An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c14.s8.t3: 9.8.3 Pleisto-Holocene boundary
An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c14.s8.t3
- Language
- English
9.8.3 Pleisto-Holocene boundary
v1.c14.s8.t3.1
It has been estimated that depending upon the location the annual mean temperatures during the coldest phase of the last Glacial were between 3° and 13° below their present values. The last Glacial began *c.* 120000 years ago and reached its climax *c.* 20000 years ago. It is now established that the last major deglaciation was taking place between 18000 and 19000 years ago in all the investigated parts of the earth (*RCCC*, 1976). Manifestations of the last deglaciation differ from place to place, but in general it is accepted that it marks the end of the Pleistocene and the beginning of the Holocene. In the Atlantic Sea cores one finds that in about 10000 B.P. warmth-loving *Globorotalia menardii* and left-coiling *G. truncatulinoides* register a distinctly positive increase in frequency. Similarly *Globogerina pachyderma* which was 100% left-coiling till *c.* 10000 B.P. reaches 100% right-coiling type by 700 B.C. The boundary of change is at 10000 B.P. (Wollin *et al.* 1971).
v1.c14.s8.t3.2
In India only two well-dated pollen sequences are available. At Toshmaidan, Kashmir, deglaciation started in 15000 B.P. (Singh *et al.* 1976). In the n. salt lakes of Rajasthan the climate became wetter in around 10500 B.P. compared to the preceding arid phase [cf. 7.4]. This suggests that the glacial conditions in the n. are equatable to the arid conditions and deglaciation with wetter conditions. The available evidence indicates that *c.* 10000 B.P. is the boundary of the Pleistocene-Holocene.
v1.c14.s8.t3.3
Bowler, J.M., Hope, G.S., Jarrige, J.N., Singh, G., & Walker, D., 1976, in *Quaternary Res.*, 6, pp. 359-94 (for Australia and New Guinea). *Report of a Committee on Climatic Change*, 1976, Canberra. Singh, G., & Agrawal, D.P., 1976, in *Nature*, 266, p. 232 (for ¹⁴C evidence of deglaciation in n.-w. Himalayas). Singh, G., Joshi, R.D., Chopra, S.K., & Singh, A.B., 1974, *Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Soc.*, 267, pp. 467-501 (for Late Quaternary vegetation and climate in Rajasthan desert). Wollin, G., Ericson, D.B., Ewing, M., 1971, in Turekian, K.K., ed., *Late Cenozoic Glacial Ages*, Yale (for Late Pleistocene in Atlantic and Pacific deep-sea sediments).—D.P. AGRAWAL