Early India and Pakistan to Ashoka c7.3

c7.3

First, then, the Upper Palaeolithic. In the north, as already noted (p. 40), there was a tendency in the Late Soan towards finer flake-implements, apparently without handaxes. This trend is appropriate to the Upper Palaeolithic but needs much further investigation; for example, Terrace 4 of the Soan series is at present an uncertain quantity, and surface sites of small flakes and pebble-tools on the Sil (tributary of the Soan) near Pindi Gheb and at Dhok Pathan nearby are without stratigraphical context. Like the flakes, the pebble-tools are smaller than the average Soan type, and include a new form, a kind of awl made on a small oval pebble flaked on both sides at one end to make a sharp point. Associated flakes are similar to Late Soan: a few are retouched, and one is a steep scraper with fine trimming. Faceting of the platform is rare. 'The age of this series', adds Paterson, 'is uncertain, but, to judge from typology and the state of preservation, it is undoubtedly fairly late and must be at the earliest contemporary with the Late Soan, possibly later, perhaps even of the fourth glacial age.'²⁹ In the Jhelum valley of Kashmir, de Terra and Paterson found 'great numbers of artificially flaked stones, among which were flakes and cores reminiscent of palaeolithic technique' including the Levalloisian; 'but in all these places it was certain that the flakes are associated with pottery-bearing layers of either neolithic or historic date'.