An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c20.s1.t2.1

v1.c20.s1.t2.1

The Middle Pleistocene faunal evidence comes mostly from the NARMADA VALLEY. Next only to the Siwaliks this valley has yielded the richest mammalian fossils found in India, this time of the Middle Pleistocene, many of them found in association with Stone Age tools which makes the valley very significant to the origins of man. The region constitutes one of the great hunting grounds of India. Even today large cats, bears, gaurs, deer and black-bucks are found in forests. Many of the ancestors of these animals lie buried in the Pleistocene deposits along with other mammals such as the elephant, hippopotamus, horse and rhinoceros. The first authentic list of the vertebrate fossils from the valley was given by Pilgrim, 1905, who treated the NARMADA and the GODAVARI VALLEYS as of contemporary age. The fauna listed by him is as follows: *Ursus namadicus*; *Bubalus palaeindicus*; *Leptobos frazeri*; *Bos namadicus*; *Cervus duvauceli*; *Sus* sp.; *Hippopotamus namadicus*; *Equus namadicus*; *Rhinoceros unicornis*; *Stegodon insignis*; *Stegodonganesa*; *Hippopotamus palaeindicus*; and *Pangsura tectum*.