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First Farmers in South India: The role of internal processes and external influences in the emergence and transformation of south India's earliest settled societies

The Neolithic period in the south Deccan plateau of south India seems to have begun sometime in the 3rd millennium BC. It is therefore not one of the world's earliest Neolithic transitions, nor indeed the earliest Neolithic culture in South Asia. Nonetheless, the Southern Neolithic, as it is kn...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Nicole Boivin, Dorian Fuller, Ravi Korisettar & Michael Petraglia
Format: Printed Book
Published: Pradghara (Journal of the Uttar Pradesh State Archaeology Department) 2007 2007
Online Access:http://10.26.1.76/ks/003347.pdf
Description
Summary:The Neolithic period in the south Deccan plateau of south India seems to have begun sometime in the 3rd millennium BC. It is therefore not one of the world's earliest Neolithic transitions, nor indeed the earliest Neolithic culture in South Asia. Nonetheless, the Southern Neolithic, as it is known in India, is of significant interest to Neolithic scholars worldwide because it appears in many significant ways to represent a largely indigenous transformation. This paper will explore the evidence for both internal processes and external influences in the genesis and subsequent transformation of Neolithic society in south India. It will in particular draw on recent studies at the site of Sanganakallu-Kupgal in the Bellary District of Karnataka, as well a larger-scale archaeobotanical project in the south Deccan plateau, in order to examine patterns of exchange, production and ritual in the Neolithic and Megalithic periods in south India