Microliths are the characteristic tools of which period of prehistory?
- A.Lower Palaeolithic
- B.Mesolithic
- C.Neolithic
- D.Chalcolithic
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Mesolithic. A microlith is a very small blade, usually one to five centimetres long, that was fixed into a handle of wood or bone to make a composite tool such as an arrow, a harpoon or a sickle, and it is the defining tool of the Middle Stone Age at sites such as Bagor, Langhnaj and Adamgarh. Option A is wrong because the Lower Palaeolithic is the age of large core tools, the hand axe, the cleaver and the chopper. Option C is wrong because the Neolithic is identified by ground and polished stone axes and celts used by farming villages, although microliths continue in use. Option D is wrong because the Chalcolithic is identified by copper tools used along with long stone blades. The progression in tool size, from large cores to tiny blades to polished axes, is itself a favourite question.
Read the full article: Prehistoric India: Stone Age and Chalcolithic Cultures
Practice Questions
View allWhat is the first age in the prehistoric period called?
- A.Palaeolithic age
- B.Metal age
- C.Copper age
- D.Neolithic age
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The Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age is the first and by far the longest phase of prehistory, the time of hunting and food gathering, of hand axes, cleavers, flakes and burins, and of people who had neither agriculture nor pottery.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following is a Palaeolithic site?
- A.Inamgaon
- B.Hallur
- C.Bhimbetka
- D.Burzahom
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The rock shelters of Bhimbetka in the Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh were occupied from the Lower Palaeolithic onwards, and their lower layers have yielded hand axes and cleavers along with the earliest of their paintings.
Read the full explanation →At which place was it a general practice to lay the dead with the head towards the north?
- A.Inamgaon
- B.Burzahom
- C.Mehrgarh
- D.Bhimbetka
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At this Chalcolithic settlement on the Ghod river in Maharashtra the dead were buried within the habitation area, laid out straight with the head pointing north, and pots with food and water were placed beside them.
Read the full explanation →In some areas people started living in villages about 8000 years ago. Which of the following were among these areas?
- A.Areas around Narmada
- B.Sulaiman and Kirthar hills
- C.Ganga and Yamuna doab
- D.Deccan and Konkan
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The north-western hill belt of the Sulaiman and Kirthar ranges holds Mehrgarh in the Bolan valley, the earliest village of the subcontinent, where wheat and barley were grown and cattle, sheep and goat were kept about eight thousand years ago.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following statements is false about the Chalcolithic cultures of India?
- A.Chalcolithic cultures were predominantly a rural culture.
- B.The people of Chalcolithic cultures mostly lived near hills and rivers.
- C.Black and red ware were widely used in these cultures.
- D.Jorwe is a Chalcolithic site, which belongs to Malwa culture.
Show answer
The correct answer is D, because Jorwe is a Chalcolithic site in Maharashtra that gives its name to the Jorwe culture, not to the Malwa culture, which is named after its own region in Madhya Pradesh and is represented by Navdatoli, Eran and Nagda.
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