Prehistoric Sites of India

Every place on this map

1. Bhimbetka rock sheltersMadhya PradeshRock shelters near Bhopal whose paintings run from the Palaeolithic through the Mesolithic into historic times; a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
2. HathnoraMadhya PradeshNarmada valley site that yielded a skull cap in 1982, found by Arun Sonakia of the Geological Survey of India.
3. AttirampakkamTamil NaduIn the Kortallayar valley near Chennai; Acheulian handaxes and cleavers of the Lower Palaeolithic.
4. PallavaramTamil NaduWhere Robert Bruce Foote picked up a Palaeolithic handaxe in 1863, the first prehistoric tool found in India.
5. Gudiyam caveTamil NaduPalaeolithic cave site in Tiruvallur district; stone tools from the early Stone Age.
6. Hunsgi-IsampurKarnatakaHunsgi valley, Yadgir district; dozens of Acheulian factory sites that used limestone for tools.
7. Kurnool caves (Billa Surgam)Andhra PradeshLimestone cave complex near Betamcherla, Kurnool; Upper Palaeolithic bone tools and rich Pleistocene fauna.
8. Belan valleyUttar PradeshOn the northern spurs of the Vindhyas; a rare continuous sequence from Palaeolithic to Mesolithic to Neolithic.
9. DidwanaRajasthanLake-side Palaeolithic site in Nagaur district; a standard site-to-state pairing for Rajasthan.
10. NevasaMaharashtraOn the Pravara river, Ahmednagar; Palaeolithic tools plus a major later Chalcolithic settlement.
11. Soan valleyPakistanIn present-day Pakistan; type area of the Soanian culture of chopper-chopping pebble tools.
12. BagorRajasthanOn the Kothari river, Bhilwara; India's largest Mesolithic habitation, excavated horizontally to expose living floors.
13. TilwaraRajasthanMesolithic site in Barmer district; paired with Bagor in questions on the earliest domestication.
14. AdamgarhMadhya PradeshRock shelters 2 km south of Hoshangabad town on the Narmada; microliths with bones of cattle, sheep and goat.
15. LanghnajGujaratMesolithic site on an old sand dune in Mehsana; microliths, animal bones and extended burials.
16. MahadahaUttar PradeshMesolithic burial site in Pratapgarh district; skeletons with bone ornaments such as arrowheads and rings.
17. Sarai Nahar RaiUttar PradeshIn Pratapgarh; human skeletons buried with microliths, among the earliest burials known in India.
18. BirbhanpurWest BengalOn the Damodar, about 1 km south of Durgapur station; a Mesolithic factory-cum-habitation site.
19. BurzahomJammu & KashmirNear Srinagar; the classic Kashmir Neolithic site with dwelling pits cut into the ground.
20. GufkralJammu & KashmirAt Tral; the name means "cave of the potter"; a Neolithic cave site of the Kashmir valley.
21. KoldihwaUttar PradeshIn the Belan valley; Neolithic settlement that yielded some of the earliest rice evidence in India.
22. LahuradewaUttar PradeshIn Sant Kabir Nagar; rice remains far older than the Harappan cities, among the oldest paddy in the Ganga valley.
23. ChirandBiharOn the Ganga in Saran district; a Neolithic to Chalcolithic mound rich in bone tools.
24. NapchikManipurNeolithic site at Wangoo village, Bishnupur district; cord-marked pottery and ground stone tools.
25. MaskiKarnatakaIn the Raichur doab; southern Neolithic site of ash mounds from burnt cattle pens.
26. PiklihalKarnatakaSouthern Neolithic site; large cattle enclosures show its people were herders as much as farmers.
27. SanganakalluKarnatakaNear Ballari; ash mounds of the southern Neolithic; ragi and horse gram were its crops.
28. BrahmagiriKarnatakaIn Chitradurga; a Neolithic to Megalithic sequence excavated by Mortimer Wheeler in 1947.
29. T. NarsipurKarnatakaOn the Kaveri; southern Neolithic sites cluster around Talakad and T. Narasipura. Town coordinates shown.
30. AharRajasthanNear Udaipur; type site of the Ahar-Banas Chalcolithic culture, also called Tamravati, "city of copper".
31. GilundRajasthanIn Rajsamand; with Ahar, one of the two great mounds of the Banas culture on the Banas river.
32. GaneshwarRajasthanIn Sikar, in the Khetri copper belt; the Ganeshwar-Jodhpura culture turned out copper artefacts in quantity.
33. KayathaMadhya PradeshOn the Chhoti Kali Sindh near Ujjain; type site of the Kayatha Chalcolithic culture.
34. NavdatoliMadhya PradeshOn the Narmada opposite Maheshwar; the classic Malwa-ware Chalcolithic settlement.
35. EranMadhya PradeshFortified Chalcolithic settlement on the Bina river in Sagar; later a Gupta-period religious centre.
36. JorweMaharashtraType site of the Jorwe culture (about 1400-700 BC) on the Pravara; its villages spread over the Godavari, Bhima and Tapi basins.
37. InamgaonMaharashtraOn the Ghod near Pune; a large Jorwe-culture village with an irrigation canal and a granary.
38. DaimabadMaharashtraIn Ahmednagar; famous for its bronze hoard: a chariot, elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo.
39. Pandu Rajar DhibiWest BengalIn the Ajay valley, Bardhaman; type site of the Chalcolithic Pandu culture of Bengal.
40. MahisdalWest BengalChalcolithic site of the Pandu culture in the Mahishadal area of Purba Medinipur. Mound location approximate.