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2.2 - Early Palaeolithic of Central and Northern Asia

from V. - East Asia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2014

By
Michael v. Shunkov
Edited by
Colin Renfrew  and
Paul Bahn
Michael v. Shunkov
Affiliation:
Russian Academy of Sciences
Colin Renfrew
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

Lower Palaeolithic

The latest available archaeological, anthropological and genetic evidence suggests that Africa is the motherland of humankind. The most ancient human sites with stone tools of the Oldowan type dating from 2.6 to 2.0 Ma are located mostly in the area of the East African Rift. Around 2 Ma, early hominins crossed the boundaries of Africa and colonised a considerable portion of Eurasia. The earliest human populations of the first migration wave seem to have moved along two major routes: via the Near East to southern Europe, including the Mediterranean Sea and the Caucasus Mountains, and via West Asia towards the east (Derevianko & Shunkov 2005). The eastern route is likely to have had two main branches: along the southern slopes of the Himalayas and Tibet across the Indian Subcontinent to East and Southeast Asia, and via the Middle Eastern Plateaus to the central and northern regions of Asia.

According to the latest data, based on the oldest Palaeolithic finds from the loess soil deposits of Tadzhikistan (Kuldara, Khonako II, Obi-Mazar-6), the appearance of Homo erectus in central Asia dates to the period between 900 and 600 ka (Ranov & Schaefer 2000; Ranov 2001). It is quite possible that the oldest pebble industries, discovered in the northeastern foothills of Karatau in Kazakhstan (Borykazgan, Tanirkazgan, Akkol) (Alpysbayev 1979), correspond to this period. These industries are characterised by the multiplatform orthogonal cores of unstable shapes, segment-like flakes, massive scraper-like artifacts and large chopping tools of the chopper type.

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The Cambridge World Prehistory , pp. 695 - 706
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

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