Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T06:16:17.669Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The oldest and longest enduring microlithic sequence in India: 35 000 years of modern human occupation and change at the Jwalapuram Locality 9 rockshelter

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Chris Clarkson ,
Michael Petraglia ,
Ravi Korisettar ,
Michael Haslam ,
Nicole Boivin ,
Alison Crowther ,
Peter Ditchfıeld ,
Dorian Fuller ,
Preston Miracle  and
Clair Harris
...Show all authors
Chris Clarkson*
Affiliation:
School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia
Michael Petraglia
Affiliation:
Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1QH, UK
Ravi Korisettar
Affiliation:
Department of History and Archaeology, Karnatak University, Dharwad 580 003, India
Michael Haslam
Affiliation:
Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1QH, UK
Nicole Boivin
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 2PG, UK
Alison Crowther
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, Northgate House, Sheffield, S1 4ET, UK
Peter Ditchfıeld
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 2PG, UK
Dorian Fuller
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, WC1H 0PY, UK
Preston Miracle
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, The University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3DZ, UK
Clair Harris
Affiliation:
School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia
Kate Connell
Affiliation:
School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia
Hannah James
Affiliation:
Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1QH, UK
Jinu Koshy
Affiliation:
Department of History and Archaeology, Karnatak University, Dharwad 580 003, India
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Jwalapuram Locality 9 rockshelter in southern India dates back to 35 000 years ago and it is emerging as one of the key sites for documenting human activity and behaviour in South Asia. The excavated assemblage includes a proliferation of lithic artefacts, beads, worked bone and fragments of a human cranium. The industry is microlithic in character, establishing Jwalapuram 9 as one of the oldest and most important sites of its kind in South Asia.

Keywords

IndiaMicrolithicMicrobladeMiddle PalaeolithicTerminal PleistoceneLGM
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 83 , Issue 320 , June 2009 , pp. 326 - 348
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allchin, F.R. 1962. Painted pottery from Patpad, Andhra Pradesh. Antiquity 36: 221–2.Google Scholar
Anikovitch, M.V., Sinitsyn, A.A, Hoffecker, J.F., Holliday, V.T., Popov, V.V., Lisitsyn, S.N., Forman, L.S.Levkovskaya, G.M., Pospelova, G.A., Kuz'mina, I.E., Burova, N.D., Goldberg, P., Macphail, R.I.Giaccio, B. & Praslov, N.D.. 2007. Early Upper Palaeolithic in Eastern Europe and implications for the dispersal of modern humans. Science 315: 223–2.Google Scholar
Athreya, S. 2007. Was Homo heidelbergensis in South Asia? A test using the Narmada fossil from central India, in Petraglia, M.D. & Allchin, B. (ed.) The evolution and history of human populations in South Asia: 137–13. Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Bar-Yosef, O. & Kuhn, S.L.. 1999. The big deal about blades: laminar technologies and human evolution. American Anthropologist 101: 322–338.Google Scholar
Barton, C.M. & Clark, G.A.. 1997. Rediscovering Darwin: evolutionary theory in archaeological explanation (Archaeological papers of the American Anthropological Association 7). Arlington (VA): American Anthropological Association.Google Scholar
Bleed, P. 1986. The optimal design of hunting weapons: maintainability or reliability. American Antiquity 51: 737–73.Google Scholar
Brantingham, P.J., Krivoshapkin, A.I., Li, J. & Tserendagva, Y.. 2001. The initial Upper Palaeolithic in Northeast Asia. Current Anthropology 42: 735–73.Google Scholar
Clark, J.D.G.. 1968. World prehistory: a new outline. Second edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Clarkson, C. 2002. An index of invasiveness for the measurement of unifacial and bifacial retouch: a theoretical, experimental and archaeological verification. Journal of Archaeological Science 61: 65–75.Google Scholar
