A peep into pre-history at fossil museum

Gagan K Teja

Tribune News Service

Patiala, May 2

A virtual treasure trove of pre-history, the fossil museum of Punjabi University has become a centre of attraction for educationists, especially researchers, who find the rare collection very informative. The museum contains rare fossils as well as newly discovered prehistoric stone tools like pitted cobbles and edge-ground stone tools.

Discovered by Dr Vidwan Singh Soni and his son Dr Anujot Singh Soni during their decades-long research, the task of setting up the museum was given to the duo by Punjabi University to create scientific awareness among the general public and students as also among the scholars wishing to go for further research. Some of the spectacular items in the museum are a pair of 12-feet long elephant tusk which belongs to Stegodon Insignis, a species which existed more than 6 lakh years ago, and which is now extinct. 

The upper jaw of a hippopotamus (Hexaprotodon Sivalensis) which was recovered from the 6 million years old Shivalik hills, fossils of large tortoises, teeth of extinct small horses, giraffes, grass-eating animals, jaws and bones of other elephant-type animals, some extinct large-size pigs, crocodile bones and teeth, all recovered from Shivalik ranges and ranging between 5 to 8 million years in antiquity. The possible scenario of animals and their surroundings of these ages are also depicted in the form of large pictures displayed behind the fossils.

Another prominent finding by the duo is a new discovery, that of stone tools, 4,000-5,000 years old, some of which are displayed in the museum.Dr Vidwan Soni said the finding was important because previously, the Stone Age in Northwest India was supposed to be lakhs of years old, but this is a new discovery. These scholars have proved that the stone tools (so-called Soanian tools), were fabricated and used by the late Harappans and some other societal communities which were displaced towards the hills during the centuries-long ‘four millennia old droughts’ that severely affected their lives. 

They could not procure metals as long distance trade had ceased and so, they converged on the Shivalik in large numbers where water was still available. They used stone tools for their day-today work. The late-Harappan pottery, embedded along with stone tools during an excavation, is one big proof of the late-Harappans using stone tools. Dr Anujot Soni said the museum is important for its rare fossils and also to ascertain that Stone Age tools were used till the prehistoric times.