Isampur
Topic: Prehistory: Human Origins and Stone Age Cultures · NCERT: Class 9, Ch 4 "Early Humans and Beginning of Civilisation"
Meaning
Isampur is a Lower Palaeolithic (early Old Stone Age) site in Karnataka's Hunsgi valley. It is dated to c. 1.2 million years ago. It yielded large cutting tools such as handaxes and cleavers, along with choppers and scrapers made of limestone and quartzite. Animal fossils were found with the tools. The site was a workshop where early humans shaped stone into tools, so it is among the oldest proof of humans in India.
Example
The tools at Isampur were used to chop meat, dig up tubers, scrape skins and break bones for marrow, the soft food inside bones. This shows how early hunters lived in south India c. 1.2 million years ago.
Don't confuse with
- Attirampakkam: both are Lower Palaeolithic sites. Attirampakkam is in Tamil Nadu and is older (c. 1.5–1.7 million years ago). Isampur is in Karnataka and dates to c. 1.2 million years ago.
Related concepts
- Palaeolithic age
- Acheulian tradition
- Handaxe
- Attirampakkam
- Hunsgi valley
- Pallavaram
- Didwana
- Soanian culture
- Hathnora
- Belan valley