Deraniyagala, S.U. 1992. The prehistory of Sri Lanka: an ecological perspective. Colombo: Department of Archaeological Survey, Government of Sri Lanka.Google Scholar
Fitzhugh, B. 2001. Risk and invention in human technological evolution. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 20: 125–12.Google Scholar
Foley, R. & Lahr, M.M. 2004 On stoney ground: lithic technology, human evolution and the emergence of culture. Evolutionary Anthropology 12: 108–10.Google Scholar
Foote, R.B. 1884a. Mr H. B. Foote's work at the Billa Surgam Caves. Records of the Geological Survey of India 17: 200–20.Google Scholar
Foote, R.B. 1884b. Rough notes on Billa Surgam and other caves in the Kurnool District. Records of the Geological Survey of India 17: 27–34.Google Scholar
Foote, R.B. 1885. Notes on the results of F.H.B. Mroote's further excavations in the Billa Surgam Caves. Records of the Geological Survey of India 18: 227–22.Google Scholar
Goodyear, A.C. 1989. A hypothesis for the use of crypto-crystalline raw materials among Paleoindian groups of North America, in Ellis, C.G. & CLothrop, J. (ed.) Eastern Paleoindian lithic resource use: 1–9. Boulder (CO): Westview.Google Scholar
Hiscock, P.D. 2002. Pattern and context in the Holocene proliferation of backed artifacts in Australia, in Elston, R.G. & Kuhn, S.L. (ed.) Thinking small: global perspectives on microlithization (Archeological papers of the American Anthropological Association 12): 163–16. Arlington (VA): American Anthropological Association.Google Scholar
Hiscock, P.D. 2008. The archaeology of ancient Australia. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hudjashov, G., Kivisild, T., Underhill, P.A., Endicott, P., Sanchez, J.J., Lin, A.A., Shen, P., Oefner, P.Renfrew, C., Villems, R. & Forster, P.. 2007. Revealing the prehistoric settlement of Australia by Y chromosome and mtDNA analysis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 104: 8726–87.Google Scholar
Jacobs, Z., Roberts, R.G., Galbraith, R.F., Deacon, H.J., Grun, R., Mackay, A., Mitchell, P., Vogelsang, R. & Wadley, L.. 2008. Ages for the Middle Stone Age of southern Africa: implications for human behavior and dispersal. Science 322: 733–7.Google Scholar
James, H.V.A. & Petraglia, M.D.. 2005. Modern human origins and the evolution of behaviour in the later Pleistocene record of South Asia. Current Anthropology 46: S3–27.Google Scholar
Kennedy, K. 2000. God-apes and fossil men. Ann Arbor (MI): University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Klein, R.G. 2000. Archaeology and the evolution of human behaviour. Evolutionary Anthropology 9: 17–36.Google Scholar
Kuhn, S. & Stiner, M.. 1999. Initial Upper Palaeolithic in south central Turkey and its regional context: a preliminary report. Antiquity 73: 505–50.Google Scholar
Lombard, M. 2008. Finding resolution for the Howiesons Poort through the microscope: micro-residue analysis of segments from Sibudu Cave, South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 35: 26–41.Google Scholar
Lydekker, R. 1886. Preliminary note on the Mammalia of Karnul Caves. Records of the Geological Survey of India 19: 120–1.Google Scholar
Mellars, P. 2006. Going east: new genetic and archaeological perspectives on the modern human colonization of Eurasia. Science 313: 796–800.Google Scholar
Misra, V.N. 2002. Mesolithic culture in India, in Misra, V.N. & Pal, J.N. (ed.) Mesolithic India: 1–66. Allahabad: Department of Ancient History, Culture & Archaeology, University of Allahabad.Google Scholar
Murty, M.L.K. 1974. A Late Pleistocene cave site in Southern India. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 118: 196–230.Google Scholar
Murty, M.L.K. 1979. Recent research on the Upper Palaeolithic phase in India. Journal of Field Archaeology 6: 301–30.Google Scholar
Murty, M.L.K. 1985. Ethnoarchaeology of the Kurnool Cave areas, South India. World Archaeology 17: 192–205.Google Scholar
