chauhan 2008 (jhe)

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

Journal of Human Evolution 54 (2008) 591e614

Soanian lithic occurrences and raw material exploitation in the SiwalikFrontal Zone, northern India: a geoarchaeological perspective

Parth R. Chauhan

Stone Age Institute & CRAFT Research Center (Indiana University), Bloomington, IN, USA

Received 4 October 2006; accepted 18 September 2007

Abstract

In the Himalayan foothills of northern India, evidence of widespread hominin occupation since at least the late Middle Pleistocene has beenknown since the early 20th century and indicates varied patterns of land-use and intraregional mobility. This lithic evidence primarily belongs tothe Soanian industry, representing some of the highest concentrations of Paleolithic assemblages in the Old World based exclusively on pebbleand cobble clasts. This body of evidence also signifies interregional dispersal from peninsular India or northern Pakistan, leading to environ-mental preferences that spread quickly through hominin populations in the region within a relatively short timespan. While rich in its techno-logical repertoire, the Soanian industry is poorly- understood regarding site selection and raw material exploitation over time. Recent effortsdemonstrate that Soanian sites on Siwalik frontal slopes between two major rivers vary considerably in their artifact quantities regardless ofabundant raw material sources found across the landscape. Most of the assemblages suggest raw material transport distances of three kilometersor less from the localized sources. Geoarchaeological investigations at the richest known Soanian site, Toka, reveal dynamic evidence of pre- andpostdepositional site formation including the exploitation of quartzite pebbles and cobbles by Pleistocene hominins from terrace and streambedcontexts within a 1 km2 radius. Some field observations also disprove claims made by previous workers, of artifacts eroding out of late Plioceneexposures of the Upper Siwalik Tatrot Formation around Toka.� 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Siwalik frontal slopes; Post-Siwalik; Soanian paleolithic sites; Geoarchaeology

Introduction

Lithic assemblages produced on fluvially-rounded clastsgenerally occur in most phases of the prehistoric period ona global scale, highlighting their unique technofunctional expe-diency and dependence on specific geomorphological and envi-ronmental settings (e.g., Clark and Schick, 1988; Tieu, 1991;Roebroeks, 2001; Stout et al., 2005; Chauhan, in press). Suchtoolkits were so dominant in some regions of the Old Worldthat they subsequently came to be referred to as ‘Chopper-Chopping Tool’ or ‘Pebble Tool’ traditions (Movius, 1948). Inmost cases, such assemblages simply represented a preference

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doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2007.09.017

for fluvially-transported clasts such as pebbles, cobbles, andboulders, indicating the exploitation of areas near water sourcesor paleochannel gravel/conglomerate deposits. One of these re-gions in the Old World where such assemblages aregeographically prominent is the Siwalik Hills or Himalayanfoothills of the Indian subcontinent.

The Indian subcontinent, or South Asia, contains a continu-ous prehistoric archaeological record dating back to, at least,the early Middle Pleistocene (Sankalia, 1974; Mishra, 1994;Petraglia, 2001). Older archaeological occurrences, from theLate Pliocene and Early Pleistocene, have also been reportedfrom northern Pakistan and peninsular India, respectively(Paddayya et al., 2002; Dennell, 2004); these, however, needfurther corroboration. South Asian Lower Paleolithic assem-blages have generally been assigned to either the Acheulian(Mode 2) or Soanian (now known to comprise both Modes 1and 3) traditions (Misra, 1987, 2001). The Mode 1 assemblages

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592 P.R. Chauhan / Journal of Human Evolution 54 (2008) 591e614

are less well known and occur in the form of middle and upperPleistocene sites and off-sites throughout the Indian subconti-nent (e.g., Jayaswal, 1982; Ota, 1982e83; Sharma and Roy,1985; Singh and Singh, 1990; Singh and Sengupta, 1991;Behera, 1992; Reddy et al., 1995; Singh, 1997; Rajendran,1998e99; Sharma, 2002). Given the usually small data sam-ples and single-site contexts, it is difficult to recognize anyEarly Pleistocene Mode 1 ‘technoculture’ sensu stricto, suchas the Oldowan and Clactonian, in peninsular India, despiteprevious claims of a Mode 1 to-Mode 2 transition (Khatri,1961, 1962; Armand, 1985); these claims remain unsubstanti-ated (Supekar, 1985). Nonbifacial assemblages in South Asiawere often assigned regional industrial names on the basis ofdifferences in tool-type frequencies, tool size, degree of re-touch, and so forth (Jayaswal, 1982). The most prominent non-bifacial technocomplex is represented by the Soanian industry,found throughout the Siwalik region in Pakistan, India, andNepal; however, Corvinus (2002) does not classify some ofthe Nepali assemblages as being Soanian. Soanian artifacts

Fig. 1. Diverse Soanian tool-types from Toka: a) uniface; b) hammerstone; c) unif

split-cobble; f) core scrapers; g) nonconvergent unifacial discoid; h) pointed unifac

imens a and h resemble bifaces in outline but are actually unifaces.

were manufactured on quartzite pebbles, cobbles, and occa-sionally on boulders, all derived from various fluvial sourceson the Siwalik landscape. Soanian assemblages generally com-prise varieties of choppers, discoids, scrapers, cores, and nu-merous flake types (Fig. 1), all occurring in varyingtypotechnological frequencies at individual sites (see Patersonand Drummond, 1962; Corvinus, 2002; Chauhan, 2007).Despite this typological diversity, such attributes as bifacial re-duction, acortical finished tools, extensive platform preparation(i.e., facetted platforms), and plan form and lateral symmetryare absent within the Soanian. The closest morphological par-allels to this industry outside of South Asia are found in theneighboring regions of Tajikistan and Iran (see Davis, 1984,1986), all of which vary considerably in age. As expectedwith rounded-clast exploitation, the Soanian also shares broadmorphological features and reduction properties with the Old-owan as well as with younger nonbiface assemblages. Thedifferences between these assemblages are significant: forinstance, the Soanian does not comprise any classic Oldowan

acial and unimarginal chopper; d) secondary flake; e) single-platform core on

ial chopper; i) flake with cortical platform; and j) angular core fragment. Spec-

593P.R. Chauhan / Journal of Human Evolution 54 (2008) 591e614

tool-types such as polyhedrons, subspheroids, and spheroids.As demonstrated later in this paper, the majority of the Soanianevidence appears to be partly contemporaneous with the SouthAsian (Late) Acheulian evidence but mostly postdates it.

Excluding some localities in the Soan Valley of Pakistan,the site complex of Guler (Beas Valley) and Toka (this study)in India, and the Arjun-3 site in Nepal, Soanian and similarassemblages rarely comprise more than a few dozen artifacts.Most occur in nondatable surface contexts and may be classifi-able as off-sites (Foley, 1981) or non-sites (Dunnell and Dan-cey, 1983), with stray artifacts strewn randomly across Siwaliklandscapes (e.g., Pande, 1968; Bhattacharya and Chakrabarti,1981). Although this limits our understanding of such aspectsas occupational chronology, associated technological develop-ment over time, and intrasite spatial patterning, other informa-tion can, nevertheless, be extracted regarding broad land-usepatterns such as raw material exploitation, site selection, andsite formation. In other words, the value of lithic surface scat-ters (e.g., Jacobson, 1985; Biagi and Cremaschi, 1988; Ebert,1992; Hurcombe, 2004) should not be overlooked since mostof our knowledge of Siwalik prehistory comes from that con-text. Indeed, it has even been successfully demonstrated thatartifact surface scatters are viable sources for reconstructingpatterns of land-use (e.g., Sullivan, 1992), despite the oftenlow artifact quantities. In India, site formation studies wereadopted fairly recently and have provided new insights onthe regional Paleolithic record (e.g., Jacobson, 1985; Jhaldiyal,1998; Pappu, 2001a; also see Petraglia, 2002).

This paper addresses land-use patterns by describing andinterpreting the distribution of Soanian lithic scatters on Siwa-lik frontal slopes between two major rivers in northern India.Following the discovery of a rich Paleolithic site complex atToka in January 2001, it was anticipated that additional richscatters may also be recovered at analogous locationsdnearraw material sources where streams, often with prominent ter-race deposits, merged with the plains. To test this hypothesis,the survey involved an examination of post-Siwalik depositsin the frontal slopes of the hills, as well as some interior zonesbetween two major rivers. Newly-discovered surface occur-rences were spatially correlated with nearby raw materialsources found in fluvial context, to understand variances inartifact quantities and possible general distances of clasttransport. Finally, basic geological attributes were examinedat Toka to hypothesize about site formation processes andre-assess its stratigraphic context in light of Verma andSrivastava’s (1984) claims of late Pliocene artifacts erodingout from the Tatrot Formation in this area.

The Siwalik Hills and associated raw material sources

The Siwalik Hills initially caught the attention of paleontol-ogists when fossil apes of Miocene age were discovered therein the early 1800s (Lukacs, 1984; Jones et al., 1992). As a re-sult, represent one of the best-studied fluvial sequences in theworld. These molasse deposits span from the Indus River inthe west to the Bay of Bengal in the east, a total length of ap-proximately 2400 km. These hills, the Siwalik Foreland Basin

(Kumar et al., 1991, 1994), include fluvial sediments depositedby hinterland rivers flowing south and northeast-to-southwestfrom the Lesser and Greater Himalaya (Gill, 1983b), whenthe region south of these mountains was originally a vast de-pression or basin (referred to as the foredeep) in the Miocene(Brozovic and Burbank, 2000). These sediments were later up-lifted through ongoing tectonic processes that intensified dur-ing the Plio-Pleistocene when the hills, as a topogeographicalunit, attained their present relative elevation. A modern analogfor Siwalik sediment deposition, prior to uplift, is the Indo-Gangetic plains to the south of the Siwalik Hills (Jain and Si-nha, 2003).

