Indian Pre-History

Paleolithic or Old Stone Age in India (before 10,000 BC)

Sites located near water, cave-dwellers, hunter gatherers

Sites:

1. Soan Valley and Potwar Plateau: in Pakistan now. Sushoma River of the Rig Veda.
2. Siwalik Hills
3. Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh): inside the Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary. inhabited by Homo erectus, Stone Age rock paintings, declared a World Heritage Site in 2003.discovered in 1957 by V. S. Wakankar.
4. Adamgarh Hills (Madhya Pradesh): Paintings.
5. Kurnool (AP) The Ketavaram rock paintings, Jurreru Valley, Katavani Kunta and Yaganti. 

Notes:

• Soanian culture was contemporary to the Acheulean. The bearers of this culture were Homo erectus.
• Acheulean is an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture characterized by distinctive oval and pear-shaped "hand-axes" associated with early humans.

Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age in India (10,000 BC to 6,000 BC)

Tiny stone tools, small animal hunting and fishing, use of bow and arrow, introduction of domestication of animals, agriculture. 

Sites: Lalganj (Gujarat), Adamgarh Hills (MP), Tinnevalley (TN), Birbhanpur (Burdwan). 

Neolithic or New Stone Age (6,000 BC to 4,000 BC)

Agriculture, Pottery, Domestication, Polished tools, sedentary life, villages, wheels, cloths. 

Sites: Burzahom (Kashmir, Gurfkral & Martand), Brahmagiri (Karnataka), Madhya Pradesh, Chotonagpur, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Mysore, Gujarat, Madras, and Mahisadal (Birbhum), Banghmundi, Susunia, Baneswer Danga (West Bengal).

Metal Age

Chalcolithic Age (Copper + Stone)

Iron Age