An increased pace in archaeological research in recent decades has yielded a construction of the history of prehistoric and early historic India primarily in terms of archaeology. This book charts the flow of India's grassroots archaeological history in all its continuities and diversities from its Palaeolithic beginnings to c AD 300 when early historic India assumed its basic form. The book reconstructs the historical development of human-natural resource interaction in the subcontinent in a lucid style with maps, illustrations, and tables. This second edition contains a new afterword, which discusses all new ideas and discoveries in Indian Archaeology between 1998 and 2008. Written by an expert on Indian archaeology, this book would be indispensable for students and specialists of archaeology and early South Asian history.