Prehistory and Protohistory in India and Pakistan c7.s19: Distribution of Middle Palaeolithic Culture
Prehistory and Protohistory in India and Pakistan c7.s19
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Distribution of Middle Palaeolithic Culture
c7.s19.1
Our surveys shows that the tools called Series II or Middle Stone Age or Middle Palaeolithic or Nevasian have a wide distribution covering Maharashtra (including Konkan), North Mysore, Andhra (particularly northern districts), the whole of Madhya Pradesh, Bundelkhand (which includes south-western Uttar Pradesh), Orissa, Western Rajputana Saurashtra and probably Madras as well. To this we might add Sind, particularly the site of Sukkur,⁸² which, after the data from Luni valley gathered by MISRA, seems to belong to this complex. Further systematic research would show its extension along the western and eastern coast, as well as in Mysore and Madras. Is it really absent [Figure: PHYSIOGRAPHICAL AND CULTURAL DIVISIONS OF INDIA AND MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC CULTURES ▲ LATE SOHAN ■ NEVASIAN (Map showing various regions: SIND, MARWAR, MEWAR, MALWA, BUNDELKHAND, GANGETIC BASIN, HIMALAYAS, ASSAM, BENGAL, TRIBAL COUNTRY, CHATTISGARH, ORISSA, MAHARASHTRA, ANDHRA, KARNATAK, KERALA, TAMILNAD, SAURASHTRA. Legend: AREAS OF ATTRACTION OR NUCLEAR REGIONS, AREA OF RELATIVE ISOLATION, AREAS OF ISOLATIONS, AREAS PENETRATED RECENTLY)]
c7.s19.2
⁸² DE TERRA and PATERSON, op. cit., p. 313-5, though even the earliest Group A includes a large number of blades.
c7.s19.3
Fig. 56. Map showing the distribution of Middle Palaeolithic sites in India. Sites in Sind, viz., Sukkur and Rohri have been inadvertently omitted.
c7.s19.4
from Gujarat proper? Recent reports, though not very convincing, argue for its presence there. Thus it may be said that the area of its distribution is almost coextensive with that of the Early Palaeolithic.
c7.s19.5
There is little doubt about the stratigraphical position of the tools. This is generally fine gravel belonging to the second aggradation cycle. The gravel in its turn is capped by a layer of thick silt or sometimes another gravel. This observation has also been independently made by BRIDGET ALLCHIN.