Des galets pour les industries paléolithiques de la zone sous-himalayenne

Abstract

Sub-Himalayas are comprised of Pliocene and Pleistocene formations, the Upper Siwaliks, shaped by the still active tectonics and by the Himalayan Rivers and their tributaries building terraces. All these terrains have yielded, at least from surface, Palaeolithic remains, whose ages are difficult to assess precisely. The earliest evidence of human activity probably occurs at the end of Pliocene. Undoubtedly, peopling was not continuous but lithic industries witness each of the main Palaeolithic technical phases. Until the end of the Middle Palaeolithic, technical practices in Sub-Himalayas are consistent with those in Peninsular India, south of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, yet with always more cobble tools, especially in surface collections. Such industries were named Soanian. However, from the time when the so-called “modern” behaviours emerged in Peninsular India, around 45 ka, the Sub-Himalayas continued to accommodate lithic industries with cobble tools in increasing proportion. This makes this region more akin to Southeast Asia, where industries of this time period belong to Hoabinhian tradition, rich in cobble tools, of which the “sumatraliths” are the most significant tool type. The question remains to know which phenomenon induced these diverging technical practices between north and south of the Indo-Gangetic Plain.