Early India and Pakistan to Ashoka c6.s1.27

c6.s1.27

1. *Pebble-implements*. These are more or less crudely sharpened pebbles, characteristically of quartzite, and frequently retaining a part of the cortex or crust of the pebble. Sometimes flakes are struck upwards from the edges of the flat platform of a pebble which has been cloven transversely by man or nature; the steep cutting-edge thus formed would enable the implement to be used as a chopper or scraper. Alternatively, a rounded or oval pebble may be shaped by the removal of flakes, normally on one side only to produce a scalloped cutting-edge or even a point. In the latter case, the sharpened pebble sometimes vaguely resembles a handaxe, and a genetic connection between pebble-handaxes and true handaxes in India has been postulated. Equally, the resemblance may be fortuitous or at most the result of interaction. Pebble industries in India are often referred to as 'Soan' (or 'Sohan') industries, from the Punjab river where they were first recorded.