RICE VARIETIES IN ANTIQUITY INDIA

Abstract

Indian subcontinent possesses rich diversity of agri horticultural crop
plants because of its unique geographical features. There have been much less
efforts in the field of archeology to reveal the prehistory of India as a whole
and the north-east in particular. J.H. Hutten and J.P. Mills have made large
collections of stone age tools from the Naga hill (Nagaland), North Cachar
Hills (Karbi-Anglong district of Assam), and the Garo Hill (Meghalaya). Based
on these and other exploratory. works Shri K.L. Barua in his "Prehistoric
Cultures in Assam" notes that there was sufficient evidence provided by the
stone age tools found in various excavations to prove that this region was
inhabited by neolithic or new stone age people who introduced shouldered
celt, terraced rice c::ultivation,