Early Middle Palaeolithic culture in India around 385–172 ka reframes Out of Africa models

Autor: Kumar Akhilesh, Anil D. Shukla, Shanti Pappu, H.M. Rajapara, Yanni Gunnell, Ashok K. Singhvi
Přispěvatelé: Sharma Centre for Heritage Education, Environnement Ville Société (EVS), Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon (INSA Lyon), Université de Lyon-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Université de Lyon-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Lyon (ENSAL)-École des Mines de Saint-Étienne (Mines Saint-Étienne MSE), Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris] (IMT)-Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris] (IMT)-École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État (ENTPE)-Université Jean Monnet [Saint-Étienne] (UJM)-Université Jean Moulin - Lyon 3 (UJML), Université de Lyon-Université Lumière - Lyon 2 (UL2)-École normale supérieure - Lyon (ENS Lyon), Planetary and Geosciences Division [Ahmedabad], Physical Research Laboratory [Ahmedabad] (PRL), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)-Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Environnement, Ville, Société (EVS), École normale supérieure de Lyon (ENS de Lyon)-École des Mines de Saint-Étienne (Mines Saint-Étienne MSE), Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris] (IMT)-Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris] (IMT)-Université Lumière - Lyon 2 (UL2)-Université Jean Moulin - Lyon 3 (UJML), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon (INSA Lyon), Université de Lyon-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne (UJM)-École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État (ENTPE)-École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Lyon (ENSAL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Body, Salima
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2018
Předmět:
Zdroj: Nature
Nature, Nature Publishing Group, 2018, pp.97-101
Nature, 2018, 554, pp.97-101
ISSN: 0028-0836
1476-4679
1476-4687
Popis: International audience; Luminescence dating at the stratified prehistoric site of Attirampakkam, India, has shown that processes signifying the end of the Acheulian culture and the emergence of a Middle Palaeolithic culture occurred at 385 ± 64 thousand years ago (ka), much earlier than conventionally presumed for South Asia. The Middle Palaeolithic continued at Attirampakkam until 172 ± 41 ka. Chronologies of Middle Palaeolithic technologies in regions distant from Africa and Europe are crucial for testing theories about the origins and early evolution of these cultures, and for understanding their association with modern humans or archaic hominins, their links with preceding Acheulian cultures and the spread of Levallois lithic technologies. The geographic location of India and its rich Middle Palaeolithic record are ideally suited to addressing these issues, but progress has been limited by the paucity of excavated sites and hominin fossils as well as by geochronological constraints. At Attirampakkam, the gradual disuse of bifaces, the predominance of small tools, the appearance of distinctive and diverse Levallois flake and point strategies, and the blade component all highlight a notable shift away from the preceding Acheulian large-flake technologies. These findings document a process of substantial behavioural change that occurred in India at 385 ± 64 ka and establish its contemporaneity with similar processes recorded in Africa and Europe. This suggests complex interactions between local developments and ongoing global transformations. Together, these observations call for a re-evaluation of models that restrict the origins of Indian Middle Palaeolithic culture to the incidence of modern human dispersals after approximately 125 ka.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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