**3. Middle Paleolithic**

The early Middle Paleolithic appears to begin before 385 Ka [58] and is characterized by a gradual transition from large bifaces to small bifaces, before they disappear completely during the later Middle Paleolithic. In fact, the region allegedly preserves the youngest diminutive bifaces in the world (see [37, 78]), although this requires verification through more contextual and geochronological research across the Subcontinent as earlier U-Th dates need to be revised (e.g. [5]). The changing toolkit also includes the introduction of different reduction strategies and

**Figure 8.**

*Multiple perspectives of three Levallois flakes from the Son Valley, north-central India (pic courtesy: Shashi Mehra).*

### *Pleistocene Archaeology - Migration, Technology, and Adaptation*

the emergence of prepared cores, points and blade elements (**Figures 8** and **9**). In fact, Middle Paleolithic points, which are first evident at 385 Ka at Attirampakkam, continue to occur in younger (Late Pleistocene) contexts as well [34, 36]. Late Pleistocene contexts and sites are more widespread but also remain inadequately dated. Recent examples of new and previously-known sites that were dated for the first time include Attirampakkam in Tamil Nadu where the later Middle Paleolithic ends at 73 Ka [58], Dhaba in Madhya Pradesh ([41, 79]), the Middle Paleolithic site of Sandhav in Gujarat [36] and Fa-Hien Lena in Sri Lanka [62]; the Sri Lankan evidence has been reported as the oldest known bow-and-arrow technology outside Africa at 48 Ka, making it contemporary with the microliths at Dhaba (also 48 Ka) and Mehtakheri which is 45 Ka [45]. The primary reason for the increase in such dates is the growing application of refined or new luminescence techniques as well as radiocarbon methods. The youngest Middle Paleolithic evidence has been

#### **Figure 9.**

*Dorsal and ventral sides of three Levallois and Levallois-like points from the Son Valley, north-central India (pic courtesy: Shashi Mehra).*

**47**

**Figure 10.**

*Diverse artifact types from the Soanian site of Toka in Siwalik Hills of northern India.*

*Human Evolution in the Center of the Old World: An Updated Review of the South Asian…*

dated to 38 Ka in southern India [56] and as with the Acheulean, Middle Paleolithic assemblages have been reported from throughout the Subcontinent with (more or

Preliminary compilation of published data shows a minimum of 750 occurrences of Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age sites and site-complex across India. While earlier researchers have identified Middle Paleolithic sites based on the absence of bifaces, dominance of flake-based assemblages and the presence of Levallois elements, some regions do not preserve a clear signature of this phase. For example, most of the enigmatic 'Soanian' evidence (**Figure 10**) in the Siwalik Hills region appears to variably comprise contemporaneous Mode 1 and Mode 3 technologies [4]. No absolute dates for that tradition/adaptation are yet available from excavated or stratified contexts and the only two earlier-dated occurrences in the Siwalik Hills of Pakistan [31] and Nepal [59] have *not* been classified as *Soanian*. Likewise in other regions, the Middle Paleolithic evidence may be equally undiagnostic or ambiguous and not necessarily absent. Based on current evidence, specific diagnostic attributes such as preferential Levallois elements and points do not appear to be as abundant or geographically widespread as expected. That being said, most of the earliest dispersals of *Homo sapiens* may not be typo-technologically diagnostic as seen with the younger technologies in the archeological record. In fact, the initial arrival of *Homo sapiens* continues to be debated based on archaeology (advanced Middle Paleolithic vs. microlithic) and genetic studies on indigenous groups [80]. Future surveys aimed at filling key geographic and stratigraphic contexts may gradually change this pattern. Over the last few decades, this technology has been increasingly thought to be associated with the initial arrival of *Homo sapiens* by various researchers, some of the most recent being the Jwalapuram evidence from southern India dated to ~77 [55], the Kataoti and Sandhav evidence from western India respectively

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94265*

less) the same geographic exceptions.

*Human Evolution in the Center of the Old World: An Updated Review of the South Asian… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94265*

dated to 38 Ka in southern India [56] and as with the Acheulean, Middle Paleolithic assemblages have been reported from throughout the Subcontinent with (more or less) the same geographic exceptions.

Preliminary compilation of published data shows a minimum of 750 occurrences of Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age sites and site-complex across India. While earlier researchers have identified Middle Paleolithic sites based on the absence of bifaces, dominance of flake-based assemblages and the presence of Levallois elements, some regions do not preserve a clear signature of this phase. For example, most of the enigmatic 'Soanian' evidence (**Figure 10**) in the Siwalik Hills region appears to variably comprise contemporaneous Mode 1 and Mode 3 technologies [4]. No absolute dates for that tradition/adaptation are yet available from excavated or stratified contexts and the only two earlier-dated occurrences in the Siwalik Hills of Pakistan [31] and Nepal [59] have *not* been classified as *Soanian*. Likewise in other regions, the Middle Paleolithic evidence may be equally undiagnostic or ambiguous and not necessarily absent. Based on current evidence, specific diagnostic attributes such as preferential Levallois elements and points do not appear to be as abundant or geographically widespread as expected. That being said, most of the earliest dispersals of *Homo sapiens* may not be typo-technologically diagnostic as seen with the younger technologies in the archeological record. In fact, the initial arrival of *Homo sapiens* continues to be debated based on archaeology (advanced Middle Paleolithic vs. microlithic) and genetic studies on indigenous groups [80]. Future surveys aimed at filling key geographic and stratigraphic contexts may gradually change this pattern. Over the last few decades, this technology has been increasingly thought to be associated with the initial arrival of *Homo sapiens* by various researchers, some of the most recent being the Jwalapuram evidence from southern India dated to ~77 [55], the Kataoti and Sandhav evidence from western India respectively

**Figure 10.** *Diverse artifact types from the Soanian site of Toka in Siwalik Hills of northern India.*

dated to 95 Ka [34] and 114 Ka [36], and the Dhaba evidence in north-central India dated to between 79 Ka and 65 Ka [41].
