Middle Palaeolithic point technologies in the Thar Desert, India

Environments and Cultural Change in the Indian Subcontinent

“…However, the presence of blade technologies among Middle Paleolithic industries is well established in South Asia (e.g., Misra 1982) and recently affirmed through dated studies (e.g., Blinkhorn 2014;Clarkson, Jones, and Harris 2012;Sali et al 1989). Similarly, evaluation of Middle Paleolithic point technologies indicates that their use as projectiles cannot simply be ruled out (Costa 2012), especially considering the diverse forms of point technology within Middle Paleolithic sites (Blinkhorn, Achyuthan, and Ajithprasad 2015).…”

Green Arabia: Human prehistory at the Crossroads of Continents

“…The Thar Desert of India, as part of the mid-latitude belt, is of particular interest in examining wider demographic movements. Blinkhorn et al (2015) have conducted one of the most comprehensive reviews of point technologies in India, suggesting that these forms are a key component of Middle Palaeolithic industries. Moreover, the authors assert that the point technologies share similarities with contemporaneous assemblages in North Africa and Arabia, implying the possibility for dispersals and adaptations to these arid zones (see also Blinkhorn et al, 2013).…”

A transect of environmental variability across South Asia and its influence on Late Pleistocene human innovation and occupation

“…In the last two decades, the Late Pleistocene archaeology of India and Sri Lanka has developed significantly in terms of the number of sites, chronological information, and contextual palaeoenvironmental data available. The Middle Palaeolithic of India is considered to potentially represent the earliest arrival of humans in the Indian subcontinent during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 (128–71 000 cal a BP ) (Petraglia et al , ; Haslam et al , ; Blinkhorn et al , ), supported by inter‐regional perspectives (e.g. Petraglia et al ., ; Groucutt et al , ).…”