This is the transitional phase between the paleolithic and neolithic ages.
Famous sites:
- Langhnaj in Gujarat
- Adamgarh in Madhya Pradesh
- Some places of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar
Characteristic features:
- Paintings and engravings found at the rock shelters give an idea about the social life and economic activities of Mesolithic people
- The hunting gathering pattern of life continued
- Seems to have been a shift from big animal hunting to small ones, and fishing
- Different types of stone tools are found. These are tiny stone artifacts, often more than five centimetres in size, and therefore called microliths
- The use of bow and arrow began in this period
- Tend to settle for longer periods in an area. Therefore, domestication of animals, horticulture and primitive cultivation started
- Animal bones are found in these sites and these include dog, deer, boar and ostrich
- Occasionally, burials of the dead along with some microliths and shells seem to have been practised