Consider the following statements with reference to the Neolithic age in India: 1. Neolithic settlements of south India are generally older than the ones in northern India. 2. People were largely dependent on hunting, fishing and gathering as cultivation had not yet begun. 3. Neolithic people used foot wheels to make pots. Which of the statements given above is/are correct

Consider the following statements with reference to the Neolithic age in India: 1. Neolithic settlements of south India are generally older than the ones in northern India. 2. People were largely dependent on hunting, fishing and gathering as cultivation had not yet begun. 3. Neolithic people used foot wheels to make pots. Which of the statements given above is/are correct Correct Answer 3 only

• In the world context, the Neolithic age or the new stone age began in 9000 BC.
• The only known Neolithic settlement in the Indian subcontinent, attributed to 7000 BC, is in Mehrgarh, which is situated in Baluchistan, a province of Pakistan.
• The settlement lay on the edge of the Indus plains.
• It is called one of the largest Neolithic settlements between the Indus and the Mediterranean.
• Some Neolithic sites found on the northern spurs of the Vindhyas are considered as old as 5000 BC but generally Neolithic settlements found in south India are not older than 2500 BC; in some parts of southern and eastern India, they are as late as 1000 BC. Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.
• The Neolithic settlers were the earliest farming communities.
• They broke the ground with stone hoes and digging sticks at the end of which ring stones weighing one to half a kilogram were fixed.
• Besides polished tools of stone, they used microlith blades.
• The Neolithic people led a settled life and produced ragi and horse gram, and even rice. Hence, statement 2 is incorrect.
• The Neolithic people of Mehrgarh were more advanced.
• They produced wheat and barley and lived in mud-brick houses.
• People no longer depended on hunting, fishing and gathering, with cultivation and cattle husbandry providing them food.
• With new means of food and shelter, they were on the threshold of civilization During the Neolithic phase, several settlements became acquainted with the cultivation of cereals and the domestication of animals.
• So they needed pots in which they could store their food grains, and also pots for cooking, eating, and drinking.
• In the early stage, they made handmade pottery, later, the Neolithic people used foot wheels to make pots.  Hence, statement 3 is correct.
• It seems that the potter‘s wheel came to Baluchistan from western Asia and from there it spread across the subcontinent.
• The Neolithic pottery included black-burnished ware, grey ware, and mat-impressed ware.