Prehistory and Protohistory in India and Pakistan c6.s2: East Panjab

Prehistory and Protohistory in India and Pakistan c6.s2

Language: English

c6.s2.t1 Sirsa Valley — 17 parts
c6.s2.t2 Beas and Banganga Valleys — 8 parts

East Panjab

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During the war, it was not possible to examine the other river valleys of the Panjab. After partition the areas already known went to Pakistan. Fortunately chance discoveries have opened up a promising field of inquiry in Eastern Panjab. *(See Fig. 9)*

Sirsa Valley

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The first is the site of Nalagarh³² on the Sirsa river, a tributary of the Sutlej in the foot-hills of the Simla Himalayas, not very far from Rupar and from the Bhakra Nangal Project, Hoshiarpur District.

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³² SEN, D., "Nalagarh Palaeolithic Culture", Man In India, Vol. 35 (1955), pp. 177-84.

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The palaeolithic sites were first discovered by Mr. OLAF PRUFER in 1951 on the terraces of the right bank of the Sirsa. These are generally concentrated on the south and south-east of Nalagarh, but are also found on the western side. SEN'S later observations indicate three terraces approximately at the height of 70 ft., 40 ft. and 10 ft. respectively from the present stream level. The tools have been found on the first two terraces. On the Upper terrace, the gravel is at places cemented, while on the Middle terraces it is loose and has a thin cover of silt.

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The tools are made of light coloured quartzite and consist of pebble tools and flake tools. There is not much typological difference between the tools from the Upper and Middle terraces, though the tendency is for the flake tools to predominate and on the whole they become finer.

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The pebble tools are made on rounded water-worn pebbles and include primarily choppers and scrapers. It is interesting to note that "the flakes are This image is blank and contains no text to transcribe.

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Fig. 10. Panoramic view of the "terraces" near Guler on the Banganga, East Panjab.

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PALAEOLITHIC SITES IN THE SIRSHA & BEAS-BANGANGA VALLEY, EAST PUNJAB. AREA OF MAP

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PHYSIOGRAPHY OF THE SINGRAULI BASIN(U.P.)

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PALAEOLITHIC LOCALITIES (I, II & III) DESCRIBED

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Fig. II

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SCALE OF MILES

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struck from the original pebble surfaces" as in some of the tools in the Sohan. They (the choppers) are further marked by "two directional alternate flaking." This is in contrast to what one knows about the Early Sohan. The scrapers are flaked on one side only. One tool, No. 12, is described as an "awl". It is said to be "flaked all over and had a notch below the working point."35 Both the name and the description suggest a highly advanced tool³⁶ not characteristic of the Early Sohan.

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The associated flakes show nothing special about them. Both—the pebble tools as well as the flakes—typologically resemble the Early Sohan of the north-west Panjab, but it cannot be said whether the Nalagarh industry belongs to the Second Interglacial or not, without much further work in the region.³⁶

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³⁶ Since writing this, the writer had an opportunity to visit Nalagarh and therefore could say that the region deserved an intensive survey.

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In 1954, Dr. Y. D. SHARMA³⁷ reported more tools from the same valley and from another Sohan, a tributary of the Beas, near Daulatapur. They have been called "Late Sohan", but in the absence of any further report nothing can be said about these tools.³⁸

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³⁷ I.A.R., 1954-55, p. 58.

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³⁸ Efforts were made to study these tools, but unfortunately these could not be located, either at New Dehli or Nagpur.

Beas and Banganga Valleys

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Then in 1955, Shri B. B. LAL,³⁹ found Sohan type of tools in the Beas and Banganga valleys in Kangra District, East Panjab. He also noticed five terraces at Guler and elsewhere, and tried to correlate the tools with the terraces. Later a joint expedition organized by the Government of India and assisted by the Deccan College, the M. S. University of Baroda and the Geological Survey of India re-examined the area for some three weeks in 1957.

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³⁹ "Palaeoliths from the Beas and Banganga Valleys," A.I. No. 12, pp. 58-92.

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There is no doubt that at Guler, Dehr and at Kangra there are a number of terraces. Those at Guler, for instance are at a height of 565 ft. (T.1), 375 ft. (T.2), 150 ft. (T.3), 90 ft. (T.4) and 30 ft. (T.5) respectively. T.1 yielded only unifacial "choppers", while T.2 these as well as "chopping tools" and one pebble-hand-axe, a core and six Clactonian flakes and proto-Levalloisian flakes, while T. 3 gave similar material but without the proto-Levalloisian flakes.

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The tools thus are of the Early Sohan type, though it must be said that the percentage of genuine tools is indeed very small,⁴⁰ and many of the choppers on pebbles and flakes might be just pebbles and flakes.

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⁴⁰ This impression was confirmed when the writer along with B. SUBBARAO re-examined the collection, now in the Safdarjang Museum, New Delhi, with the facilities kindly supplied by Shri LAL and Shri GHOSH.

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Further south-westwards the Ganga-Yamuna basin has not yet been studied. The writer had noticed terraces at Dehra Dun and huge boulder spread as well as sections, and it is not improbable that a careful search will yield the types of tools first described.

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³⁴ SEN, op. cit., p. 184.

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³⁵ This indeed recalls the "borer-cum-scraper" of Series II or the Middle Palaeolithic of Peninsular India. See, Figs. 88-89.