Palaeolithic period

Narmada Man – the only stone age fossil from India
Narmada Man or Narmada Human is the earliest Homo species of Indian sub-continent This fossil was found on banks of Narmada River in Hathnora Village of Madhya Pradesh in 1982 Narmada Man used to live 25 Lakh years ago and belonged to Homo erectus species, which was first among the three Homo species (Homo habilis, Homo ergaster and Homo erectus) to acquire tool making skills These three species predate Homo sapience sapience, to which we belong The importance of Narmada man is that it is only authentic record of a Homo species fossil from Stone Age in India
Lower Palaeolithic Period
In lower Palaeolithic phase, the tools were mainly hand axes and cleavers with some flakes also These tools were relatively blunt and have been found all over India except plains of Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra {because raw material may not be available in these plains to make tools} Many Palaeolithic tool assemblages were found around Tapti, Godavari, Bhima and Krishna rivers The raw material used for making tools was mainly quartzite and chert but quartz and basalt was also used
The Palaeolithic period in India shows several distinct cultural and technological traditions
Soan Culture
Extensive deposits of pebble tools and choppers found in the Soan river (a tributary of Indus) valley in Pakistan along with some other similar sites in nearby area are collectively called Soan culture or Sohan culture
Madrasian Culture
Father of Indian Pre-history Robert Bruce Foote had discovered hand axes near Chennai and called it Madrasian culture Foote was a geologist of the Geological Survey of IndiaNevasan Culture
Some Middle Palaeolithic era flake tools, scrappers, borers etc were found at Nevasa site (Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra) in the valley of river Godavari and are called Nevasan culture