The range is less than 13 km wide in places with an averageof 24 km, and it reaches an elevation between 900 m and1200 m. The majority of the sediments are located within thepolitical boundaries of Pakistan, India, and Nepal, and becomesteeper and narrower (in relief and width), from west to east.The most prominent tectonic feature that separates the SiwalikHills from the Indo-Gangetic plains to the south is known byseveral names: the Main Frontal Thrust (Nakata, 1989; Laveand Avouac, 2000), the Himalayan Frontal Thrust (Wesnouskyet al., 1999; Malik et al., 2003), or Himalayan Frontal Faultsystem (Nakata, 1972; Kumar et al., 2001; Kumar, 2002).Over time, ongoing erosion and tectonic activity has greatlyaffected the topography of the Siwaliks, now comprised of hog-back ridges, valleys of various orders, gullies, choes (seasonalstreams), earth-pillars, rilled earth-buttresses of conglomerateformations, semicircular choe-divides, talus cones, colluvialcones, water-gaps, and choe terraces (Mukerji, 1976a). Associ-ated badland features include predominantly sparse vegetation,steep slopes, high drainage density, and rapid erosion rates(Howard, 1994). Such major topographical and fluvial changes,increasingly prevalent since the Plio-Pleistocene, probably hadsignificant repercussions on hominin settlement behaviors andsubsistence strategies.

Initially, the Siwalik strata were divided using biostratigra-phy, due to the wealth of vertebrate fossil remains frequentlyfound in the fine-grained sediments that were laid down by shal-low, braided river channels (Jones et al., 1992; Kennedy andCiochon, 1999). Later, chronometric dating techniques wereapplied and gradually refined to achieve accurate chronologicalcontrol: these include geomagnetic polarity studies and radio-metric dating of volcanic ashes, supplemented by isotope anal-yses (Opdyke et al., 1979; Johnson et al., 1983; Ranga Raoet al., 1988, 1995). All Siwalik sediments have been dividedstratigraphically into three subgroups, which in turn are subdi-vided into eight formations: Kamlial (Lower Siwalik Sub-group); Chinji, Nagri, and Dhok Pathan (Middle SiwalikSubgroup); and Tatrot, Pinjore/Pinjor, and Boulder Conglo-merate formations (Upper Siwalik Subgroup). According toSangode and Kumar (2003), broad age estimates of sedimenta-tion windows for the Upper Siwalik formations are 3.4 to5.6 Ma for Tatrot, 1.7 to 2.5 Ma for Pinjore, and 0.7 to1.7 Ma for the Boulder Conglomerate Formation (henceforthBCF). Paleolithic sites on Siwalik slopes are situated on orabove sediments belonging to almost all Siwalik formations.Most stratified evidence of hominin occupation, however, is


found in the Upper Siwalik Pinjore Formation (Dennell et al.,1988; Hurcombe, 2004) and post-Siwalik deposits (e.g., Stiles,1978), the latter being the primary focus of this paper. The dis-tribution of suitable raw material in the Siwalik region, includ-ing the study area, can be essentially viewed from twogeographical and chronological perspectives: BCF and post-BCF sources.

The Boulder Conglomerate Formation (BCF)

Fig. 2. Exposures of the Boulder Conglomerate Formation (BCF) near the

Markanda River.

Although no stratified archaeological evidence has been re-ported from the BCF, which contains abundant quartzite andsandstone clasts (Gill and Gaur, 1986), it is important to un-derstand its formational history and subsequent geological im-plications for hominin occupation of the Siwalik region. TheBCF is the youngest formation of the entire Siwalik sequenceand is essentially divided into upper and lower units, both arenoticeably distinct (Johnson et al., 1982). The Upper BCF ismuch coarser than the Lower BCF and the number of quartzitepebbles is also reduced in the former (Sahni and Khan, 1983).The environment of this deposition involved the formation ofdistal alluvial fans and proximal-distal braided stream sys-tems, in association with tectonic processes (Kumar andGhosh, 1991). The BCF horizons are also interbedded withpale brown beds and lenses of clay and silt, indicating a vastbut intermittent network of braided channels (Brozovic andBurbank, 2000). Quartzite pebbles, cobbles, and boulderswere the dominant forms of raw material available and sili-ceous or fine-grained material such as chert, chalcedony, andjasper, to name a few, were virtually absent and do not occurnaturally in the Siwalik ecozone.

Magnetostratigraphic studies show that many Siwalik sedi-ments are regionally time-transgressive including the BCF(Rendell et al., 1987). For example, these Upper Siwalik con-glomerates in the Soan Valley are dated to w2 Ma, whereasthose in the Pabbi Hills (100 km to the southeast) are datedto w1 Ma (Opdyke et al., 1979) and their deposition ends atapproximately 500 ka in Pakistan [although sedimentationmay have continued to 400 ka (Keller et al., 1977; Johnsonet al., 1979)] and between 600 ka (Ranga Rao et al., 1995)and 200 ka in India (Singh et al., 2001; also see Mohapatra,1985; see Fig. 2 in Gaillard and Mishra, 2001: 79). Older for-mations were not completely devoid of raw material sources,but these were not as abundant as the BCF and post-Siwalikexposures (Chauhan, 2005a; Dennell, 2007). In northern Paki-stan, for example, Dennell and Rendell (1991: 95) mention theassociation of artifacts with ‘‘outcrops of quartzite-bearingMiddle and Upper Siwalik conglomerates, or with spreads ofquartzite pebbles and cobbles derived from these conglomer-ates’’ (also see Burbank et al., 1988; Kumar and Ghosh,1991; Brozovic and Burbank, 2000). These early sources ofraw material were not geologically common prior to ‘BCFtimes’, and appear to be isolated occurrences rather than later-ally extensive components of the landscape. In fact, variousexposures of the BCF visible today also did not form a contin-uous and contemporary landscape during hominin occupationof the region. An important feature of these BCF sources,

however, is that once deposited, they represented a relativelystable and long-term source of raw material and, at places, re-sulted in the subsequent post-Siwalik fluvial distribution of as-sociated clasts elsewhere on the landscape.

Post-BCF or post-Siwalik sources

The period following the deposition of the BCF, is chrono-logically referred to as ‘post-Siwalik’ (Mukerji, 1979), whenantecedent Siwalik fluvial courses were altered. In northernPakistan and western Kashmir, this post-Siwalik time ismarked by thick loess deposits (Agrawal, 1992). In India andNepal, this loess is substituted by contemporaneous featuresincluding intermontane valleys (duns) and associated fluvialdeposits. In Pakistan, post-Siwalik times began as early as1.6 Ma ago in the Soan Valley (Rendell et al., 1989), and aslate as 500 ka ago in the Pabbi Hills (Dennell, 2004). In India,the commencement of post-Siwalik deposition may be provi-sionally bracketed between 600 ka and 200 ka (Ranga Raoet al., 1988; Sangode et al., 1996; Sangode and Kumar,2003). An additional consequence of this post-Siwalik geolog-ical activity involved the development of new drainage patterns(Thakur et al., 1997e98), characterized by proximal alluvialfan conditions from southwards to southwest at places (Kumaret al., 2001). These new and altered antecedent drainage sys-tems are represented by numerous streams (locally known aschoes, khads, nadis, or nalas) of varying orders that emanatefrom within the Siwalik Hills and flow semiperpendicular(north-south) to them (Mukerji, 1976a). Their channels aregenerally formed by the numerous gullies, ravines, hillslopes,


and faults found in the area and are seasonally supplied bymonsoon rains. Ongoing tectonic uplift has resulted in theshifting of these channels and their flow directions (Kumaret al., 2001). These post-Siwalik streams carry fine-grainedsediments and variable quantities of sandstone and quartziteclasts, derived from BCF exposures and occasionally older Si-walik formations (Fig. 2). The majority of the Soanian paleo-lithic evidence is stratigraphically and geographicallyassociated with these post-Siwalik contexts, discussed below.

Paleolithic research in the Siwalik region and the age ofthe Soanian evidence

The occurrence of Paleolithic artifacts in the Siwalik regionwas first noted by Wadia (1928) and K.R.U. Todd (see Pater-son and Drummond, 1962). However, the first attempt to un-derstand their geoarchaeological significance was made byde Terra and Paterson (1939). This British-American teamwas also responsible for assigning labels such as ‘Soan’ or‘Soanian’ (Hawkes et al., 1934; Movius, 1948) and ‘SoanFlake Tradition’ to some of these lithic assemblages, and forbroadly placing their origin in the Middle Pleistocene (seeDennell and Rendell, 1991; Dennell and Hurcombe, 1992).Paterson’s observations on the terrace sequences of the Soanvalley of Pakistan, led him to believe that several technologi-cal phases existed within the Soanian (Paterson and Drum-mond, 1962), and that these were associated with glacial andinterglacial periods (see Table 3 in Chauhan, 2007: 26e27).However, the team conducted no excavations and only surfacematerial was selectively collected from the Soanian ‘terraces’and various Siwalik surfaces in the Potwar Plateau (de Terraand Paterson, 1939).

