Early India and Pakistan to Ashoka c6.s3.21

c6.s3.21

In recent years fresh fieldwork has been carried out in the vicinity of Giddalur, District Kurnool.²⁴ The Series 1 and 2 of the Cammiade-Burkitt analysis have again been recognized, and within them a gradation from earlier and rougher to later and more evolved has been partially established on the basis of the degree of rolling present in the individual specimens. Thus the Abbevillio-Acheulian handaxes and associated rostro-carinates of Victoria West type, made out of pebbles which often preserve cortical patches, are liable to exhibit a fair measure of rolling. With them are associated Clactonian flakes and cores, likewise rolled, and flake-made handaxes. The more advanced Acheulian ovates and handaxes, ranging from narrow, elongated specimens to wide, almost discoidal forms, are generally fresher in appearance; but no clear geological stratification is described. Cleavers are abundant, and flakes with prepared platforms, of Levallois type, occur though in a small minority. One or two scrapers, including a double-ended scraper with 'nibbled' retouch, recall Upper Palaeolithic industries of the West, but typologically the two Series may be described generally as of a Mid-Palaeolithic facies. Frequent cross-references to African analogies are convincing, though the significance of these comparisons is matter for discussion. Here the problem in relation to the Indian Palaeolithic as a whole, can only be indicated as a background to further research.