Prehistory of Kangleipak

The Prehistory of Kangleipak or the pre-literary history of Manipur is the period of human history between the first use of stone tools by early men and the time just preceding Ancient Kangleipak (Antique Manipur).
Comparing with other regions of the world, the development process of the archaeological work in Manipur is of recent times. The pioneering work in archeology was initiated by O. Kumar Singh. Before his presence, there was little information on the existence of the stone culture of Manipur.
O. Kumar Singh is of the view that "Pre-Historic people used to settle in the hills during the Paleolithic and Mesolithic (Hoabinhian) culture while Neolithic people lived in both hills and valley. They came down to the valley at least by about 2000 BC." On the basis of the characters of the tool industry, the prehistory of Manipur is broadly classified into three periods.
Paleolithic period.
Paleolithic period is the most primitive stone culture era. The Paleolithic period varies from place to place.
In Manipur's neighbouring country Burma (Myanmar), the lower Paleolithic culture started from 750000 to 275000 BP. The Homo erectus (early Anyathian culture) began to settle on the banks of the Ayeyawaddy river in Burma in 750000 BCE.
However, in case of Manipur, Paleolithic period started from 20,000 to 10,000 BCE.
The stone culture of Paleolithic period were discovered from the five archeological sites, Songbu, Khangkhui, Machi, Nongpok Keithel Manbi and Singtom.
Mesolithic period.
The Mesolithic period (Hoabinhian period or post Paleolithic period or pre Neolithic period) has two remarkable archeological sites in Manipur. These are the Nongpok Keithelmanbi and the Tharon cave.
Neolithic period.
The Neolithic period is the last of the three Stone Age periods. It has 4 archeological sites in Manipur.
These are (1) Napachik, (2) Laimanai, (3) Phunan, (4) Nongpok Keithelmanbi.