In Pakistan, subsequent investigations took place in theSoan Valley, the Potwar Plateau, the Pabbi Hills, and the RohriHills in the Sind region (Graziosi, 1964; Stiles, 1978; Rendellet al., 1989). In India, most of the investigations took place inthe river valleys of Sutlej, Ravi (Saroj, 1974), Markanda (Joshiet al., 1975), Beas-Banganga (or Kangra: Lal, 1956; Bhatta-charya et al., 1981), Sirsa, and Soan (not related to the SoanValley of Pakistan), and in the intermontane dun valleys (Karir,1985). In Nepal, intensive investigations took place for the firsttime only in the last two decades, notably in the Dang and Deo-khuri valleys (Corvinus, 1995). Most of the scholars in India(Lal, 1956; Mohapatra, 1981; Karir, 1985) relied heavily onthe initial interpretations made in the 1930s by de Terra and Pa-terson, ultimately resulting in oversimplified and confusingcultural interpretations (see Misra and Mate, 1995). Additionalinvestigators include Johnson (1972) in the Potwar Plateau andSoan Valley; Krantz (1972) in the Soan Valley; the British Ar-chaeological Mission to Pakistan (see Dennell, 2004) in theSoan and Jhelum valleys and the Pabbi Hills; Ganjoo et al.(1993e94) in the Chenab and Tawi valleys; Joshi (1985) inthe Beas, Banganga and Kangra valleys; Sen (1955) in the Pin-jore-Nalagarh and Soan dun valleys (including Sirsa Valley);Mohapatra (1966, 1974, 1976, 1981, 1982, 1990) and Mohapa-tra and Singh (1979a,b) in the Beas Valley, Sirsa Valley, and onSiwalik frontal slopes; Joshi et al. (1978) in the Markanda

Valley; Bhattacharya et al. (1981) in the Kangra Valley; Corvi-nus (1995, 2002) in the Siwaliks of Nepal. Additional investi-gations have been carried out by geologists, physicalanthropologists, and vertebrate paleontologists and amateur ar-chaeologists (Sahni and Khan, 1964; Mukerji, 1976a,b;Sharma, 1977; Soni and Soni, 2005).

Although Acheulian bifaces have been occasionally re-ported as occurring with Soanian assemblages in the SiwalikHills (de Terra and Paterson, 1939), the two types of assem-blage usually occur separately in the Siwalik region (Joshi,1967e68; Mohapatra, 1981; Rendell and Dennell, 1985; Cor-vinus, 1990). Recently, I have further highlighted differencesbetween the Acheulian and Soanian assemblages that includeartifact quantity, extent of cortex removal, the availabilityof suitable quartzite clasts, and recently dated geological fea-tures that suggest behavioral and chronological differences be-tween these assemblages (Chauhan, 2003). In the IndianSiwaliks, for example, Acheulian bifaces, which retain littleor no cortex, are geologically and geographically separatefrom the Soanian and occur in isolation in the Siwalik frontalrange. Rich Acheulian sites with an abundance of bifaces orlarge cutting tools have not been reported from anywhere inthe Siwalik region. For example, the number of artifacts inMohapatra’s (1981) collection totals 120 from 21 sites dis-persed in a NW-SE linear pattern. This suggests curationand discard of finished bifaces in the Siwalik zone after beingproduced elsewhere. In contrast to these sparse Acheulian oc-currences, rich Soanian sites have been reported by de Terraand Paterson (1939); Paterson and Drummond (1962) inPakistan, by Corvinus (2002) in Nepal; and most recently bythe author in India (Chauhan, 2005a, 2007). These are inaddition to the smaller but numerous lithic scatters reportedby other workers (reviewed above).

Despite these numerous efforts, many have erroneously re-lied on broad terrace sequences, undated geographic differ-ences, and the presence/absence of expedient tool-types todetermine Soanian technological progression through time. In-deed, doubts about de Terra and Paterson’s observations werereported by Gill (1951) and Sankalia (1957). Rendell andcolleagues (1989) have shown the Soanian ‘terraces’ observedby de Terra and Paterson to be erosional features in the SoanValley, rather than true river terraces. The site of Dehra-Gopipur on a Beas terrace (excavated by Mohapatra (1966))although buried is a result of secondary deposition (Mohapatra,pers. comm.). Mohapatra and Singh (1979a) have also reportedlithic artifacts in post-Siwalik stratified contexts, but only asisolated findspots. Finally, alleged paleoanthropological occur-rences from Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene Siwalik sedimentsremain unsubstantiated (e.g., Verma, 1975, 1991; Sharma,1977) or represent dubious claims (e.g., Singh, 2003). Insum, the dearth of stratified sites and absolute dates, unsystem-atic surveys, meager lithic assemblages, and the lack of a sys-tematic typological framework have collectively hamperedattempts to explicate the Soanian industry (Chauhan, 2007).

Recent assessments of the South Asian record have sug-gested that most Soanian assemblages are younger than theAcheulian evidence in the region (Gaillard and Mishra,


2001). Rendell et al. (1989) have placed the early Paleolithic inthe Soan Valley of Pakistan as older than 30 ka. With the excep-tion of the frontal slopes, the Siwalik Acheulian does not geo-graphically overlap with Soanian sites, and the traditions do notoccur in shared stratigraphic contexts. The Acheulian bifaces inthe Indian Siwaliks come from surfaces of various formationsand remain undated (Mohapatra, 1981, 1982), but the bifacefindspots from the Pakistan Siwaliks have been bracketedbetween 600 and 400 ka (Rendell and Dennell, 1985). MostSoanian sites are geologically associated with post-Siwaliksediments or streams where the richer artifact clusters are prob-ably not older than the associated raw material sources. Theo-retically, if the youngest dates for the BCF in India (Ranga Raoet al., 1988, 1995; Sangode et al., 1996; Sangode and Kumar,2003) are correct, then all Paleolithic sites associated withpost-Siwalik sediments in the frontal zone and dun valleysshould be younger than 600 ka and in most cases, youngerthan 200 ka. When also considering the presence of prepared-core technology at many Soanian sites, these estimates arebroadly congruent with the currently-known Late and post-Acheulian evidence from peninsular India (Misra, 2001). In-deed, Corvinus (2002) has interpreted the Paleolithic evidencefrom Arjun 3 in Nepal as being Middle Paleolithic, and a com-parative morphometric study of some cores collected by deTerra and Paterson (1939) also supports their Levallois, orMode 3, classification (Lycett, 2007).

In a region that has experienced similar climatic conditions,the ages of climatically-controlled surfacesdin this case, post-Siwalik fluvial terracesdare often similar (Burbank andAnderson, 2001). If the post-Siwalik streams and their terracesin the Siwalik Frontal Zone are broadly contemporaneous, thenassociated paleolithic sites are, presumably, not older thanthese raw material sources. For example, recent optically stim-ulated luminescence (OSL) dating of alluvial fans in the Pin-jore dun valley (India) suggests that fan formation initiatedwell before 57 ka and continued at least to 20 ka (Sureshet al., 2002). The young age of Soanian assemblages associatedwith these fans (Karir et al., 1983; Karir, 1985; Chauhan, 2003;Soni and Soni, 2005) is corroborated by similar evidence fromthe Jammu Siwaliks to the northwest, where Ganjoo et al.(1993e94) estimate a lithic assemblage to be approximately20 ka based on geological observations. These age estimatescollectively accentuate a lengthier techno-functional continuityof heavy-duty implements since the Lower or Early Paleolithic,including choppers and core-scrapers in Soanian toolkits andyounger Late Pleistocene lithic assemblages, rather than fullyconforming to classic flake-dominated technology (i.e., Middleand Upper Paleolithic assemblages) as elsewhere in the region(Rendell and Dennell, 1987; Rendell et al., 1989). In sum, thisgrowing body of multidisciplinary evidence firmly demon-strates a ‘Late Acheulian-to-post-Acheulian age bracket’ forthe Soanian where some assemblages may even be tentativelydistinguishable as early and late types (Gaillard, 2006), basedon the absence/presence of prepared-core technology and otherrelated attributes at site and regional levels. In the past, mostSoanian assemblages have not been easily correlated withLate Acheulian post-Acheulian assemblages because, as

Corvinus (2002: 31) states: ‘‘The confusion in naming this in-dustry (post-Acheulian flake assemblages in general) stemsprobably from the fact, that the Indian Middle Palaeolithic isnot an easily recognizable industry such as the African MiddleStone Age. Most Middle Palaeolithic tool-kits in India do notshow the clear-cut and well-developed Levallois techniquewith well-prepared discoidal cores and with Levallois-preparedflake tools, points and large blades, as known from Africa. TheMiddle Palaeolithic industries in India need a reevaluation.There seem to be many local varieties, caused by the differentraw materials and the different environments.’’ These observa-tions have also been recently highlighted by James and Petra-glia (2005), regarding the range of typotechnologicaldiversity within the South Asian Middle Paleolithic. Soanianassemblages, and similar evidence from the Siwalik region, ap-pear to represent such a variant in the South Asian Middle andUpper Paleolithic, north of the Indo-Gangetic plains.

The study area and the known archaeological evidence

The current study area encompasses the Siwalik frontalslopes and some interior zones between the Ghaggar Riverto the west and Markanda River to the east in the states ofHaryana and Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The areais approximately 60 km long and approximately 100 km2

(Fig. 3). This zone was selected for three fundamental reasons:1) the two large rivers created natural geographical boundariesof the study area containing numerous streams and associatedterraces, features not studied previously at a systematic land-scape level; 2) the region between the two rivers had remainedarchaeologically unexplored; and 3) the known presence ofrich surface assemblages were known near the MarkandaRiver (Verma and Srivastava, 1984). Much of the sedimentaryand stratigraphic information for this area has been well docu-mented by Gill (1983a,b). The exposed sediments between thetwo major rivers belong to Lower, Middle, and Upper SiwalikSubgroups and are distributed in a NW-SE linear and parallelpattern. In the immediate frontal or proximal zone where thearchaeological sites are located, Tatrot sediments are dominantand Pinjore and BCF exposures are absent.

