An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s1.4

v1.c9.s1.4

*4.1.1 Regions.* Spate, 1957, divides the subcontinent into 35 regions of the first order, 74 of the second order and about 225 subdivisions of these, admitting that the scheme is empirical. Political factors have also played their part: in his regionalization Tamil Nadu and Kerala have each been treated as a region of the first order in spite of their physiographic variations. The system of Spate *et al.*, 1967, however, has the merit of defining the nuclear areas of attraction and areas of relative isolation, which had their full play in the formation of archaeological cultures (cf. Subbarao, 1958; Malik, 1968). But this can be true only of the post-Stone Age periods, for the area of the greatest attraction, the Indo-Ganga valley (see map, Spate *et al.*, 1972, p. 176, and Subbarao, 1958, p. 26), had hardly any importance in the Stone Age cultures.