An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c14.s8.t2.8

v1.c14.s8.t2.8

The Kangra valley in Himachal Pradesh is another potential area in the sub-Himalayan tract for attempting correlation between the glacial sequence and early human cultures. The BANGANGA river draining this region is a tributary of the BEAS which originates in the snow-clad inner Himalayan ranges. The most impressive morphological feature of the area is the series of high river terraces cut into the Siwalik rocks. They occur not only in the BANGANGA valley but along all the major and subsidiary streams in this region. On these terraces of the BANGANGA are found Lower Palaeolithic tools [4.2]. The question is whether these terraces are related to the successive glacial and interglacial phases of the Pleistocene of the Himalayas. It may be recalled that the Sohan valley has the same geomorphic situation and according to de Terra and Paterson such terraces and consequently the associated Stone Age culture are interrelated. A detailed investigation in the BANGANGA valley has now shown that the series of five or more terraces of the river does not contain the typical glacial morainic deposits as thought earlier and that these terraces are cut into fluvioglacial cones formed by the fluvial processes in this monsoonal periglacial zone of the sub-Himalayas and their high relief is due to intense tectonic activity of the area. Although some relationship does exist between them and the Pleistocene glacial sequence of the area, its exact nature has not as yet been understood in the absence of suitable dating material. As stated above the terraces cut into the Upper Siwaliks are stratigraphically of the late Middle Pleistocene to the Upper Pleistocene. A more or less identical sequence of terraces has been noticed in the MARKANDA river, a tributary of the GHAGGAR near Nahan in Himachal Pradesh, and this discovery confirms the observations made in the BANGANGA valley. Geomorphological studies carried out all along the sub-Himalayan region have also endorsed the view that the Kangra and MARKANDA valleys were never subjected to direct Pleistocene glacial action and the high terracing on the streams in this region is a result of Pleistocene and post-Pleistocene tectonic activity.