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Les premiers peuplements d'Asie du Sud : vestiges culturels

Christian GAILLARD

fr Comptes Rendus Palevol 5 (1-2) - Pages 359-369

Published on 28 February 2006

This article is a part of the thematic issue Climates - Culture - Society in prehistoric times. From the appearance of hominids to the Neolithic.

The first settlements in South Asia: cultural remains

South Asia had a relatively stable climate during Lower and Middle Pleistocene; only the Himalaya piedmonts recorded periglacial conditions. The chronological setting of Palaeolithic assemblages is becoming more accurate in the last two decades as the dating methods improve and volcanic ash layers are identified in relation with sites. The first indication of human activity is recorded at around 2 Ma, in the northwestern sector of the Siwalik range, and the Acheulian starts before 1 Ma, in the Southwest of Indian Peninsula. It seems that Acheulian technological stage is not preceded by pebble/cobble tool industries, neither in the Peninsula, where such industries are unknown, nor in the Siwaliks, where they occur in abundance (Soanian technical tradition), but are probably later than the middle of Middle Pleistocene.


Keywords:

Asia, India, Siwaliks, Acheulian, Soanian, Early Palaeolithic, Pleistocene

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