Subsections
[Cr:4, Lc:3, Tt:0, Lb:0]
- Lower Paleolithic (Oldowan, Acheulean), Middle Paleolithic (Levallois, modern humans) and Upper Paleolithic (modern human evolution); multidisciplinary evidence including contextual, geochronological and archaeological data; Various human dispersals and ecological adaptations.
- Mesolithic cultures and associated symbolic behaviors (e.g. rock art);
- Neolithic cultures and the beginning of agriculture; regional variations (e.g. Kashmir Neolithic; ashmound sites); the Neolithic problem in India.
- Regional Chalcolithic cultures (e.g. Ahar-Banas, Malwa, Jorwe, Savalda) and the Harappans (their rise, maturation and decline); the Aryan debate.
- Early Iron Age cultures: Black and Red Ware (BRW), Painted Grey Ware (PGW) cultures, Vedic life, social organization and religious life.
- Urbanization in the Gangetic Valley: Transformation of territories into kingdoms, Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW) culture, agrarian order, trade, social organization, rise of Sramanic religions, social base of Buddhism and Jainism.
- Competing States to Empire: Magadha from city-state to empire, Mauryas, political outline, sphere of influence, nature of administration, internal and foreign trade, agrarian base, social organization and decline.
- South India: Early Iron Age cultures, Chera, Chola and Pandyas, Sangam literature, social formation, nature of polity, socio-economic organization, nature of trade and urbanization.
- From Mauryan Empire to Secondary State Formations: Satavahanas and Kalinga, nature of secondary state formations, agrarian base, social organization, trade and religious life.
- Indo-Greeks, Shakas, Parthians, Kushanas and Kshatrapas and the Rise of Mercantile Communities.
- Guptas: Political outline, nature of polity, administration, social organization, agriculture, trade, art and literature, golden age for whom?
- D. N. Jha, Early India: A Concise History, Manohar, 2004.
- Romila Thapar, The Penguin History of Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300, Penguin,2003.
- Upinder Singh, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century, Pearson Longman, 2009.
- Kennedy, K. A. R. 2001., God-Apes and Fossil-Men. Paleoanthroplogy in South Asia, Michigan University Press.
- Nayanjot Lahiri, (Ed), The Decline and Fall of the Indus Civilization, Permanent Black, 2000.
- Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya, Studying Early India: Archaeology, Texts and Historical Issues, Permanent Black, 2005.
- Rajan Gurukkal, Social Formations of Early South India, Oxford University Press, 2010.
