Conclusion
In very general terms the development of the Neolithic in South Asia followed the classic pattern of the ‘Neolithic Revolution'. It saw the establishment of permanent settlements for the first time, the creation and adoption of agricultural practices, and the development of pottery manufacturing.
Most of the trademarks of the Neolithic, such as ceramics, sedentism, livestock, and textiles, were present at the end of the period. However, precisely when these elements were first incorporated into the archaeological record varied between regions and did not occur all at once. The South Asian Neolithic therefore needs to be seen as a protracted transformation episode. Just as improved archaeobotanical evidence for crop domestication processes,[570] where it is available, points to a protracted evolutionary transition from wild to domesticated plants, so too the cultural elements of the Neolithic developed and became interlinked gradually and by differing pathways in different regions. One of the factors that contributed to this was that agriculture co-existed with foraging in many areas and for a very long time.Nevertheless, within South Asia we can identify at least three major pathways to the developed Neolithic package. In the northwest (Baluchistan), sedentism, cereal farming, and livestock pastoralism evolved early on. This followed a model similar to that of Southwest Asia, in which grain-based breads were central to food traditions, substantial mud-brick buildings were built, and ceramics developed as a later addition. In the Ganges plains we see very early ceramics used by wetland foragers, akin perhaps to some of the East Asian late Pleistocene traditions,[571] but in this case co-existing with persistent ‘Mesolithic' aceramic hunters. Here rice cultivation emerged slowly, with commitment to agriculture, domesticated rice, livestock, and sedentism developing perhaps 5,000 years after the initial elements of the Neolithic are first seen (like ceramics and ground stone).
In the savannas of India, best documented in the southern Deccan, pastoralism was incorporated into a seasonal mobile savanna and woodland seedgathering tradition. It may be that this tradition expanded from the Thar desert margin southwards after the adoption of sheep, goats, and cattle from across the Thar desert to the west (Fuller's ‘Savanna corridor' hypothesis[572]). But if so, it is still the case that potting traditions (based on coiled ceramics), local plant domestications, and the development of the ashmound tradition were largely indigenous innovations in the southern Deccan. Eastern and northeastern India remain too poorly documented for the transition to be characterized in terms of comparative origins.Taken on a global scale, South Asia provides two major pathways into agriculture from primary hunter-gatherers, in the Ganges and south India. But current evidence suggests that, more frequently than not, agriculturalists moved into a new area or local foragers adopted elements of the Neolithic from elsewhere. A diverse range of domesticates and food production practices can be seen in the Neolithic Indian subcontinent. Ultimately this diversity came to support one of the largest concentrations of dense human population of any world region, accounting for 15-20 per cent of the global population today on just 2.73 per cent of global landmass.