South Asian Stone Age

Siwalik Hills (Pre-Acheulean)

The Masol site, located in the Siwalik Frontal Range north of Chandigarh, India, was surveyed between 2009 and 2011 by an Indo-French research program patroned by Professor Yves Coppens, the College of France and Academy of Sciences and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.^[8]

The site yielded over 1,469 fossils within a stratigraphic layer confirmed by paleomagnetic dating to 2.6 Ma, including 45 fossils with green fractures, 12 with carnivore traces, and 3 with cut marks, found on a tibia shaft from a large herbivore, a bovid shaft, and a rib from a Stegodon (Stegadon insignis).^[9] Although critics have attributed similar types of bone markings elsewhere to large predators or trampling,^[10] in this case, researchers concluded the "anthropic origin can be in no doubt" based on several lines of evidence. Foremost, the markings closely matched experimental cut marks made by quartzite edges.^[2] Furthermore, the taphonomic analysis of the Masol site does not suggest dispersal by a natural disaster nor does it provide evidence for animal predation of such large prey.^[9] Finally, statistically, researchers noted a relatively high frequency of sharp cut marks—3 out of 1,469 fossils,^[9] compared to sites like Java, Indonesia, where only 5 bones out of 30,000 showed similar marks in a locale with substantial fossil evidence of a Homo erectus.^[11]

Evidence of anthropic cut marks on fossilized bone in the Himalayan foothills (2.6 Ma)^[2] positions South Asia closer to the center of hominin evolution than ever before, suggesting the region was witness to early scavenging behaviors, similar to those observed at sites like Dikika, Ethiopia (3.4 Ma)^[12] and Lomekwi, Kenya (3.2 Ma),^[13] both earlier and further from Africa than previously considered.^[14]

Pothohar Plateau (Pre-Acheulean)

While the Masol site provides evidence of quartzite cut marks, other sites in the region reveal evidence of stone tools capable of producing such cut marks. Riwat, located in the Pothohar Plateau, is one of the earliest sites containing Pre-Acheulean stone tools dated to around 2.5 Ma.^[6] Similarly, the Pabbi Hills in Northern Pakistan have produced stone tools dated to 2.2 to 0.9 Ma.^[15] The stone tools found at these sites, including light and heavy-duty tools like simple end-choppers, represent a distinct, older lithic technology separate from the Acheulean and Soanian traditions.^[16]

Earliest Acheulean Sites

The Attirampakkam site, located near Chennai, was first identified by the British geologist Robert Bruce Foote in the 1860s.^[17] It has produced some of the oldest known Acheulean tools in not just South Asia, but the entire world, indicating that hominins inhabiting the Indian subcontinent were already familiar with bifacial tools, handaxes and cleavers approximately 1.5 Ma. This dating, confirmed by both paleomagnetic and ²⁶Al/¹⁰Be burial dating, means that India's oldest Acheulean tools were contemporary to those in Africa and Central Asia and thus challenges the traditional view of Acheulean colonization, suggesting either an earlier spread or independent development of these lithic technologies across several continents.^[18]

Isampur in Karnataka, India, is one of 200 some Lower Paleolithic Acheulian sites in the Hunasagi and Baichbal valleys, and is dated to about 1.27 Ma.^[19] Although older assemblages have been found in Attirampakkam and Bori, Maharashtra (1.4 Ma),^[20] Isampur is a unique archeological site in that it is a quarry - a site of lithic manufacturing where over 15,000 artifacts have been uncovered. The site has provided insights into a full spectrum of early hominin tool-making processes, from the process of selecting limestone slabs, removing large flakes, and shaping tools into bifaces such as handaxes and cleavers through secondary flaking.^[21]

Acheulean Assemblages and Homo erectus in South Asia

The presence of Homo erectus in South Asia is largely inferred on the basis of lithic assemblages within the appropriate temporal range of the species duration and commonly, via the association between Acheulian tools and Homo erectus, which has been established at other global sites including in other parts of Asia.^[22][11]

Acheulean assemblages have been widespread across South Asia,^[23] including the Kortallayar Valley in Tamil Nadu, Hunsgi-Baichbal Valleys in Karnataka (e.g. Isampur), Chirki-Nevasa in Maharashtra, Didwana in Rajasthan, Bhimbetka's rock shelters and its surrounding open-air sites in the Vindhya hills of Madhya Pradesh. These discoveries indicate that Acheulean technology was not confined to a single area but was widespread across the Indian subcontinent, suggesting that associated early hominins like Homo erectus had a broad geographical distribution throughout the region.^[24]

Narmada Valley

The Narmada Valley of central India have revealed evidence of two distinct hominin populations during the middle to early late Pleistocene (250 Ka to 70 Ka). Fossils uncovered by anthropologist Anek Sankhyan include robust but unusually short clavicles, which point to a previously unknown “short-stocky” hominin, coexisting with a larger-bodied, so-called "Acheulian Man".^[34]

Early Hominins of Deccan Plateau

Further inland from Attirampakkam, on the Deccan Plateau in present-day Andhra Pradesh, the sites of Jwalapuram and the Kurnool Caves offer insights into the adaptability and cognitive depth of early hominins in South India.

At Jwalapuram, artifacts have been found both beneath and above volcanic ash from the Toba supereruption which occurred around 74 Ka in Indonesia and ranks as one of the largest volcanic events in the past two million years.^[35] The presence of Middle Paleolithic tools in both layers suggests that hominins survived this major environmental event and continued to inhabit the area, exhibiting cultural continuity. This resilience in the face of extreme climatic stress hints at sophisticated survival strategies.

Detailed examination of these tool assemblages reveals notable similarities to Middle Paleolithic technologies found in Africa, rather than those associated with the Levantine. This resemblance has led researchers to propose that Homo sapiens may have been responsible for creating these artifacts.^[36] Additionally, the timing of these assemblages aligns with genetic estimates for early human migrations out of Africa, providing further support for the idea that modern humans may have been present in southern India around this time.^[37]