The English word ‘history’ comes from the Greek historia, meaning “inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation”.

It corresponds to the study of the past and throws light on various past events of significance which shaped and evolved human experiences.

History is further divided into pre-history, proto-history, and history.

Events occurring before the invention of writing are considered the domain of prehistory, which is generally represented by the three stone ages.

Defining proto-history is rather difficult as it has different connotations.

Generally, it refers to a period between prehistory and history, during which a culture or civilisation has not yet developed writing but are mentioned in the written records of a contemporary literate civilisation.

The credit for doing an early extensive study of Indian pre-history go to Robert Bruce Foote, who discovered what was probably the first palaeolithic tool discovered in India — the Pallavaram handaxe.  Later, he discovered a large number of pre-historic sites in South India.

The contribution of Sir Mortimer Wheeler is equally significant.

On the basis of geological age, the type and technology of stone tools, and subsistence base, the Indian Stone Age is classified primarily into three types:  Indian Stone Age*:

• Old stone Age, Palaeolithic Age (5,00,000−10,000 BCE)
• Late Stone Age, Mesolithic Age (10,000−6000 BCE)
• New Stone Age, Neolithic Age (6,000−1000 BCE)

*A general time range is specified as there is a great deal of variation in the dates for different sites.

Source – ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL INDIA by Poonam Dalal Dahiya (1st Edition)