An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s2.5

v1.c9.s2.5

The choppers are generally made on pebbles and rarely on rock blocks or thick flakes. They are either worked in one direction (unifacial) or two directions (bifacial), the two varieties being often distinguished as chopper-chopping tools. On the basis of their first discovery in large quantities on the terraces of the Sohan (Soan) river, a tributary of the Indus, these tools have been called the Sohan industry by de Terra and Paterson. The Sohan valley also yielded handaxe industries which de Terra christened as the Madras handaxe industries due to their occurrence in large numbers in the Madras area. These two industries were viewed as representatives of two cultural traditions—Sohan or pebble-tool culture and Madras handaxe culture. And on the basis of percentages of these two industries at Indian sites various hypotheses of migration, diffusion and meeting of the two have been put forward.