The Ghaggar River, which forms the western boundary ofthe study area, flows south-to-southwest, cutting through theUpper Siwalik formations before debouching on to the plainsto the south. Here, Nakata (1972) has observed five terraces,presumably formed as a result of incision caused by episodicuplift along the Himalayan Front (Malik et al., 2003). TheMarkanda River, forming the easternmost boundary of thestudy area, is a northeasterly tributary of the much largerGhaggar River, and is better studied than the latter. The Mar-kanda River originates in the Dharidhar Range in the north atan elevation of 1500 m above mean sea level (AMSL) andflows up to the plains to the south, a distance of 30 km, whereit eventually reaches a lower elevation of 400 m AMSL. Thestratigraphic sequence of the fluvial deposits was noted to con-tain five, non-paired erosional terraces, T1 to T5, at varyingheights (50 m, 30 m, 18 m, 15 m, and 5 m: Joshi et al.,1975, 1978). The relatively thin deposits consist of moderately

Fig. 3. Raw material sources and Soanian sites in the study area between the Ghaggar and Markanda Rivers.


consolidated cobbly pebbly gravels (about 3 to 4 m thick)grading into brownish sandy silt (about 1 m thick). The degra-dational or strath terrace sediments appear to have formed asan indirect result of tectonic activity spanning the Pleistocene(Kumar et al., 2001). It is further inferred by Rajaguru and Ba-dam (1999) from the efforts of Joshi et al. (1975, 1978) that T3

and T4 are of Late Pleistocene age (their pedological characterindicating a dry climate) and T5 of Holocene age; T1 and T2

are thought to date to the Middle Pleistocene. This is partlysupported by palaeontological, palynological, and d13C studiesof lacustrine sediments in the nearby Kumaon region, wherean arid climate is recorded to start at 40 ka and last up tothe early Holocene (Kotlia et al., 1997). The region receivesrainfall from the southwestern monsoon between June andSeptember, and the annual summer rainfall is less than1000 mm; the region also receives winter rain, which is lessthan 10% of the total annual rainfall (Rajaguru and Badam,1999). Both the Ghaggar and Markanda rivers appear tohave maintained a dynamic equilibrium despite ongoing orneotectonic activity in the frontal zones, a process commonwith major rivers along these hills (Burbank, 1992; Lave andAvouac, 2000).

The older source of raw material, the BCF, is located to thenorth, the west, and the east of the Siwalik frontal slopes. This‘Conglomerate Member’ (Gill, 1983a) essentially constitutesa thick section of gravel sediments interspersed with lensesof sandy-clays and is located at an average distance of one

to eight km from the frontal range or the plains to the southof the hills. General fabric analyses of megaclasts in this for-mation reveal a southerly to southwesterly direction of depo-sition, rapidly accumulating as fan deposits (Gill, 1983b;Gill and Gaur, 1986). Located between the two large rivers,are several post-Siwalik streams, which occur every three tofive km from west to east. Many of these streams originatein the BCF exposures to the north, thus fluvially transportingconglomerates through narrow gorges within the hills beforeflowing out onto the plains as braided or meandering channels.Along these canyons, remnants of now-uplifted terraces arepreserved in a random pattern and at varying elevations (ormay have never even formed, with stream gradients corre-spondingly steeper here). Along the courses of the streamsdparticularly within the interior zonesdmost of these terracesoccur as single elevated units above the streambeds. Wheremore than one terrace is visible along the same stream, theyare generally non-paired and rarely exceed two in number, un-like the larger river terraces of the Markanda and Ghaggarrivers, which contain up to five paired terraces each. The gen-eral stratigraphic sequence of these terrace deposits includecobbles and gravels overlain by altering layers of sands andsilts, all of varying thickness. Both the terrace deposits andthe streambeds represent post-Siwalik sources of raw material(Fig. 4). The major post-Siwalik streams in the study area thatcontain variable amounts of clastic material are (from west toeast): a) Nadah Choe, b) Mulawali Choe, c) Khetpurali Choe,

Fig. 4. The high density of clastic material in the streambed of Run Nadi. Fig. 6. The unconformable contact between post-Siwalik conglomerates

(above) and Upper Siwalik sediments (below) at Run Nadi junction.


d) Sangrel Nadi, e) Turan ka Nala, f) Ujjal ki Nadi, g) RunNadi, and h) Trilokpur Nadi. The three streams, DangriNadi, Thathar ki Nadi, and Balrali Nadi contain extremelylow loads of conglomerates and virtually no quartzite clasts(Fig. 5) and originate from gullies in the Lower Siwalik forma-tions located four to five km to the north and northwest, wherethe BCF is completely missing due to the Jansu Thrust fault(Gill, 1983a).

Most of these post-Siwalik fluvial deposits in the SiwalikFrontal range are either absent or disintegrated to varyingdegrees, and lie unconformably on older Siwalik sediments.At numerous locations along these streams, a sharp contact orinterface between the two distinct stratigraphical units (post-Siwalik sediments and underlying Siwalik sediments) is occa-sionally visible where the younger sediments are well-preservedand substantially thick (Fig. 6). This contact is prominent atalmost all streams except at Mulawali Choe, Dangri Nadi, Tha-thar ki Nadi, and Run Nadi. At these locations, post-Siwaliks

Fig. 5. An extremely low density of clastic material in the bed of Thathar ki

Nadi.

deposits are either completely absent, patchy, or covered bythick vegetation (see Verma and Srivastava, 1984), and/or existin the form of thin lenses. Distinct contact between Siwalik andpost-Siwalik sediments is only prominent at the followingstream-frontal slope intersections: Nadah Choe, KhetpuraliChoe, Sangrel Nadi, Ujjal ki Nadi, and Trilokpur Nadi.

The presence of archaeological evidence in the Ghaggar re-gion has been noted by Sahni and Khan (1964), Mohapatra(1974), and Mukerji (1976a,b) but additional detailed studieshave not been conducted. The only known prehistoric investi-gations in the Markanda region were conducted by Joshi et al.(1975, 1978), Khanna (1981), Verma and Srivastava (1984),and Rajaguru and Badam (1999), who mostly reported paleo-lithic evidence and geological features from the MarkandaValley and adjoining regions. The extensive third terrace ofthe Markanda River has yielded Middle Paleolithic artifactsin stratified context (Verma and Srivastava, 1984; Rajaguruand Badam, 1999) as have T4 (Verma and Srivastava, 1984)and T5 (Sali, 1990). Many collections were also made byB.C. Verma (an officer in the Geological Survey of India)within the boundaries of the Saketi Fossil Park, some of whichare on display in the park’s museum. Most of the assemblagesin the Markanda Valley are manufactured on quartzite pebblesand cobbles and include choppers, flakes, and scrapers. Whilethe Acheulian is conspicuously absent in the valley, Joshi et al.(1975) have documented a possible Acheulian biface associ-ated with small choppers on pebbles from the Saketi area. Ter-races T1 and T2 have not yielded convincing paleolithicmaterial, whereas artifacts are known from all other terracesurfaces (Rajaguru and Badam, 1999). Unlike the sites re-ported by Mohapatra (1981) near Hoshiarpur to the northwest,my surveys did not yield any convincing evidence of Acheu-lian occupation in the study area concerned.

Verma and Srivastava (1984) reported a number of surfacescatters in the region between Toka and the Yamuna River(which has four to five terraces) to the southeast, and includestypical Soanian assemblages located on terraces of varying


size and adjoining Siwalik surfaces. No sites have been re-ported between the eastern bank of the Yamuna and the paleo-lithic sites reported further southeast in Nepal (Corvinus,1995). Therefore, Verma and Srivastava’s investigations cur-rently mark the easternmost known occurrences of Soanian as-semblages in India. Despite the lack of excavations and in situoccurrences, they concluded that the artifacts on the Upper Si-walik slopes (but lacking on Lower Siwalik exposures) as wellas the assemblages on the Markanda terraces are eroding outfrom the ancient Siwalik surfaces. The investigators seek sup-port for their observations from the work of Verma (1975) andSharma (1977) who have also reported artifacts of UpperSiwalik or Plio-Pleistocene age: ‘‘The tool types recoveredfrom both these stratigraphic levels indicate the pre-existenceof the culture and suggest the possibility that the artefacts oc-curring in the Siwalik outcrops in the Markanda Valley havetheir provenance in the Tatrot Formations’’ (Verma and Srivas-tava, 1984: 17). In conclusion, they state: ‘‘The occurrencesindirectly suggest that the toolmaker lived in this region duringthe Upper Pliocene times, contrary to the terrace deposits onlyand the early man appeared in the Siwalik region during theMiddle Pleistocene’’ (Verma and Srivastava, 1984: 19). A sec-ondary objective of the current study involved stratigraphicinvestigations to verify this claim.

Methodology

The basic methods in the present work involve a) system-atic site surveys, b) general geomorphological observations,and c) geological trenching in a terrace context. Due to thehigh number of surface sites characteristic in the Siwalik re-gion, a landscape approach seemed to be the best methodfor interpreting the archaeological evidence. The non-site orsiteless survey is a strategy that assumes all encountered sitesform a spatial continuity over the landscape, rather than view-ing sites as individual entities within a given landscape (Dun-nell and Dancey, 1983). Rather than focusing on discretearchaeological occurrences, the entire region is viewed asthe location of a complex behavioral system. This method,which entails ‘‘the careful survey and recording of artifacts’typological and spatial properties together, at a wide rangeof resolutions and scales’’ (Ebert and Camilli, 1993: 95) hasbeen designated as distributional archaeology. To assert a pos-sible intraregional pattern, an attempt was made to understandhow Soanian lithic occurrences are organized in the SiwalikFrontal Zone, in relation to terrace deposits as well as to thesurfaces belonging to various Siwalik formations, thus provid-ing new information on how the hominins may have exploitedthe landscape at a regional scale and how differences withinthis landscape may have influenced mobility and adaptivestrategies. For example, Mohapatra’s (1981, 1982) survey onSiwalik frontal slopes focused only on Acheulian scattersand similar systematic surveys of Soanian sites have onlybeen conducted in dun valleys (e.g., Karir, 1985; Corvinus,2002), but never in the Siwalik Frontal Zone. Therefore, thefollowing questions were addressed through this study: howare Soanian lithic scatters situated in relation to sources of

raw material and water and topographical stability? Is therea positive correlation between raw material abundance and ar-tifact quantities? What are the approximate distances of rawmaterial transport at such locations? Finally, what are the geo-archaeological attributes of the richest Soanian lithicoccurrences?

