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Late Acheulean hominins at the Marine Isotope Stage 6/5e transition in north-central India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Michael Haslam*
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
Richard G. Roberts
Affiliation:
Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong NSW 2522, Australia
Ceri Shipton
Affiliation:
School of Social Science, University of Queensland, St Lucia QLD 4072, Australia
J.N. Pal
Affiliation:
Department of Ancient History, Culture and Archaeology, University of Allahabad, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
Jacqueline L. Fenwick
Affiliation:
Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong NSW 2522, Australia
Peter Ditchfield
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
Nicole Boivin
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
A.K. Dubey
Affiliation:
Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, Benares Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
M.C. Gupta
Affiliation:
Department of Ancient History, Culture and Archaeology, University of Allahabad, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
Michael Petraglia
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
*
Corresponding author at: Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK. Fax: +44 1865 285220.

Abstract

Single-grain optically stimulated luminescence dating was applied to Late Quaternary sediments at two sites in the Middle Son Valley, Madhya Pradesh, India. Designated Bamburi 1 and Patpara, these sites contain Late Acheulean stone tool assemblages, which we associate with non-modern hominins. Age determinations of 140–120 ka place the formation of these sites at around the Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 6–5 transition, placing them among the youngest Acheulean sites in the world. We present here the geochronology and sedimentological setting of these sites, and consider potential implications of Late Pleistocene archaic habitation in north-central India for the initial dispersal of modern humans across South Asia.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
University of Washington

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