South Asia

===Pre-history===
The history of core South Asia begins with evidence of human activity of ''[[Anatomically modern humans|Homo sapiens]],'' as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including ''[[Homo erectus]]'' from about 500,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bongard-Levin |first=G. M. |title='A History of India |year=1979 |location=Moscow |publisher=Progress Publishers |page=11 |isbn=0-7147-1336-8}}</ref> The earliest prehistoric culture have roots in the mesolithic sites as evidenced by the rock paintings of [[Bhimbetka rock shelters]] dating to a period of 30,000 BCE or older,{{refn|group=note|{{harvnb|Doniger|2010|p=66}}: "Much of what we now call Hinduism may have had roots in cultures that thrived in South Asia long before the creation of textual evidence that we can decipher with any confidence. Remarkable cave paintings have been preserved from Mesolithic sites dating from {{Circa|30,000 BCE}} in [[Bhimbetka rock shelters|Bhimbetka]], near present-day Bhopal, in the Vindhya Mountains in the province of Madhya Pradesh."}} as well as neolithic times.{{refn|group=note|{{harvnb|Jones|Ryan|2006|p=xvii}}: "Some practices of Hinduism must have originated in Neolithic times (c. 4000 BCE). The worship of certain plants and animals as sacred, for instance, could very likely have very great antiquity. The worship of goddesses, too, a part of Hinduism today, maybe a feature that originated in the Neolithic."}}