An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v2.c40.264

v2.c40.264

The lower Narmada from Chandod to the sea in Gujarat is a great shelf of coastal alluvium. Unlike the middle reaches the Narmada in this region has a highly meandering course. Fine sections of alluvium are exposed but excepting a few stray microlithic ones no sites have been found. Yet from the point of view of the determination of the past climatic conditions and Quaternary eustatic changes this coastal tract is important. In this region Wainwright has distinguished three buried soils and correlated them with three stadial phases of the Last Glacial [9.8.2]. The stratigraphically underlying horizon yielding Lower Palaeolithic tools upstream has been equated to the Last Interglacial [9.8.2]. The terraces occurring in the lower Narmada valley are ascribed by Allchin, 1972, to neotectonic activities which seem to have been responsible for the shaping of the lower Narmada valley.