History is a record of the achievements of man. The history of India, like the annals of every other country, should therefore begin with an account of the times when, men first settled in this land. But history proper only deals with facts, and facts can only be known from records of some kind or other. We cannot know the history of any people who have left no record of their existence There may have been people or peoples who lived in India in primitive times, but the evidence of whose existence has not yet been discovered. For the present, at any rate, they must be left out of account altogether. We shall only deal with those inhabitants of India whose existence is known to us from some records they have left behind.
To begin with, these records consist almost solely of the rude implements which the people used in their daily lives. According to the nature and material of these implements, the earliest settlers in India have been divided into two classes, viz., Palaeolithic and Neolithic.
Paleolithic Man
The term Palaeolithic is derived from two Greek words meaning Old Stone. This name is applied to the earliest people, as the only evidence of their existence is furnished by a number of rude stone implements. These are small pieces of rough undressed stones, chipped into various forms, which were originally fitted with handles made of sticks or bones. They served as weapons for hunting wild animals, and could also be used as hammers or for purposes of cutting and boring.
These chipped stones have been found in large numbers in different parts of India. They are usually, though not exclusively, made of a species of hard rock called ‘quartzite’. From this fact the Palaeolithic men in India are also known as “Quartzite men”.
From the rough and rude stone implements which are the only records left behind by the earliest-knownPaleolithic tools inhabitants of India, we can form only a very vague idea of their lives and habits. 
It is obvious that they were ignorant of any metals, and most of them had no fixed homes, though a few might have made huts of some sort with trees and leaves. They lived in constant dread of wild animals like tigers, lions, elephants and the rhinoceros. They had no idea of agriculture, but lived on the flesh of animals and such fruits and vegetables as grew wild in jungles. They could not make pottery, and probably did not even know how to make a fire. In short, from our standpoint we can only regard them as savages, little removed from an animal life. It is well to remember this if we are to judge aright the long strides that men have made in developing that culture and civilisation of which we are so justly proud today.
It has been suggested that the Palaeolithic men belonged to the Negrito race, like the modern people of the Andaman Islands, and were characterised by short stature, dark skin, wooly hair and flat noses.
Neolithic Men
The capacity for progress is, however, an inherent characteristic of human beings which distinguishes them from animals. Consequently, as years rolled by, men acquired greater knowledge and skill in mastering the forces of nature. The rate of progress is, of course, difficult to estimate, and it may have been hundreds or thousands of years before a distinctly higher type of civilization was evolved in India. The men who belonged to this age are called Neolithic. This term is also derived from two Greek words meaning New Stone. The significance of this name lies in the fact that in this age also men had to depend solely on stone implements, and were ignorant of any metals, except gold. But their implements were very different from those of the preceding age, for they used stones other than quartzite, and these were not merely chipped, but in most cases “ground, grooved and polished” as well. They were highly finished articles made into different forms to serve various purposes. They can be easily distinguished from the rough and rude implements of the Palaeolithic Age. Remains of the Neolithic men are found in almost every part of India. An ancient factory for the manufacture of stone implements has been discovered in the Bellary district, Madras, where we can still trace the various stages of their construction.
The civilisation of the Neolithic men shows distinct traces of advance. They cultivated land and grew fruits and corn. They also domesticated animals like and ox and the goat. They knew the art of producing fire by the friction of bamboos or pieces of wood, and made pottery, at first by hand, and them with the potter’s wheel. They lived in caves and decorated their walls by painting scenes of hunting and dancing. A few of these can be seen to day both in Northern and Southern India. They also painted and decorated their pottery. They constructed boats and went out to sea. They could spin cotton and wool and weave cloth. They used to bury their dead, and neolithic tombs have been discovered in some parts of India. Sometimes the dead body was put in a large urn and many of these urns have been discovered intact under the ground. The tombs known as Dolmens consist of three or more stone props in a circle, supporting a massive roof stone. These dolmens or megalithic tombs are, characteristic of the Neolithic Age all over the world. Scholars also distinguish a culture midway between Palaeolithic and Neolithic, and call it Mesolithic (from Greek “meso”=middle). Its two chief characteristics were, first, that the stone implements used were extremely small, only about an inch in length (hence known as microlith from Greek “micro”=small); and secondly, that instead of quartzite they were made of chalcedony and other silicate varieties by a technical process differing from that employed in the Palaeolithic Age.
The age of the Palaeolithic and Neolithic men is called prehistoric, as we know hardly anything of this period save the meagre evidence supplied by the cave drawings and stone implements. We have not even any definite knowledge regarding the relations between these two groups- of men. There are indications that suggest that the Neolithic men may have been the descendants of their Palaeolithic predecessors. But there are certain facts which militate against this view. Some scholars axe of the opinion that not only are there no such relationships, but that there was a gap of many hundreds or thousands of years between the two period. So long as our evidence remains as meagre as it now is, there will always be scope for such differences of opinion, and we shall have to deal with theories or hypotheses based on speculations. The question, however, belongs to the domain of anthropology rather than history, and need not be pursued any further.
