The Pleistocene archaeological record of South Asia is important for addressing questions relating to the origin and evolution of Palaeolithic cultures, continuity or change in lithic technologies, and population dispersals across Asia. Here, the authors report on intensive regional studies to investigate variability within this record, employing field survey, lithic analysis and experimental knapping. They examine Palaeolithic hominin behavioural change in the Wainganga Basin, central India, focusing on variability in spatial distribution, stratigraphy and lithic reduction strategies in Acheulian to Late Palaeolithic sites. This emphasises the diversity of cultural sequences in South Asia and contributes to questions of transition and change based on cultural preferences, raw materials and lithic strategies in different regions.

A multidisciplinary study was conducted in a newly discovered Paleolithic locality, named ‘Evron Landfill. This locality is a part of the Lower Paleolithic complex of ‘Evron located at the western Galilee, Israel. Examination of artifacts has enabled the cultural attribution of ‘Evron Landfill to the Early Acheulian, while detailed paleomagnetic stratigraphy places the hominin occupations near the Brunhes–Matuyama transition ~0.77 Ma. This age is constrained by cosmogenic isotope burial dating of the sediments overlying the Paleolithic finds, providing a minimum age of ~0.66±0.11 Ma for hominin activity at the site. These results are further supported by the biochronological information derived from the faunal assemblage. Comparative analyses of faunal remains and lithic artifacts from ‘Evron Landfill demonstrate similarities to the assemblages from the Early Acheulian site of Evron Quarry, located ~300 m to the south. Pedo-sedimentological analyses indicate that hominin activity took place in a marsh environment in proximity to the Mediterranean coast, which probably fluctuated in both space and time with a fluvial environment. In addition, this study provides important data about ancient coastal activity during the early to middle Pleistocene.

Correlation of volcaniclastic deposits of the Bedded Tuff Member (K4) of the Kapthurin Formation (Kenya) provides the means to assess the nature of archaeological change during the later middle Pleistocene, a time period critical to human evolution but poorly represented at other African localities. Field stratigraphic evidence, and petrographic and electron microprobe geochemical analyses of volcanic glass and phenocrysts, define eight subdivisions of K4 tephra. These include a succession of deposits from a local volcanic source that erupted intermittently, as well as other tuffs likely from different sources outside the Baringo basin. Upper portions of the Bedded Tuff Member date to ∼235,000 yr. The Bedded Tuff Member is underlain by sediments that include the Grey Tuff, dated to 509,000 ± 9000 yr. The tephrostratigraphic framework defined here is used to place Acheulian and Middle Stone Age (MSA) archaeological sites in chronological order. Results show the persistence of Acheulian large cutting tool manufacture after the advent of points, considered an MSA artifact type. Two assemblages from the site of Koimilot record the appearance at ∼200,000–250,000 yr of a variety of Levallois flake production methods, an integral if incompletely understood feature of the MSA, here likely derived from local technological antecedents. Combined evidence from the tools and flake production methods suggest an incremental and mosaic pattern of change in hominin adaptive strategies during the Acheulian–MSA transition.