The fieldwork took place between February 2001 andMarch 2004 through multiple field seasons, and involved vis-iting some important known sites, preliminary explorations fornew sites, artifact plotting, and geological trenching. Throughsystematic surveys, a total of 22 Paleolithic localities were lo-cated in the Siwalik Hills between Chandigarh and the Mar-kanda River in Himachal Pradesh, supplementing someprevious work in the eastern extreme of the study area byVerma and Srivastava (1984). All lithic occurrences were re-corded with a Garmin Etrex Vista Global Positioning Systemand downloaded onto the Garmin Worldmap software to esti-mate distances between the lithic scatters and other features,all further confirmed through the Google Earth software. Rel-evant information from contour or topographic maps from theSurvey of India (1:50,000 scale) and published literature onthe archaeological and geological history of the Siwalik Hillswas also incorporated. Specific geographic areas that were tar-geted in the field include a) suitable raw material and watersources; b) areas with high surface visibility; intact fine-grained deposits along uplifted terrace systems; c) horizontallystable landforms; d) agricultural tracts; and e) paleochannelexposures. Some inaccessible terrains that may have alsocontained artifacts but that could not be surveyed includedsteep escarpments, highly vegetated areas, and zones isolatedby deep gullies or seasonal bodies of water.

Following initial surveys between the Ghaggar and Mar-kanda rivers, two geological trenches were excavated on theuplifted terrace of the Tirlokpur Nadi at Toka, the largest Soa-nian locality known to date (Chauhan, 2005a,b) to test theclaims of Verma and Srivastava (1984) who reported Late Pli-ocene artifacts from Upper Siwalik Tatrot sediments. Thissmall-scale excavation was carried out where the sedimentaryhorizons were relatively thin and surface artifact concentrationwas high, in order to understand: a) the nature of the strati-graphic sequence above the Tatrot sediments, b) to locate bur-ied artifacts in primary contexts, and c) to understand thespatial relationship (if any) between these artifacts.

Newly discovered lithic scatters in the study area

All sites discovered within and immediately outside thestudy area (Table 1), have been named according to their prox-imity to the nearest villages and include (from west to east):Nadah, Masumpura, Ganoli, Budh (I, II, III), Mandlar, Kundla,Churan, Bhandariwale-Mirpur, Toka, Johron, Bhudra, Andheri,Moginand (I and II), Dewni, and Dewni-Khadri (I and II). Vir-tually no paleolithic sites were observed between the GhaggarRiver to the west and Dangri Nadi. This zone was not easily ac-cessible for explorations due to its proximity to a military base(thus, photography was also restricted) in the area. AlthoughNadah Choe was partly accessible, the vegetation was too thick

Table 1

Sites discussed in this paper and their associated contexts, artifact counts, raw material proximity, and raw material relative densities. ‘‘Low’’, ‘‘Medium’’, and

‘‘High’’ are arbitrary divisions that broadly distinguish between variable amounts of clasts in a given location

Site Context Artifact

count

Nearest raw material Conglomerates

in stream/river

Amount of

quartziteSource Distance

(km)

1. Nadah on Pinjore surface 1 Ghaggar River/terraces (0.5) High High

0 Nadah Choe High High

0 Mulawali Choe High Medium

0 Khetpurali Choe High High

0 Dangri Nadi Low Low

2. Masumpura on Tatrot surface in frontal zone 1 Thathar ki Nadi (1.0) Low Low

3. Ganoli on plains south of Siwalik hills 4 Balrali Nadi (0.5) Low Low

0 Sangrel Nadi High Low

4. Bhud on Tatrot surface in interior zone 18 Sangrel Nadi (0) High Low

5. Bhud II ’’ 1 Sangrel Nadi? or

its tributary?

(0.5) High Low

6. Bhud III ’’ 1 Sangrel Nadi? or

its tributary?

(0.5) High Low

7. Mandlar on Tatrot surface in frontal zone 16 Turan ka Nala (1.0) High Low

8. Kundla ’’ 1 Ujjal ki Nadi (1.5) High Medium

9. Churan in post-Siwalik streambed in frontal zone 2 Ujjal ki Nadi (0) High Medium

10. Bhandariwale-

Mirpur

where plains and frontal zone intersect 279 Run Nadi (<1.0) Medium Low

11. Toka on Tatrot surface and in post-Siwalik

sediments

4106 Tirlokpur Nadi (0 to <1.0) High High

12. Johron on Tatrot surface in frontal zone 1 Tirlokpur Nadi (2.0) High High

13. Bhudra on Tatrot surface in interior zone 26 Tirlokpur Nadi (1.0) High High

14. Andheri ’’ 4 Run Nadi (1.0) Medium Low

15. Moginand on Tatrot surface near Markanda River 1 Markanda River/terraces (0.5) High High

16. Moginand II ’’ 2 Markanda River/terraces (0.5) High High

17. Dewni ’’ 3 Markanda River/terraces (0.5) High High

18. Dewni-Khadri ’’ 1 Markanda River/terraces (0.5) High High

19. Dewni-Khadri II ’’ 1 Markanda River/terraces (0.5) High High

Important sites immediately outside the main study area:

20. Jainti Majri on Pinjore surface on frontal zone 1 Jainti Majri Choe (1.0) Medium Low

21. Karor Uparli ’’ 523 site on isolated gravel

outcrop

(0) Medium Medium

22. Tandi-Bara on Pinjore surface in interior zone 1 Karor Nadi (0.2) Medium Low

23. Gurha ’’ 2 Karor Nadi (0.5) Medium Low

24. Kuri ’’ 1 Karor Nadi (1.0) Medium Low

25. Saketi Fossil Park on Tatrot surface in frontal 1 Markanda River/terraces (1.1) High High


and did not allow comprehensive explorations. Therefore muchof the landscape archaeology focused on the region betweenDangri Nadi in the western part of the study area and MarkandaRiver to the east, where sites are noticeably more abundant.While the general locations of the lithic scatters are probablyrelated to hominin discard behavior, the variance in their re-spective quantities may also be partially due to a host of postdepositional geological and anthropogenic mechanisms (Chau-han and Gill, 2002). Almost all recovered artifacts, however,are fresh and lack any evidence of rolling (i.e., fluvial transport)or abrasion (i.e., surface transport through colluvial action orslope wash) indicating minimal lateral disturbance. From theexclusive presence of nonbiface artifact types and from the col-lective absence of i) Acheulian tool types, ii) biface-thinningflakes, and iii) typical Upper Paleolithic types (Mohapatra,1979) such as blades, the Soanian evidence on the Siwalik fron-tal slopes (in the study area and in general) probably belongs tolate Lower to early Middle Paleolithic technologies. This is

particularly prominent at Toka and similar sites in the Siwalikregion in the form of prepared-core technology including Le-vallois elements (Paterson and Drummond, 1962; Corvinus,2002; Chauhan, 2005a, 2007; Lycett, 2007).

With the exception of Toka (n¼ 4106), Karor Uparli(n¼ 523), and Bhandariwale-Mirpur (n¼ 279), almost allother sites represent off-sites with a minimal number of arti-facts. Verma and Srivastava (1984) reported numerous surfacescatters from this area, indicating that such occurrences mayhave been part of a larger site complex before it became dis-torted through various geomorphological processes. Off-sitesimmediately outside the study area are represented by one arti-fact each at Jainti Majri (flake), Tandi-Bara (flake), and Kuri(core), all west of the Ghaggar River near Chandigarh, andone flake within the Saketi Fossil Park near the Markanda River,five km east of the study area. Almost all of these are located onsurfaces of the Pinjore and Tatrot formations in the frontal orinterior areas including modern plow-zones, and are spatially


associated within a 1 km radius (often, much closer) of a givennearby post-Siwalik stream or remnant terrace deposits. Someof these occurrences may represent isolated extensions of pri-mary site clusters, particularly those near Toka. The four lithicspecimens at Ganoli were recovered on Holocene alluvial de-posits, in the plains to the south of the Siwalik frontal slopes,probably reflecting short-distance surface transport. The topog-raphy at most of the off-sites is relatively stable and does notexhibit intense tilting of the underlying Siwalik sediments;only a few specimens were recovered on steep slopes andfrom varying elevations, denoting some colluvial action follow-ing erosional processes. At some locations, the relatively lownumbers of artifacts was presumably explained by the low oc-currence of quartzite clasts nearby. Reasons for the low numberor virtual absence of artifacts at ‘ideal’ locations (e.g., ampleraw material, water, adequate tree cover, flat topography) maybe related to such factors as chronological differences betweenpost-Siwalik streams, topographic instability (Bhave and Deo,1997e98), or simply reflect irregular patterns of land-use.

Bhandariwale-Mirpur and Karor Uparli

The site of Bhandariwale-Mirpur may be broadly contem-poraneous with Toka given their close proximity to each other.The Bhandariwale-Mirpur locality is situated approximatelyone km east of the Run Nadi, where quartzite clasts are foundin low quantity. A total of 279 artifacts were collected fromhere (predominantly flakes and debitage) in an agriculturalfield and Tatrot slopes at the foot of the Siwalik Frontal range.The artifacts are spread out over an area of approximately500 m2 and appear to represent short-distance surface trans-port through colluvial and fluvial processes. This is inferredfrom the presence of unconsolidated underlying sediments inthe agricultural field representing sediment build-up throughsurface wash processes, resulting in mixed sediments belong-ing to the Tatrot Formation to the north (the probable originalprovenance of the assemblage). The site has yielded the sec-ond largest assemblage in the study area, and although closeto the Run Nadi, may have been an isolated extension of theToka site complex. The second richest lithic occurrence isKaror Uparli (n¼ 523) on the western margin of the studyarea. The assemblage is spread out over an area of 450 m2,and is situated on a hilltop at a distance of one km from theclosest stream, Karor Nadi, overlooking a small valley andplains to the southwest. A part of the site may represent an up-lifted paleochannel situated on a Pinjore surface, the gravelfrom the paleochannel being the direct source of raw material.However, the assemblage itself is probably of post-Siwalikage, from general characteristics such as its fresh conditionand the presence of advanced discoidal scrapers on inten-sively-retouched flakes and a broad resemblance to mostknown Soanian assemblages. The majority of clasts and sedi-ments of the paleochannel may have been eroded or washedaway following its uplift, as the outcrop is spatially restrictedand does not seem to continue laterally in the vicinity. There isno additional evidence of post depositional disturbance,though none of the artifacts have been buried due to the

compact nature of the underlying sandstone and the lack ofsedimentation (e.g., streams) in the immediate area.

