Discovery and research review of knapped lithics of the South Asian subcontinent
Received date: 2022-07-31
Revised date: 2022-10-19
Online published: 2023-06-13
The South Asian subcontinent, located south of the Eurasian continent and adjacent to East Asia, has a close relationship with Southeast Asia and China. It has long been a critical pivot of eastern and western Eurasia playing a unique and irreplaceable role in cultural communication and technology diffusion. In this paper, we clarify the research history, chronology and technology of knapped lithics from the South Asian subcontinent, in order to offer more information for further work.
Traces of ancient humans first appeared in the Early Paleolithic, and numerous lithics of different technological characteristics have been discovered since 1863, when Foote RB collected the first hand-axe in Madras, southeast India. Due to some historical reasons, however, there are three main problems in Paleolithic research of the South Asian subcontinent. First, only a few sites have been excavated, with most findings on the surface, which has led to controversies such as the identity of the Soan culture and its relationship to the Acheulian. Second, both the lack and uncertainty of dating data makes the chronology somewhat questionable and thus ambiguous for each stage of the Paleolithic. Third, despite the efforts of several generations of scholars, most archaeological reports of the subcontinent are still scarce, and many lack clear photographs or 3D models for researchers who do not have access to these important materials.
Various lithic technologies are recognized in the South Asian continent. Core-flake technology, including pebble tool and flake tool assemblages from the Early Pleistocene to the Holocene. This is a unique phenomenon because pebble tools such as chopper-chopping tools decrease and finally disappear with the rise of more complicated technologies in most cases. The Acheulian, Mousterian, blade, and geometric microlithic technologies are similar to those in western Eurasian, respectively. Large cutting tools such as hand-axes, cleavers and picks predominate in the Early Pleistocene, whereas geometric microliths are also widely distributed in Terminal Pleistocene and Holocene. Mousterian and blade products are not as common, which might hint at a different role that the subcontinent plays in human dispersal and communication in the early Late Pleistocene. Microblade products, such as minute blades(microblades) and specially prepared microblade cores, might come from East Asia where these products are large in quantity, mature in technique, and clear and complete in a developing sequence.
Key words： Paleolithic; Lithics; Typology; Technology; South Asian subcontinent
Ziyi YANG , Yingshuai JIN , Shejiang WANG , Xiaoling ZHANG . Discovery and research review of knapped lithics of the South Asian subcontinent[J]. Acta Anthropologica Sinica, 2023 , 42(03) : 398 -411 . DOI: 10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2023.0019
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