South Asian Stone Age
The South Asian Stone Age spans the prehistoric age from the earliest use of stone tools in the Paleolithic period to the rise of agriculture, domestication, and pottery in the Neolithic period across present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka. As in other parts of the world, in South Asia, the divisions of the Stone Age into the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods do not carry precise chronological boundaries; instead, they describe broad phases of technological and cultural development based on the tools and artifacts found at various archaeological sites.
The Paleolithic in South Asia began as early as 2.6 million years ago based on the earliest known sites with hominin activity, namely the Siwalik Hills of northwestern India. The Mesolithic is defined as a transitional phase following the end of the Last Glacial Period, beginning around 10000 BCE. The Neolithic, starting around 7000 BCE, is associated with the emergence of agriculture and other hallmarks of settled life or sedentism, as opposed to hunter-gatherer lifestyles. The earliest reliably-dated South Asian neolithic site is Mehrgarh in present-day Pakistan dated to 6500 BCE.
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic in South Asia is also traditionally divided into the Lower, Middle, and Upper Paleolithic periods. The Paleolithic falls within the larger geologic Pleistocene Epoch, spanning from about 2.58 million years ago to 11,700 years ago. As such, the terms Early Pleistocene and Middle Pleistocene are often applied as overlapping geological timeframes in discussions about the Paleolithic.Lower Paleolithic
The Lower Paleolithic period in South Asia represents the earliest phase of known hominin activity in the region and corresponds chronologically with the Early Pleistocene. This archeological record, spanning 2.6 Ma-2.5 Ma to approximately 300 Ka, is marked by evidence of lithic technology, including those characterized as the Acheulean industry,, the Soanian industry, named after the Soan River, a tributary of the Indus, and also includes distinct Pre-Acheulean lithic assemblages.
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 led by Yves Coppens, the College of France and Academy of Sciences and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.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. Although critics have attributed similar types of bone markings elsewhere to large predators or trampling, 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. Furthermore, the taphonomic analysis of the Masol site does not suggest dispersal by a natural disaster nor does it provide evidence for animal predation on such large prey. Finally, statistically, researchers noted a relatively high frequency of sharp cut marks—3 out of 1,469 fossils, 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.
Evidence of anthropic cut marks on fossilized bone in the Himalayan foothills 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 and Lomekwi, Kenya, both earlier and further from Africa than previously considered.
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.Similarly, the Pabbi Hills in Northern Pakistan have produced stone tools dated to 2.2 to 0.9 Ma. 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.
Earliest Acheulean sites
The Attirampakkam site, located near Chennai, was first identified by the British geologist Robert Bruce Foote in the 1860s. 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.Isampur in Karnataka, India, is one of the about 200 Lower Paleolithic Acheulian sites in the Hunasagi and Baichbal valleys, and is dated to about 1.27 Ma. Although older assemblages have been found in Attirampakkam and Bori, Maharashtra, 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, from selecting limestone slabs and removing large flakes to shaping tools into bifaces such as handaxes and cleavers using secondary flaking.
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.Acheulean assemblages have been widespread across South Asia, including the Kortallayar Valley in Tamil Nadu, Hunsgi-Baichbal Valleys in Karnataka, 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.
Middle Paleolithic
The Middle Paleolithic in South Asia is marked by the emergence of flake-based technologies that suggest more advanced planning as well as signs of early symbolic behavior. These findings may represent the work of early anatomically modern humans.File:Attirampakkam stone tools.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Stone tools discovered at the prehistoric site of Attirampakkam in South India are among the earliest examples of Levallois technique outside of Africa.The transition to the Middle Paleolithic in South Asia has been uniquely informed by Attirampakkam, an open-air site with evidence of lithic industry spanning over a millennium. This quarry site has preserved not only the earliest Acheulean assemblages in South Asia, but also the earliest Middle Paleolithic assemblages, dated to 385 Ka.
The discovery of over 7,000 artifacts, bearing evidence of the Levallois technique at Attirampakkam, was published in Nature in 2018 by a research team led by Shanti Pappu, which challenges some long-held assumptions about the Out of Africa migration theory. Levallois tools have been traditionally associated with Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens, however the Attirampakkam findings are dated to 385 Ka, making them not only the earliest examples of this technology outside of Africa, but archaeologically contemporaneous to the earliest known African Levallois point, dated to 400 Ka, in East Africa's Kapthurin Formation. This far predates the previous figure of 130 Ka for when modern humans were thought to have migrated from Africa into Eurasia.
The larger implications of the findings remain open to debate. Shanti Pappu, a lead author on the 2018 Nature article, has been careful not to attribute the tools to any particular hominin species, but speculates that the tools could indicate an earlier arrival of Homo sapiens to India, which would support a more complex non-linear migration pattern out of Africa. Paleoanthropologist John Hawks, also not involved in the study, commented that the Attirampakkam data dismantle previous notions that modern humans spread from Africa due to a significant technological superiority over archaic, less intelligent human species. Independent pre-publication peer reviewer, Michael Petraglia described the discovery as a "marvellous" contribution to understanding human history in South Asia, noting that it fills knowledge gap from 400 Ka to 175 Ka. Petraglia considers these artifacts as evidence of an independent advancement made by early humans in Attirampakkam:
Whether the Attirampakkam Levallois tools were made by early modern humans living in India long before the accepted migration out of Africa or by earlier hominin species such as Homo heidelbergensis remains unresolved in the absence of DNA or fossil evidence.