Toka and associated geoarchaeological features

Due to an unusually large number of Soanian artifacts re-covered (n¼ 4106) and associated geological features, thesite of Toka (30� 310 3400 N; 77� 110 3400 E) served as an idealcase study to understand Soanian land-use and site formationat a single location. The site-complex is situated on the Siwa-lik frontal slopes at the southern edge of the Sirmaur District,in the state of Himachal Pradesh (Fig. 7). Some of the evi-dence from here may have been reported previously by Vermaand Srivastava (1984); however, this is not explicit in theirpublication. General observations of tool-types, artifact quan-tity, and modes of lithic manufacture here suggest ‘terminal’Acheulian or early Middle Paleolithic levels of technology(Chauhan, 2007). Some specimens from Toka and other Soa-nian occurrences (e.g., Paterson and Drummond, 1962; Corvi-nus, 2002; Chauhan, 2007) resemble ‘Middle Stone Age’evidence known from elsewhere in India (e.g., Sankalia,1974; Pappu, 2001b; Pal, 2002) and some regions of Africa(Lycett, 2007). Over 46% of the Toka specimens are madeon tan-colored quartzite (the predominant color in the region)and the remainder are burgundy, black, dark gray, white,brownish-tan, dark purple, and often combinations of thesecolors. Following a preliminary examination of associated Ta-trot sandstone nodules and fragments, no convincing artifactswere observed on this material and informal flaking of theseclasts confirmed its inferior quality in comparison with thequartzite clasts. Investigators working elsewhere in the Siwa-liks have documented non biface artifacts on vein quartz,when quartzite clasts were unavailable or present in minimalquantities (Ganjoo et al., 1993e94), and also on ‘‘tuff’’ andchert (Corvinus, 2002). In view of the fresh condition ofmost artifacts at Toka, it appears that the paleosurface and as-sociated artifact scatters were probably disturbed graduallyand in low-energy environments.

The Toka site-complex extends one km north-south andabout 800 m east-west, and the topographical elevation inthe immediate area reaches 435 m AMSL. During homininoccupation, this location appears to have accommodated a rel-atively flat topography prior to its uplift and intense erosionvisible today. The most significant factor for a comparativelylengthy occupation of this location was the post-Siwalik Tir-lokpur Nadi. This streambed and its paleochannel, currentlyin the form of incised/uplifted terrace deposits, were theonly available sources of quartzite clasts in the vicinity forstone tool manufacture. The next closest sources are theRun Nadi, another post-Siwalik stream 2 km northwest andthe antecedent Markanda River, 3 to 4 km southeast. The Tir-lokpur Nadi emanates from the north and flows in a southwestdirection towards the plains. The water level in the streamseldom rises higher than three meters from the base of thesection between the monsoon months of July and September.However, this flow ceases within a few days after the mon-soon rains and the stream is generally reduced to small pools

Fig. 7. Topography, drainage, and the location of Toka and other sites in the eastern part of the study area. (also see Fig. 4). (map produced from Survey of India

Toposheet 53 F-2).


of water between monsoon seasons (October and June). Thisseasonality applies to the entire landscape including othersuch streams and rivers emanating from the hills on to theplains.

The geology here is dominated by the Upper Siwalik TatrotFormation of Pliocene age, represented by fine-grained sedi-ments and coarse clastic material (sandstone nodules) (Gill,1983a). The residual sediments are represented by an uplifted

Fig. 8. A view looking northeast across a part of Toka.

Fig. 9. A schematic stratigraphic sequence of the western wa


post-Siwalik terrace and related gravel/conglomerate lag de-posits above the Tatrot sediments at several locations wherethe Tirlokpur Nadi once flowed before tectonic uplift alteredits course. The Pinjore and BCF formations are completely ab-sent here and all the Tatrot and post-Siwalik sediments are fur-ther dissected at places by small ephemeral streamlets.Additional physical features of the site-complex are a 60 mhigh ridge or scarp that divides the two main parts of thesite, as well as numerous gullies, slopes, rills, and erosional‘canyons’ (Fig. 8). Most of the artifacts are found over anarea of approximately 1 km2 on the surrounding low-lyingslopes of the Tatrot Formation, and they also occur on this es-carpment (of Tatrot Formation) and others like it in the north-ern part of the site.

The stratigraphic sequence of the most complete exposedsection comprises three distinct sedimentary units from the bot-tom up (Fig. 9): a) tilted Tatrot sediments serving as bedrock; b)a post-Siwalik pebble/cobble horizon (conglomerate layer);and c) a post-Siwalik sand unit. This sequence is generally

ll in Trench A at Toka and associated artifact contexts.

Fig. 10. Block-diagram of the stratigraphic sequence at Toka and mode of artifact exposure from agricultural activities.


observed at other similar locations (with minor stratigraphicand compositional variation), where the streams intersect thefrontal zone before debouching onto the plains. The Tatrotstrata are situated diagonally (Fig. 10), a result of intense fold-ing processes and the two overlying units form the post-Siwalikremnant terrace, which local farmers have utilized for agricul-tural purposes. The terrace-section is located w2 m to 25 mabove the active stream grade, and its deposits extend laterallyapproximately 45 m (Figs. 11 and 12). The stratigraphy of thepost-Siwalik part of the section was confirmed through twotrenches (A and B) on the uplifted terrace, excavated to varyingdepths (Fig. 13). Trench A was 1 m� 1.5 m and Trench B was2 m� 1.5 m. The conglomerate unit is the most distinct stratumand comprises predominantly sandstone and occasional quartz-ite pebbles and cobbles, semi-consolidated sand, and smallquartzite pebbles (Fig. 14). The top levels of this unit were

Fig. 11. A portion of the uplifted/incised terrace deposits at Toka. Note the

near-vertical Tatrot beds underlying the post-Siwalik conglomerates and

sand layers. The highest part of the section is at least 20 meters high from

the streambed.

excavated and yielded only two artifacts at the conglomerate-sand interface at a depth of >80 cm below the surface(Fig. 15). The fine sand above the interface is yellowish-brown(10YR 5/4 on the Munsell Soil Color chart). One specimen isa rolled chopper and the other is a secondary flake with a corticalplatform and both are in comparatively fresh condition(Fig. 16). The artifacts within the conglomerate may havebeen deposited over a longer period of time than those in theoverlying sand (see Schackley, 1978; Wandsnider, 1995;Shea, 1999). Similar evidence comes from the site of Arjun 3in Nepal (Corvinus, 2002). In such contexts, the lithics arefound lying above a gravel horizon and under a stratum of silt(Arjun 3) or sand (Toka).

At Toka, the topmost unit above the conglomerate layerranges from less than 1 m to 3 m in thickness, relatively thinin comparison to the Conglomerate and Tatrot units. This top-most unit is comprised of fine-grained and semi-consolidatedloamy sand and represents a channel-fill deposit under

Fig. 12. A close-up view of the horizontal post-Siwalik terrace deposits.

Fig. 13. Trench B (excavated) looking east. The excavated (and now covered)

Trench A is located directly behind Trench B. Note the corresponding terrace

deposits on the opposite side behind the red building and the Siwalik Hills in

the background.

Fig. 15. Two exposed artifacts (circled), found to be resting on top of the post-

Siwalik conglomerate layer.


a moderate-flow regime. This horizon is capped by a thin de-posit of topsoil that varies from 1 to 15 cm in relative thick-ness. This topsoil is dark brown (10YR 3/3) and buriedartifacts (n¼ 6) are found within it (between 6 to 15.5 cm be-low the surface). However, most buried specimens (n¼ 12)were recovered from the sand horizon below the topsoil(some 16 to 25 cm below the surface; Fig. 17) where the coloris a darker shade of yellowish-brown (10 YR 4/6 Munsell). Allburied artifacts in this trench (Trench B) are clustered in thesoutheastern half of the trench, possibly a result of localizedsurface wash (winnowing) and plowing (Jhaldiyal, 1998). Itis currently difficult to gauge the extent of plow-disturbanceat the site. The specimens buried in the sand below the topsoilmay be in semiprimary context or may represent tricklingfrom the surface of the terrace, before becoming embeddedfrom plowing action and surface wash processes in recent

Fig. 14. The stratigraphy inside Trench A facing north. Arrow denotes the in-

terface between the sandy and pebbly layers.

decades. This type of contextual situation is geologically con-sistent with other localities in the Siwalik Hills, such as theBanganga Valley (Jammu) (Ganjoo et al., 1993e94) and theBeas Valley (Lal, 1956). More than 500 artifacts were ob-served on the entire terrace surface at Toka, most of whichwere flakes, debitage, and angular fragments. Very few coresor finished tools such as choppers and discoids were observedhere. There also appeared to be a size restriction on the terracespecimens, which rarely exceeded 10 cm in length, unlike theevidence on Tatrot sediments elsewhere on the site. This maysuggest a disturbed (i.e., plowing) hominin occupational sur-face or that most of the larger specimens may have been re-moved by farmers over time. None of the lithic specimensfrom the test-trenching refit, and thus they do not appear tobe in behavioral/spatial association with each other; a morepositive result may be seen from future refit attempts with

Fig. 16. A fresh flake found in Trench A in the interface.

Fig. 17. Close-up view of the excavation of Trench B which yielded ‘in situ’

artifacts.


the entire terrace assemblage as well as specimens from else-where on the site.

