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SUMMARY:The Plight of Indian Mesoliths Since 19th Century - Dr. Nupur Tiwa
 ri - Indian Institute of Science Education and Research
DTSTART:20250321T163000Z
DTEND:20250321T173000Z
UID:TALK229516@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Finn Stileman
DESCRIPTION:\nWhen A.C L. Carlleyle\, in 1883\, chanced upon Indian microl
 iths in the Vindhyan region of the Mirzapur district\, he did not know wha
 t these small stone tools were. Interestingly\, it was conjectured that th
 ese tools were made by pygmy people-- an “unrecognised” human populati
 on-- who made these “pygmy flints”. Later in the 19th century\, it was
  established that microliths originated in India and these tools travelled
  towards the west from India. Various theories were made to classify micro
 liths\, and lastly\, they were recognised as part of a culture that came b
 etween the Palaeolithic and the Neolithic\, i.e.\, the Mesolithic\, a term
  proposed by Hodder Westropp in 1872. Since Carlleyle’s use of the term 
 Mesolithic\, defining this period in the Indian continent became prevalent
 . Consequently\, since the mid-1800s\, microliths were reported from all o
 ver India by British explorers and geographers. The 1900s witnessed the re
 visits to these sites by various scholars to find the “Mesolithic” cul
 ture in India. Post independence\, for decades now the research has still 
 been carried out along the same lines\, and every microlithic occurrence i
 s labelled as a “Mesolithic” site. The tapestry of the Indian Mesolith
 ic has been weaved with the threads by colonial researchers\, which\, howe
 ver\, seems to be fraying with the contemporary archaeological evidence wi
 th respect to microliths in the 21st century. In this talk\, we will dwell
  upon the critical questions that demand attention to the plight of Indian
  microliths where these microlithic-making hunter-foragers were boxed with
 in the confines of the “Mesolithic period”.\n
LOCATION:McDonald Institute Seminar Room\, Department of Archaeology
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