Myers, A. 1989. Reliable and maintainable technological strategies in the Mesolithic of mainland Britain, in Torrence, R. (ed.) Time, energy and stone tools: 78–91. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Nambi, K. & Murty, M.L.K.. 1983. An Upper Palaeolithic fireplace in the Kurnool Caves. Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute 42: 110–11.Google Scholar
Neeley, M.P. & Barton, C.M.. 1994. A new approach to interpreting late Pleistocene microlith industries in southwest Asia. Antiquity 68: 275–27.Google Scholar
Newbold, T.J. 1844. Notes on the osseous breccia and deposit in the caves of Billa Soorgum, Lat 15? 25', Long 78? 15', southern India. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 13(2): 610–61.Google Scholar
O'brien, M.J. (ed.) 1996. Evolutionary archaeology: theory and application. Salt Lake City (UT): University of Utah Press.Google Scholar
O'connell, J.F. & Allen, J.. 2004. Dating the colonization of Sahul (Pleistocene Australia-New Guinea): a review of recent research. Journal of Archaeological Science 31: 835–83.Google Scholar
Owen, L. 1988. Blade and microlithic technology: selected assemblages from the North American Arctic and Upper Palaeolithic of southwest Germany (British Archaeological Reports International Series 441). Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.Google Scholar
Petraglia, M., Korisettar, R., Boivin, N., Clarkson, C., Ditchfield, P., Jones, S., Koshy, J., Lahr, M.M., Oppenheimer, C., Pyle, D., Roberts, R., Schwenninger, J.-L., Arnold, L. & White, K.. 2007. Middle Paleolithic assemblages from the Indian subcontinent before and after the Toba super-eruption. Science 317: 114–11.Google Scholar
Petraglia, M., Korisettar, R., Katsuri BAI, M., Boivin, N., Janardhana, B., Clarkson, C., Cunningham, K., Ditchfield, P., Fuller, D., Hampson, J., Haslam, M., Jones, S., Koshy, J., Miracle, P.Oppenheimer, C. & White, K.. 2008. Human occupation, adaptation and behavioral change in the Pleistocene and Holocene of South India: recent investigations in the Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh. Journal of Eurasian Prehistory 1-2 (in press).Google Scholar
Petraglia, M., Haslam, M., Korisettar, R., Clarkson, C., Boivin, N., Chaubey, G., Ditchfield, P.Fuller, D.Q., James, H., Jones, S., Kivisild, T., Koshy, J., Lahr, M.M., Metspalu, M., P. Miracle Roberts, R. & Arnold, L.. 2009. Late Pleistocene origins of microlithic technology in South Asia: archaeology, genetics and environment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA.Google Scholar
Prasad, K.N. 1996. Pleistocene cave fauna from peninsular India. Journal of Caves and Karst Studies 58: 30–4.Google Scholar
Richerson, P.J. & Boyd, R.. 2005 Not by genes alone. Chicago (IL): University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Roberts, B. & Jones, R.. 1994. Luminescence dating of sediments: new light on the human colonization of Australia. Australian Aboriginal Studies 2: 2–17.Google Scholar
Robertson, G. & Attenbrow, V.. 2008. Skin-working at Emu Tracks 2, New South Wales, Australia: an integrated residue and use-wear analysis of backed artefacts. Lithic Technology 33(1): 31–49.Google Scholar
Sali, S.A. 1989. The Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic cultures of Maharashtra. Pune: Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute.Google Scholar
Sarma, I.K. 1968. Painted pottery from Pusalpadu - Andhra Pradesh and further explorations in the Cuddapah and Kurnool districts. Indica 4: 75–94.Google Scholar
Seong, C. 2008. Tanged points, microblades and Late Palaeolithic hunting in Korea. Antiquity 82: 871–87.Google Scholar
Shennan, S.J. 2002. Genes, memes and human history: Darwinian archaeology and cultural evolution. London: Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
Thimma Reddy, K. 1980. Billa Surgam: an Upper Palaeolithic cave site in southern India. Asian Perspectives 20: 206–20.Google Scholar
Tixier, J. 1963. Typologie de l'Epipaléolithique du Maghreb. Paris: CRAPE 2.Google Scholar
Torrence, R. 1989. Re-tooling: towards a behavioral theory of stone tools, in Torrence, R. (ed.) Time, energy and stone tools: 57–66. Cambridge: University of Cambridge.Google Scholar