In the Toka area, Verma and Srivastava (1984) reported pa-leolithic artifacts eroding out of the Tatrot sediments of Plio-cene age (see Gaillard and Mishra, 2001, for a similarargument elsewhere in the Siwalik Hills). No such evidence,however, was observed by the author at Toka or elsewherein the study area, which is dominated by the Tatrot Formation.The test-trenches described above, as well as a water pipelinetrench across a part of Toka through Tatrot exposures, con-firmed the context of the artifacts (Chauhan and Gill, 2002).Where artifacts were found buried within Tatrot sedimentsor seemingly eroding out of them, they actually represented re-sults of burial and/or re-exposure through colluvial action,monsoon-related surface runoff, or downslope displacement(Mohapatra and Singh, 1979a; Chauhan and Gill, 2002). Incontrast, the contextual integrity of the artifacts appears tobe associated with the post-Siwalik sedimentary layers abovethe Tatrot beds, implying a considerably younger age as Vermaand Srivastava originally considered, but then negated, fromobservations at 75 localities (of only 5 to 15 artifacts at eachlocation): ‘‘Close association of stone artefacts and vertebratefossils throughout the area under examination poses an intrigu-ing problem as whether to accept them to be of a commonstratigraphic level or taking one (fossils) as Pliocene in ageand the artefacts of a later period, and accidental. This how-ever, seems highly improbable’’ (1984: 17). From general ob-servations by the author, this ‘‘close’’ but misleadingassociation of stone artifacts and vertebrate fossils appearsto be a result of winnowing and deflation from erosion andseasonal fluvial processes on the underlying Tatrot sediments(the source of the fossils) and post-Siwalik sediments (thesource of the artifacts) in addition to the lack of post-Siwaliksedimentation (i.e., the lack of artifact burial) at different pla-ces on the site (Fig. 18). Ultimately, it can also be safely as-sumed that the archaeological material is not older than theassociated post-Siwalik raw material source (i.e., Tirlokpur

Nadi) since the Tatrot Formation exposures here and elsewheredo not contain any quartzite clasts.

From the combination of a) Siwalik sedimentation pro-cesses, b) site location in relation to post-Siwalik streamsacross the Siwalik frontal slopes, and c) subsequent postdepo-sitional processes that have altered the associated artifact scat-ters, it was possible to schematically visualize the formationalhistory of Toka. Since requisite information, such as the pre-cise timing and associated rates of sedimentation and upliftis lacking, it is currently impossible to accurately gauge theheight and morphological features of the earlier topography,before it developed into its present-day form. Nonetheless,changing scenarios of potential topographic elevations havebeen hypothesized using a series of schematic block diagrams(Fig. 19aec). The image in Fig. 19a shows an intact portion ofToka during the depositional phase of the Tatrot sediments,prior to hominin occupation (Late Pliocene). Figure 19b, inthe middle, illustrates the site of Toka during hominin occupa-tion, when the Tirlokpur Nadi is depicted at a lower level(prior to its uplift). The Siwalik Hills behind the ‘paleo’-Tir-lokpur Nadi may have been more eroded than they appear inthe figure. Finally, Fig. 19c shows the site of Toka as it appearstoday. The presence of the artifacts on the uplifted terrace mayalso suggest hominin occupation following the spatial shift ofTirlokpur Nadi’s channel, although it is currently difficult toestimate the duration of occupation. From these reconstruc-tions, and the observation of the post depositional processesand associated artifact conditions, it appears that some arti-facts have not shifted considerably from their original locationof discard except where fluvial channels have cut through partsof the sites, transporting the smaller specimens. This is in-ferred by the generally concentrated patterns of surface scat-ters at most Soanian sites, their overall fresh-condition, andrelative topographical stability of the surrounding area. Inshort, greater vertical movement seems to have taken place,rather then substantial horizontal displacement. Unlike therolled specimens in the test trench on the terrace, flake arti-facts associated with the surface gravel lag deposits on Tatrotsediments elsewhere on a southern part of the site are invari-ably fresh. This possibly suggests the use of a paleochannelsource for raw material acquisition as well as for stone toolmanufacture during hominin occupation, in addition to clastsin the then-extant streambed (e.g., Armand, 1983; Stoutet al., 2005: 365).

Discussion

The relationships demonstrated in this paper, between theSoanian lithic occurrences and conglomeratic raw materialsources are supported by similar evidence elsewhere through-out the Siwalik region of Pakistan, Indian, and Nepal. For ex-ample, most of the new occurrences of artifacts (some in situ)and surface scatters described by Stiles (1978) appear to be inassociation with either (Potwar) silts or conglomerates (bothBCF and post-Siwalik gravels). The British ArchaeologicalMission to Pakistan located extensive lithic workshops ofvarying traditions and ages on the Lei (post-Siwalik) and

Fig. 18. Geological map of the southern part of Toka with a plot of artifacts and vertebrate fossils. The photograph shows the location of the plot looking south. The

plot and topographic lines are not to scale.


Siwalik Conglomerates covered by loess deposits (Allchin,1995; Dennell, 1998). In the Pinjore-Nalagarh dun in northernIndia, Karir (1985) has presupposed that all artifacts (includ-ing flakes) were made from locally available pebbles. InNepal, in the Tui Valley, an industry of flakes and cores (bi-faces are absent) was recovered from the basal alluvium ofa quartzite cobble-boulder gravel, occurring below the strati-fied silts and clays of the Babai Formation at Brakhuti(Corvinus, 1995). Similar specimens are found elsewhere inthe Tui Valley in high numbers, where the associated

cobble-boulder gravel is exposed (above the bedrock and be-low the silt).

Prior to the BCF and concluding depositional phases, theavailability of suitable raw material in the Siwalik region wasminimal. Even when post-Siwalik or post-BCF sources ofraw material became more widely available on the landscapeduring post-Siwalik times, they probably occurred in inconsis-tent geographic and chronological patterns. The current studyhas demonstrated that not all post-Siwalik streams and riversare connected to BCF exposures and thus, contain variable

Fig. 19. Block-diagrams depicting the possible formational history of Toka.


quantities of quartzite clasts. The sparse number of paleolithicoccurrences in the Pinjore Formation may be partly attributedto this lack of suitable raw material (Chauhan, 2003, 2005a),an important factor explored in greater detail by Dennell(2007). Sites spatially associated with the BCF may be contem-porary with it, although convincing stratigraphic evidence forsuch circumstances is currently lacking. Theoretically, it isalso possible that isolated artifacts found on Tatrot and Pinjoresurfaces may have eroded out from these sediments (seeDennell, 2004) rather than being post-Siwalik in age. Unfortu-nately, this has never been convincingly demonstrated throughcontrolled excavations and secure stratigraphic and geochrono-logical documentation in fine-grained sediments anywhere inthe Siwalik region. In comparison with BCF exposures, how-ever, the spatial patterns of post-BCF sources of raw materialclearly allowed Soanian hominins to disperse more widelyacross the Siwalik regionea direct example of ecologicaladaptation at a landscape level (e.g., Schick, 1987; Rogerset al., 1994).

Geoarchaeological investigations at over twenty locationsin and near the study area, in relation to the post-BCF sourcesof raw material in the Siwalik Frontal Zone confirmed that ar-tifacts are found in diverse contexts in the region. Most sites inthe study area are situated at elevations ranging from 360 m(plains) to 500 m (Siwalik slopes or uplifted post-Siwalikstream terraces) above mean sea level. Mohapatra (1985) ob-serves that most Soanian sites in the Siwalik region lie be-tween 300 m to 700 m AMSL. However, some of theselocalities have been uplifted as a result of tectonic activityand/or disintegration of various types of fine-grained surfacesof Siwalik formations along the Himalayan Frontal Thrustfault system. Recent geological investigations such as thoseof Kumar et al. (2001), Powers et al. (1998), and Ganjoo(1993) have collectively demonstrated that certain Siwalikfrontal slopes were uplifted during late upper Pleistoceneand even Holocene times. For example, the geological settingof the Toka area marks the tectonically-active zone where theKala Amb (‘‘Black Mango’’) Fault is located (Kumar et al.,2001). Active deformation along this thrust is manifested byscarps, uplift, and folding of Quaternary deposits (Nakata,1972; Baker et al., 1988), features with which paleolithic sitesin the Siwalik Frontal Zone (e.g., Mohapatra, 1981; this study)and dun valleys (e.g., Corvinus, 1995) are occasionallyassociated.

Most sites are located within a 3 km radius of the frontalslopes or major river/stream banks and artifacts are found asparts of find spots, off-sites, or surface clusters ranging fromless than 100 m2 to almost 1 km2 in area, and at varying ele-vations up to 90 m above the plains to the south. Artifacts inburied context were only documented at Toka, although futuresubsurface investigations at comparable geological contextsshould yield additional buried assemblages. Most sites areconcentrated between Sangrel Nadi and Tirlokpur Nadi wherequartzite clasts occur in varying frequencies, which is partlycorrelated with the inter-site variation in artifact quantity. Af-ter Toka, the highest numbers of artifacts were found at Bhan-dariwale-Mirpur (n¼ 279) near the Run Nadi and at KarorUparli (n¼ 523) near Jainti Majri Choe. Judging from suchlarge numbers of artifacts, hominin occupation at such loca-tions probably represents either short-term intensive activityor repeated visits over a longer period of time, particularlyat Toka (Chauhan, 2005a, 2007). Although a broad ‘tethering’effect (Brantingham, 2003) is archaeologically visible, the dis-tribution of sites and related frequencies of artifacts are not al-ways proportionate to the amount of raw material available inthe vicinity. For example, many equally ideal locations did notyield any artifacts: Dangri Choe and Sangrel Nadi, and the off-sites (one artifact each) at Nadah, Bade II/III, Masumpura,Kundla, Johron, Moginand I/II, Dewni-Khadri I/II, Saketi Fos-sil Park, Tandi-Bara, Jainti Majri, Gurha, and Kuri, despitenearby raw material. One reason for this inconsistency insite distribution in the frontal zones may be that some raw ma-terial sources (particular streams or outcrops) visible todaymay not have been available during hominin occupation ofthe region. In that respect, areas between Bhudra and Andheri(near Tirlokpur Nadi) and Turan ka Nala terraces at Mandlar


need to be reinvestigated as well as the interior Siwaliks fromSangrel Nadi, northwards towards Mauhliwala and Dunga.

