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A Comprehensive History of India : Prehistory of India (Vol. I, Part 1) /
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The prehistoric phase forms the longest period in human history covering a few millennia whereas the knowledge of writing which could be used for the reconstruction of history, was acquired by man only five thousand years ago. The development of human culture can be properly understood only by studying the prehistoric past. The antiquity of man now goes back to 3.6 million years, and since then man has been progressing in the face of all odds. Man the hunted became man the hunter, later acquired the technique of food production which further led to sedentary existence, fashioned artefacts to cope with environment, learnt the use of metals and established trading contacts, finally leading to urbanization. In India the first Stone Age tools were discovered in Tamil Nadu which have recently been dated to 1.5 million years (but could not be included in the present volume as it was too late). The proper study of prehistory received a boost in the post-Independence period. Hundreds of prehistoric sites have since been discovered almost all over the country, even in the north-east which was archaeologically a terra incognita till now. Systematic excavations have been carried out and the data scientifically analysed, stages of evolution of culture from food gathering to food producing have been traced and the further development into the glorious Indus - Harappan - civilization has also been critically reviewed. The volume includes contributions from acknowledged experts in the field. Greater emphasis has been laid on scientific evidence which brings out the role of environment in the evolution of cultures. The study ends with the advent of Aryans which is one of the knottiest of issues in human history.
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1 online resource (560 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004752511
From Bactria to Taprobane : Selected Works of Osmund Bopearachchi. Volume I: Central Asian and Indian Numismatics /
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The first volume comprises Osmund Bopearachchi's most important articles on the numismatics of Central Asia and India, particularly of pre-Bactrian, Graeco-Bactrian, Indo-Greek, Indo-Parthian and Kushan coins. There are 36 articles on numismatics and 3 on the destruction of Afghanistan's cultural heritage during the period of Civil War. It is well known that from the time of Theodore Bayer, the reconstruction of the history of Greek settlers of Alexander the Great in Bactria and India and their nomadic successors, Scythians, Parthians, and Kushans, has depended mainly on coins. It is only in the light of these coins that the rare ancient texts and the limited archaeological evidence can be used for writing their history. Since the publication of Bopearachchi's first book, Monnaies grécobactriennes et indo-grecques, Catalogue raisonné (1991), nearly half a million coins have surfaced in Afghanistan and Pakistan as a result of accidental finds and illegal excavations. His research is mainly based on these new discoveries. Through his work he has brought to light new kings, coin types, monograms, overstrikes and coin hoards. Bopearachchi has also shown that the history of Greeks and their successors in Central Asia and India can no longer be written based solely on numismatics. He has taken into consideration other forms of human activities such as architecture, sculpture, epigraphy, ceramics and artefacts and shows it amply in his writings based on his own investigations and the contributions of eminent archaeologists, historians, numismatists, epigraphists and art historians of Central Asia and India.
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1 online resource (716 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004752139