Unmasking AIT

[ramana]

Deccan Chronicle 26 jan., 2006
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Man walked tall in South
 

Hyderabad, Jan. 25: The prehistoric Dravidian land was a habitat of Homo erectus, considered to be an extinct species of the genus Homo from which modern man emerged. According to the first-ever digital historical atlas of South India, a comparison with African sites shows that the hunter-gatherers who dominated South India in the early Stone Age belonged to the Homo erectus species. As the name makes it evident, Homo erectus was the first species in the Homo genus to walk upright.

South India had a low population at that time and only two localities of lower Palaeolithic culture are known — Upper Krishna valley in Karnataka and Attirampakkam valley about 50 km northwest of Chennai.  The hunters living in these areas used large-sized stone tools such as hand axes and choppers, says the atlas. Frederic Borne, head of Geomatic Laboratory in Pondicherry, said that the aim of the historical atlas was to give objective data on the cultural, social, economic and political aspects of South India, from prehistoric times to 1600 AD.

It uses a combination of maps, illustrations and texts and GIS techniques to do this.
Using maps, the atlas gives vivid information on the path believed to have been taken by Lord Ram when he crossed the Vindhyas to free Sita from the clutches of Ravana.
The atlas also gives lot of information on prehistoric populations of South India.

From 3000 to 1000 BC, rapid changes took place in the life of the hunters settled in these areas.  “For the first time storage vessels were made using clay,” says the atlas. “Also first experiments were made to cultivate grains on a small scale. Cattle and sheep were domesticated.”

South Indian neolithic man gave his dead kin proper burials within urns or pits. He also had aesthetic sense as is evident from rock-art found near Gulbarga district. 
Ancient South Indians were also adept in making gold, silver, copper, and bronze jewels. “Beads made of carnelian were ubiquitous prestige objects found among the grave goods,” says the atlas. The earliest historical period, so to say, was between 300 and 200 BC, when Tamizhakam (comprising present Tamil Nadu and Kerala states) emerged and writing in the proper sense started appearing in the area.

During 300 BC, Deccan was part of the Mauryan kingdom whose political centre was in Pataliputra in north India, and from the middle of the first century BC to second century AD it was ruled by the Satavahana dynasty.  The atlas says that South Indians adopted the ‘varna system’ from their northern cousins during this time.

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