Unfortunately, the patterns of site distribution and associatedsources of raw material currently do not reveal much in terms ofgeographical territory size (Brantingham, 2003). At Toka andother locations in this study, the majority of lithic scatterswas produced on Tatrot surfaces and consequently, were prob-ably not buried following their discard (see Wandsnider, 1995),making it difficult to ascertain their precise lateral extent.Therefore, it remains unclear whether the archaeologicalevidence in surface context represents continuous occupationor sporadic occupational phases. As a result, only interregionalcomparisons of assemblages can be made, whereas intersitecomparisons within a smaller region may be less reliable. Ex-cluding terraces, the Siwalik Frontal Zone or frontal slopeswere most exploited in comparison with other landscapes inthe Siwalik region. This was probably related to a number offeatures including the increased availability of raw materialand water sources as well as a higher vantage point above theplains. A similar example of clast exploitation in hillslopecontext is provided by Pappu (2001b) who reports MiddlePaleolithic evidence from Tamil Nadu in southeastern Indiaand by Corvinus (2002) who described the Middle Paleolithicsite of Arjun 3 to be situated in ecological and topographic con-texts very similar to those of Toka. The distributional patterns ofsuch sites highlight the expedient use of such raw materialforms and the most important factors for site location/selectionappear to have been the presence of raw material combined witha stable topography. The association of artifacts with theexposed conglomerate-sand interface at Toka may representsituations where hominins were exploiting the streambed forraw material (indicating seasonal and syndepositional occupa-tion), and exploiting floodplain or existing terrace deposits aswell (indicating postdepositional occupation).

In broadly similar contexts such as the Oldowan, for exam-ple, raw material was transported from only a few kilometers toless than a kilometer, and most such routes to-and-from rawmaterial sources probably did not follow a straight-line (e.g.,Blumenschine et al., 2007). In the Siwalik region, it appearsthat long-distance transport of raw material was equally mar-ginal, presumably owing to the suitable quartzite clasts avail-able at frequent lateral intervals (Mukerji, 1979). Owing tothis frequent availability of raw material, the curation offinished tools rather than pebble/cobble blanks was more com-mon. There is limited, though indefinite, evidence of possiblequartzite clast transport of up to a maximum of 1 km from theirgeological/fluvial sources such as streambeds and paleochan-nels. General observations reveal most locations to be in thefrontal zone within a radius of 1 km from major streams thatrepresented the sources of raw material. This is supported bythe proximity of sites to major sources of raw material, whichdo not seem to be further than 3 to 4 km in maximum distance.Sites are often located adjacent to such sources (e.g., Toka) orare a part of such scatters of clasts in the form of gravel/con-glomerate outcrops (e.g., Karor Uparli) in the interior zones.Rarely are sites located in the plains to the south and interiorhills or slopes, beyond 2 to 3 km from the frontal zone. This

evidence for very local procurement of stone is consistentwith that from other paleolithic studies including in India,which suggest that stone was rarely carried more than 10 km,and usually less than 4 km from its source (Petraglia et al.,1999; Noll and Petraglia, 2003; Dennell, 2004: 434; 2007;Chauhan, in press).

There are three visible ecological features that may haveacted as potential corridors for movement between the plainsto the south of the hills and the duns to the north of the hills;for example, the distance between the frontal zone near Chan-digarh and the Sirsa Nadi in the Pinjore-Nalagarh dun to thenortheast is approximately 7 km. One example is the smalland flat erosional valleys of probably upper Pleistocene agewithin the Siwalik Hills (separate from duns), tentatively sup-ported by the presence of paleolithic assemblages betweenChandigarh and the Pinjore-Nalagarh dun, represented bysuch localities as Tandi-Bara, Jainti Majri, Gurha, Kuri, andKaror Uparli (see Mukerji, 1979). Additional corridors arerepresented by the large rivers and related terrace systemswhich often dissect the Siwalik Hills perpendicularly (e.g.,Ghaggar, Markanda). The final feature is represented by thenumerous post-Siwalik streams that emanate from the interiorparts of the hills. Such streams may have provided direct ac-cess routes to floral and faunal resources within the otherwiseinaccessible landscape, largely impenetrable owing to its high-relief character and often thick patches of vegetation at places.Many of these streambeds are frequently used by villagerseven today to reach small villages or hamlets deep in theinterior.

Conclusion

The majority of the Siwalik paleolithic evidence, tradition-ally designated as Soanian, represents an integral part of theprehistoric colonization of the Indian subcontinent. Thisbody of evidence is represented by paleolithic sites variablycomprising Mode 1 and Mode 3 assemblages that formedthrough the transport and reduction of quartzite pebble andcobble clasts. These sites are found in multiform geographicsettings such as on slopes of various Siwalik Formations, largeriver terraces, small stream terraces, and in the intermontanedun valleys located between the Siwalik Hills and the LesserHimalaya. This study demonstrates that the lithic scatters inthe Siwalik Frontal Zone between the Markanda and Ghaggarriver systems suggest differential modes of land-use and siteformation. The wider fluvial and geomorphic distribution ofpost-Siwalik raw material sources appears to have facilitatedSoanian occupation and stimulated dispersal throughout theSiwalik region. Recovered Soanian assemblages were usuallyin relatively fresh condition, indicating minimal localized nat-ural transport through intermittent tectonic uplift and seasonallow-energy fluvial processes. The majority of site locationsrepresented combined sources of water and quartzite sources,the latter divided into BCF exposures and post-BCF or post-Siwalik sources. Sites were generally found within three kmof raw material sources and artifacts were found in highernumbers along the banks, in the form of elevated terraces, of


these streams (in comparison to Siwalik slopes away from rawmaterial sources). Where quartzite was absent or marginallyavailable, an absence of artifactsepresumably relatedewasalso noted. Essentially, hominins that exploited pebbles andcobbles in general, do not appear to have transported theseclasts to considerable distances from their fluvial or geologicalsources.

Due to extensive tectonic and erosional regimes during andafter hominin occupation, most lithic assemblages have re-mained on the surface following their discard, and in mostcases, are not chronologically associated with underlying Si-walik Formations. When primary stratified occurrences arefound, they are rare and laterally limited. At sites like Toka,if tectonic regimes were prominent during the terminal phasesof hominin occupation, such locales may have become topo-graphically unsuitable for occupation. After reaching an equi-librium state, prehistoric populations may have been graduallyforced out of this ecozone, as a consequence of intense upliftregimes, decrease in vegetation, and causal fluctuations infauna. Until stratified evidence is recovered and dated fromsuch older contexts, all Paleolithic evidence in this region(e.g., Soanian) should be viewed as being post-Siwalik orpost-BCF in relative age or simply younger than 600 ka.This widespread pebbledand-cobble-based technology andassociated land-use patterns appears to have existed at leastsince the mid-Pleistocene, thus making it contemporary at dif-ferent times with Lower, Middle, and even Upper Paleolithictraditions found in peninsular India. The location of lithic as-semblages away from the main sources of raw material andwater in the frontal zone implies increased mobility andlong-term planning, requiring an in-depth ecological and geo-graphic knowledge of the landscape. As a consequence, thismay have fostered active social networks between majorlong-term habitation and workshop sites. Future efforts on ex-cavating and dating primary sites within fine-grained contextswill shed light on the earliest Soanian evidence as well as itssubsequent dispersal and technological progression within theSiwalik ecosystem.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the four reviewers for constructive andhelpful comments, and Susan Anton for the review process.Mike Rogers, Nick Toth, and Kathy Schick provided detailedsuggestions on an earlier version of this paper. I am thankful tothe Government of India for approving the project and provid-ing the research visa in affiliation with the Department of Ge-ology, Panjab University (Chandigarh). I am especiallygrateful to Rajeev Patnaik, Robin Dennell, and Gurtek S.Gill for their guidance and support for the duration of this re-search. R.P. brought Toka to my attention in January 2001;R.D. supervised my doctoral dissertation and provided usefulinput and advice at various stages; and G.S.G. acted as a co-supervisor by providing considerable geological input in thefield and through discussions. Mary Nicholls, Jemma Pyne,and Damudor Singh Moibungkhongbam provided extensiveassistance in the field and laboratory, without which this

work would not have been possible. Martin A.J. Williams of-fered general geological interpretations at Toka and PeterGlasby initially outlined the three block diagrams depictingsite formation at Toka. A part of this work was funded bythe Australian Research Council through the generosity of Da-vid W. Cameron, to whom I am very grateful. During thecourse of this work, academic interaction with numerous col-leagues further enhanced my interpretations, respect, andknowledge of the South Asian paleoanthropological record in-cluding the Siwalik Hills. They include: Gudrun Corvinus,Claire Gaillard, Rajan Gaur, Richa Jhaldiyal, Baldev S. Karir,Senthil Kumar, Stephen Lycett, Sheila Mishra, Virendra NathMisra, Gunjan C. Mohapatra, T. Nakata, Avinash C. Nanda,Shanti Pappu, B. Parkash, Michael D. Petraglia, S.N. Raja-guru, Ashok Sahni and Vidhwan S. Soni. Finally, I extendmy thanks to Kathy Schick and Nick Toth, co-directors ofthe Stone Age Institute and CRAFT Research Center (IndianaUniversity), for the postdoctoral position and the overall sup-port of my research. The data presented here represents a partof my doctoral dissertation and any errors are entirely my own.This paper is dedicated to the memory of Gudrun Corvinus.

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Documents

early pleistocene

raw material exploitation

soanian sites

richest known soanian

tothe soanian industry

peninsular india

pleistocene hominins

lithic evidence