An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s2.t4: 4.2.5 Upper, s.-e. and lower Deccan
An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s2.t4
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4.2.5 Upper, s.-e. and lower Deccan
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From the coastal land around KANDIVLI, Bombay, a complete sequence of Pleistocene sediments was reported by Todd, 1939. He found an assemblage containing Clactonian flakes from the lowermost implementiferous deposit, which was overlain by a layer containing Chellean tools and Clactonian flakes. An Acheulian assemblage came from the next layer—the middle clay. But the three assemblages were not noticed by Sankalia and Malik, who later on surveyed the same region (Sankalia, 1962). From the parts of Konkan lying south of Bombay a complex reminiscent of pebble tools was discovered from the Ganshari basin by Joshi (*IAR 1969-70*, p. 23).
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The TAPTI basin has only recently yielded Pleistocene deposits. Two areas, viz. the Purna (a tributary of the Tapti) basin and Dt Dhulia (c. Tapti basin) are noteworthy in this regard. Both the areas have revealed tools of the Acheulian tradition.
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Since long the GODAVARI basin around NASIK and NEVASA has been known for its Palaeolithic yield. The tool kit of the NASIK-GANGAPUR group of sites is made of evolved Acheulian implements fashioned out of locally available basalt. The group however has cruder technological features, as the flakes were detached by Clactonian technique. The typo-technological character of the NEVASA group marginally differs from the former. Excavation at Gravel I at CHIRKI-NEVASA, Dt Ahmadnagar, has revealed a rich Acheulian industry, where higher frequency is formed by cleavers made on flakes detached by Victoria West technique (Corvinus, 1967). The position of such cleaver-flakes and flakes detached by the Levallois technique is also well-represented.
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The Lower gravel deposits of the KRISHNA in Dt Nalgonda, bear Acheulian implements along with quite a few Levallois flakes (Rao, 1966). The industries of Dt Kurnool, with similar typo-technological features, were obtained from the similar stratigraphic horizons (Isaac, 1960).
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The Lower Palaeolithic phase of NAGARJUNAKONDA (Subrahmanyan *et al.*, 1975), basically belonging to the Acheulian tradition, has a little typo-technological variation from the industries around, the apparent reason for this being the influence of the nature of raw material. By exploiting the curvatures on the big boulders of quartzite, the early man of the valley could obtain several cleaver-shaped flakes without putting in much labour. The industry is thus dominated by cleavers made on such flakes, which seem to be devoid of preparation marks. Its Acheulian nature is represented by the working on handaxes and the secondary working on cleavers.
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Remains of the Acheulian man are also known from the w. part of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Here Gravel I of the MALAPRABHA and GHATAPRABHA (Joshi, 1955) and the upper course of the KRISHNA (Banerjee, 1957) are implementiferous. The KHYAD and MENSANGI group of sites on the MALAPRABHA is characterized by handaxes, cleavers and pebble tools. In Dt Bijapur around BAGALKOT rich tool-bearing localities were discovered, where the handaxe was the most dominant type of tool, followed by chopping tool, cleaver, chopper and scraper.
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In Karnataka near TEKKALAKOTTA a pebble tool complex was discovered at NITTUR (*IAR 1963-4*, p. 24). Chopper and chopping tools of the Sohan type were discovered at the site by Ansari, 1970. The assemblage is noteworthy, as it is the s.most locality to yield the pebble tool complex and is situated in the midst of the Acheulian occupation area of the Deccan and s. India.
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Ansari, Z.D., 1970, in *Indian Antiquary*, 3rd series, 4, pp. 1-7. Banerji, K.D., 1957, "Middle Palaeolithic Industries of the Deccan", Poona, unpublished thesis. Corvinus, G., 1967, in *Current Anthropology*, 9, pp. 216-8. Isaac, N., 1960, "Stone Age Culture of Kurnool", unpublished thesis, Poona. Joshi, R.V., 1955, *Pleistocene Studies in the Malaprabha Basin*, Poona-Dharwar. Rao, S.N., 1966, "Stone Age Culture of Dt Nalgonda", unpublished thesis, Poona. Sankalia, H.D., 1962, in *Jour. Asiatic Soc.*, 34-35, Bombay, pp. 12-13. Subrahmanyam. R., *et al.*, 1975, *Nagarjunakonda (1954-60)*, Mem. ASI, 75. Delhi. Todd, K.R.U., 1939, in *Jour. Royal Anthropological Inst.*, 69, pp. 257-72. For sites see respective entries in vol. II.—V. JAYASWAL