Abstract
India is located at a critical geographic crossroads for understanding the dispersal of Homo sapiens out of Africa and into Asia and Oceania. Here we report evidence for long-term human occupation, spanning the last ~80 thousand years, at the site of Dhaba in the Middle Son River Valley of Central India. An unchanging stone tool industry is found at Dhaba spanning the Toba eruption of ~74 ka (i.e., the Youngest Toba Tuff, YTT) bracketed between ages of 79.6 ± 3.2 and 65.2 ± 3.1 ka, with the introduction of microlithic technology ~48 ka. The lithic industry from Dhaba strongly resembles stone tool assemblages from the African Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Arabia, and the earliest artefacts from Australia, suggesting that it is likely the product of Homo sapiens as they dispersed eastward out of Africa.
Highlights
IntroductionWe report evidence for long-term human occupation, spanning the last ~80 thousand years, at the site of Dhaba in the Middle Son River Valley of Central India
India is located at a critical geographic crossroads for understanding the dispersal of Homo sapiens out of Africa and into Asia and Oceania
India is a focus of intense debate concerning the timing of the arrival of Homo sapiens, the material culture signature of modern human occupation, the nature of replacement of archaic populations, and the impact of the ~74 ka YTT volcanic eruption on hominin populations
Summary
We report evidence for long-term human occupation, spanning the last ~80 thousand years, at the site of Dhaba in the Middle Son River Valley of Central India. The lithic industry from Dhaba strongly resembles stone tool assemblages from the African Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Arabia, and the earliest artefacts from Australia, suggesting that it is likely the product of Homo sapiens as they dispersed eastward out of Africa. African MSA technology comprised of Levallois and point technology[10,11,12], or entered the subcontinent around 50–60 ka with Howiesons Poort microlithic technology[13] While this debate is pivotal to understanding the archaeological signature of modern humans throughout the region, the reality is that very few sites in India are dated to the crucial time period between 80 and 50 ka, reliable evidence with which to test competing hypotheses is scarce. The Dhaba locality provides a detailed archaeological sequence for the Middle Son Valley in a crucial time range of c.80–40 ka, and is positioned chronologically between the early Middle Palaeolithic/
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