The earliest signs of human habitation in the area was at Dihar. By about 1000 BC chalcolithic people had settled on the north bank of the Dwarakeswar. In later pre-historic times this area was inhabited by various Proto-Australoid and a few Proto-Dravidian tribes. The tribes were spread across different strata of development – food-gathering, hunting, animal-raring and agriculture. Bankura district was part of Rarh in ancient times. From around 7th century AD till around the advent of British rule, for around a millennium, history of Bankura district is identical with the rise and fall of the Hindu Rajas of Bishnupur.