Microlithic variation and the Mesolithic occupations of western India

Abstract

Considerable confusion and uncertainty persist on the cultural and chronological contexts of Holocene microlithic assemblages reported from South Asia. The paucity of securely dated sites with microlithic remains has compounded the confusion. Evidence from sites securely attributed to the Mesolithic based on a holistic approach (including direct evidence of plant and animal exploitation strategies) is needed to provide a better understanding of Mesolithic lithic tool-kits. This study uses morphometric and statistical methods to assess the nature of the Holocene hunter-gatherer microlithic tools-kit from a radiometrically secured chronological context at Vaharvo Timbo, a recently excavated Mesolithic site in North Gujarat (India). The assemblage is further compared with the nearby contemporary site of Loteshwar to highlight similarities and differences within hunter-gatherer lithic assemblages, understanding which can provide detailed information about subsistence strategies as well as patterns of settlement and mobility. The results show general standardisation between these two sites regarding raw materials and manufacturing technique but variation in the relative abundance of tool types between these two sites, despite their close proximity, indicating diverse strategies of resource exploitation by the Holocene hunter-gatherer groups in western India.

“Understanding Context rather than Component”: An Assessment of Mayurbhanj Palaeoliths from a Geo-Archaeological Perspective

“…Presence of some of the earliest Lower Palaeolithic, Middle Palaeolithic, and Microlithic cultural remains of Asia, as well as that of the world (Akhilesh et al, 2018;Basak et al, 2014;Blinkhorn et al, 2021;Clarkson et al, 2009;Dennell, 2008;Dennell & Roebroeks, 2005;Dennell et al, 1988;Gadekar et al, 2022;Mishra et al, 1995Mishra et al, , 2013Paddayya et al, 2002;Pappu et al, 2011), have proven that geographical location and diverse climatic condition of the Indian subcontinent had some vital effect on the dispersal of Pleistocene hominins throughout Asia (Chauhan, 2007;Dennell & Roebroeks, 2005). Furthermore, all this evidence indicate that probably India was inhabited by the earliest hominins who developed diverse patterns of adaptation to cope with the diverse climatic condition of this subcontinent (Mishra, 2001(Mishra, , 2014.…”