The Neolithic period began around 10700 to 9400 BC in Tell Qaramel in Northern Syria. In South Asia the date assigned to Neolithic period is 7000 BC and the earliest example is Mehrgarh Culture.

The human settlements in the Mesolithic era got more sedentary and this was the beginning of establishment of villages. Man now could keep cattle, sheep and goats and protect crops from pests. In due course, as the efficiency of agricultural production improved, some farmers were able to generate surplus food. As a consequence, a section of the population were freed from the task of food production and their talents and energies were diverted to tasks such as the production of pots, baskets, quarrying of stone, making of bricks, masonry and carpentry.

This was the beginning of the new occupations such as the oil presser, washerman, barber, musician, dancers etc. This transition from hunting-gathering to food production is called the Neolithic revolution. Around 6000BC, the smelting of metals such as Copper began which was used for raw material to be used in tool production. Later, Tin was mixed with cooper and bronze appeared which stronger metal than both tin and copper was. Use of bronze for tools led to the invention of wheel which revolutionized transport and pottery production.

The Neolithic period began around 10700 to 9400 BC in Tell Qaramel in Northern Syria. In South Asia the date assigned to Neolithic period is 7000 BC and the earliest example is Mehrgarh Culture. Mehrgarh is the oldest agricultural settlement in the Indian subcontinent.

Mehrgarh Culture

Mehrgarh is the oldest agricultural settlement in the Indian subcontinent Agriculture-based Neolithic settlements. Despite being the agriculture settlement, it used only stone tools, so is why placed in Neolithic Era. It flourished in the seventh millennium B.C.

Mehrgarh is located on the Bolan River, a tributary of the Indus, at the eastern edge of the Baluchistan plateau overlooking the Indus plain. The Mehrgarh culture has been divided into 8 sub periods and following are important features of these sub-periods:

First Period

• Earliest period of Mehrgarh is characterized by polished stone tools, microliths and bone tools. In this phase the subsistence economy consisted of a combination of hunting, stock-breeding and plant cultivation.
• The domesticated animals comprise cattle, sheep, goat and water buffalo while the cultivated plants comprise several varieties of wheat and barley.
• The houses were made of mud and mud-bricks.
• Multiple rooms without doors are believed to have been used for storing grain.
• The dead were buried under the floors of the houses where people lived. Some of the skeletons which were buried have been found sprinkled with red ochre.
• Necklaces of microbeads of steatite along with beads of turquoise, lapis lazuli and sea shell, stone axes and microliths have also been found in the graves.
• In two cases, bodies of young goats were also found.
• There was no pottery at this stage but baskets coated with bitumen were used.

Second Period

• This period has left evidences of handmade, basket-impressed coarse ware. There was emergence of wheel-made pottery painted in reddish and black color with simple straight and curved lines, rows of dots and crisscrosses.
• Sickles made of stone bladelets, set obliquely in wood handles with bitumen as the adhesive material, may have been used for harvesting.
• Metal technology started , evident from the discovery of a copper ring and a bead .
• Terracotta human figurines and bangles also appear.

Third Period

• Improved farming around 3000 BC is evident from a new variety of barley, viz. Hordeum sphaerococcum, which can be grown only in irrigated fields.
• The presence of cotton seeds suggests the possibility of the use of this fibre for textile manufacture.
• The Vessels were now decorated with paintings of birds and animals as also with geometric designs. Oats and another variety of wheat was added to the agriculture.
• Stone bead manufacturing and copper smelting started.

Fourth Period

• Emergence of polychrome pottery with a tall goblet with wide mouth and a pedestal base as a new shape.
• Extensive use of timber in the construction of houses, of female terracotta figurines with pendulous breasts and of stamped seals of terracotta and bone.
• Emergence of commercial transactions.

Fifth Period

• A marked decline in polychrome decoration on pottery.

Sixth Period

• Dramatically increase in pottery styles and the first evidence of pottery kilns.
• Pipal leaf and humped bull designs appear on pottery which anticipate Harappan motifs.
• Proliferation of terracotta figurines, improved female figurines.

Seventh Period

• Richness and variety of terracotta figurines very much similar to the Indus Valley Civilization.
• Medial partition of the hair suggesting the popular practice among Hindu women.
• Terracotta bulls with prominent humps and rams made in alabaster.
• Designs of swastika, cruciforms and running animals on terracotta figurines.
• Emergence of monumental architecture evident from a large brick platform.

Eighth Period

• Structured graves, semi-precious stone beads and a bronze shaft-hole axe.
• Cigar Snapped handmade Brick structures with fire places, stone blade industry using flint, composite stickle, grinding stones, bone tools, Pottery etc.

In April 2006, it was announced in the scientific journal Nature that the oldest (and first early Neolithic) evidence in human history for the drilling of teeth in a living person was found in Mehrgarh. Mehrgarh is now seen as a precursor to the Indus Valley Civilization. "Discoveries at Mehrgarh changed the entire concept of the Indus civilization,"

Chalcolithic is also known as Eneolithic period which saw the use of the metals among which the Copper was first. It is called Chalcolithic which means use of stone and well as copper was prevalent in this period. The earliest settlements of the Chalcolithic period range from the Gangetic basin to Chhotanagpur Plateau. The economy of this period was based upon agriculture, stock raising, hunting and fishing. Limited number of Copper and bronze tools have also been recovered.

• The presence of painted pottery is a hall mark of the Chalcolithic period.
• The burial practice was another striking feature and the dead were buried in a particular direction all over a particular area.
• The largest site of the Chalcolithic period is Diamabad situated on the left bank of the Pravara River.
• The pottery ranges from Red ware , deep red ware to deep brown and black, Pictographic red and black and polished red.

Some Chalcolithic Cultures:

• Ahara Culture: The sites of Ahar Culture were Aahar (Rajasthan), balathal, Gilund etc. The distinctive feature is black and red ware.
• Kayatha Culture: Located in Chambal and its tributaries, the sturdy red slipped ware with chocolate designs is main feature
• Malwa Culture: Narmada & its tributaries in Gujarat. One of the largest Chalcolithic settlements.
• Svalda Culture: The well-known sites are in Dhulia district of Maharashtra.
• Prabhas & Rangpur Culture: Both of them are derived from the Harappa culture. The polished red ware is the hall mark of this culture.

Important Observations about Chalcolithic Culture

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• The lower Palaeolithic sites were not found on the plains of Indus, Saraswati, Brahmaputra and Ganga because probably material in the form of stone was not available over there. As Stone was the major industry of the time. Then, in northern India , Mesolithic sites have not been recorded.
• The main difference between the Lower Paleolithic and upper Paleolithic was that in Lower Paleolithic quartzite was mainly used while in upper Paleolithic crypto-crystalline silica was mainly used.
  
• In Kashmir, the people of Neolithic settelements used to bury dogs with their masters .
• Apart from the stone tools, there is one side in India which gives evidence of Bone tools in Paleolithic Era. It is Muchchatta Chintamanu Gavi. Its located in kurnool .
• Cultivation of cotton was a main feature of Mehrgarh as well as Indus Valley Civilization.
• The Earliest evidence of Rice cultivation has come from Belan Valley
• The Middle Palaeolithic Industry based upon stone was located in southern Thar desert in Rajasthan and it was called Luni industry.
• The most common animal in the cave paintings of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic era was was deer.
• The people of Gilund in Rajasthan were NOT aware of bricks.
• The Banana, Coconut, areca nut etc. Came from South East Asia around 2000 BC