An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c12.s4.3

v1.c12.s4.3

Most of the other pollen-analytical work has been confined to the Late Quaternary period. Here it has been demonstrated that after the last glacial in the Himalayas, corresponding to the Weichselian glacial in Europe, deglaciation was in progress at elevations as high as 3120 m (Toshmaidan) 14000 to 15000 years ago. Subsequently the vegetational altitudinal belts are shown to have moved up the mountain slopes progressively, indicating rise in temperatures. A period of temperatures higher than those of the present was reached some time during the middle post-glacial time. Subsequent changes in the vegetation indicate that the temperatures started to drop off before 3000 years ago. Phases of forest clearance resulting from human agricultural and other activities have been demonstrated both in the Kashmir valley (Haigam lake) and in the Kumaon Himalaya (Naukuchiya Tal) but in the absence of any ¹⁴C dates their chronology cannot yet be established. Small-scale forest clearance for agriculture, based on ¹⁴C-dated pollen profiles, has been shown to go back to at least 2000 B.C. (Khajjar lake) and large-scale clearance to periods onwards from A.D. 550 (Rewalsar lake) in Himachal Pradesh.