhya. The mention of Kosala is not found in the early Vedic literature and it is mentioned as a region in the later Vedic texts of the Satapatha Brahmana and the Kalpasutras. In the Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Puranas the ruling family of the Kosala kingdom was descended from king Ikshvaku, the Puranas give lists of kings of the Aikhsvaka dynasty from Ikshvaku to Presenajit Dhaka. According to the Ramayana, Rama ruled the Kosala kingdom from his capital, a Buddhist text, the Majjhima Nikaya mentions Buddha as a Kosalan and Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism taught in Kosala. In the time of king Mahakosala, the neighboring kingdom of Kashi had become an integral part of the Kosala kingdom. Mahakosala was succeeded by his son Pasenadi and he was a follower of Buddha. During his absence from the capital, his minister Digha Charayana raised his son Vidudabha Virudhaka to the throne, not much later, the Kosala kingdom was absorbed into its expanding neighbor, the Magadha kingdom. The Ikshvakus were the clan of Kosala. They were defeated by Ajatashatru of the Haryanka dynasty and it is assumed that during the Mauryan reign, Kosala was administratively under the viceroy at Kaushambi. The Sohgaura copper plate inscription, probably issued during the reign of Chandragupta Maurya deals with a famine in Shravasti, the Yuga Purana section of the Garga Samhita mentions about the Yavana invasion and subsequent occupation of Saket during the reign of the last Maurya ruler Brihadratha. The names of a number of rulers of Kosala of the period are known from the square copper coins issued by them. The rulers are, Muladeva, Vayudeva, Vishakhadeva, Dhanadeva, there is no way to know whether king Muladeva of the coins is identifiable with Muladeva, murderer of the Shunga ruler Vasumitra or not. King Dhanadeva of the coins is identified with king Dhanadeva of Ayodhya inscription, in this Sanskrit inscription, King Kaushikiputra Dhanadeva mentions about setting a ketana in memory of his father, Phalgudeva. In this inscription he claimed himself as the sixth in descent from Pushyamitra Shunga, Dhanadeva issued both cast and die-struck coins and both the types have a bull on obverse
Kosala
–
The ruins of the city walls of
Shravasti, the capital of the Kosala kingdom
Kosala
–
Kosala in the
Mahajanapada period
51.
Vedic period
–
The Vedic period was the period in Indian history during which the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, were composed. During the early part of the Vedic period, the Indo-Aryans settled into northern India, scholars consider Vedic civilisation to have been a composite of the Indo-Aryan and Harappan cultures. The end of the Vedic period witnessed the rise of large, around the beginning of the Common Era, the Vedic tradition formed one of the main constituents of the so-called Hindu synthesis. The commonly proposed period of earlier Vedic age is dated back to 2nd millennium BCE, after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilisation, which ended c.1900 BCE, groups of Indo-Aryan peoples migrated into north-western India and started to inhabit the northern Indus Valley. The knowledge about the Aryans comes mostly from the Rigveda-samhita, which was composed between c and they brought with them their distinctive religious traditions and practices. The Vedic beliefs and practices of the era were closely related to the hypothesised Proto-Indo-European religion. According to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the zone between the Zeravshan River and Iran. It was a mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements. At least 383 non-Indo-European words were borrowed from this culture, including the god Indra, Indra was the subject of 250 hymns, a quarter of the Rig Veda. He was associated more than any other deity with Soma, a stimulant drug probably borrowed from the BMAC religion and his rise to prominence was a peculiar trait of the Old Indic speakers. These migrations may have been accompanied with violent clashes with the people who inhabited this region. The Rig Veda contains accounts of conflicts between the Aryas and the Dasas and Dasyus, the Rig Veda describes Dasas and Dasyus as people who do not perform sacrifices or obey the commandments of gods. Their speech is described as mridhra which could variously mean soft, uncouth, hostile, other adjectives which describe their physical appearance are subject to many interpretations. Internecine military conflicts between the tribes of Vedic Aryans are also described in the Rig Veda. Most notable of such conflicts was the Battle of Ten Kings, which took place on the banks of the river Parushni. The battle was fought between the tribe Bharatas, led by their chief Sudas, against a confederation of ten tribes— Puru, Yadu, Turvasha, Anu, Druhyu, Alina, Bhalanas, Paktha, Siva, Vishanin. Bharatas lived around the regions of the river Saraswati, while Purus, their western neighbours. The other tribes dwelt north-west of the Bharatas in the region of Punjab, division of the waters of Ravi could have been a reason for the war
Vedic period
–
Aryans settling in India
Vedic period
–
Vedic period
Vedic period
–
Modern replica of utensils and
falcon shaped altar used for
Agnicayana, an elaborate
srauta ritual originating from the
Kuru Kingdom, around 1000 BCE.
Vedic period
–
Ceramic goblet from Navdatoli,
Malwa, 1300 BCE.
