C. Shipton et al., in Recent Advances in Acheulian Culture Studies in India
(K.Paddayya and S.G. Deo Eds.), pp. 23-36 [2014]
© Indian Society for Prehistoric and Quaternary Studies, Pune
Empirical Differences between the Earlier and Later Acheulian in India
Ceri Shipton,.S. Mishra1, K. Paddayya1, Sushama G. Deo1, J.N. Pal2, N. Roseboom3, C. Gaillard3,
M.C. Gupta2 and Y. Hou4
School of Social Science
University of Queensland
Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
E-mail: c.shipton@uq.edu.au
1. Department of Archaeology, Deccan College, Pune 411006, India
2. Department of Ancient History, Culture and Archaeology, University of Allahabad,
Allahabad 211002, India
3. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Departement de Prehistoire du
Museum national d’histoire naturelle, 1 rue rene Panhard, 75013 Paris, France
4. Institute of Vetebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of
Sciences, 142 Xizhimenwai Street, Beijing 100044, P.R. China
Abstract
The Indian Acheulian is now known to have endured for around one and a half million years.
Several authors have identified temporal patterns in behaviour, particularly in relation to
shaped bifaces, which may be discerned over this vast timescale. These chronological trends
include a decrease in mean biface size; an increase in the relative thinness of bifaces; a
decrease in the elongation of bifaces; an increase in biface flake scar density; a decrease in
the shape variation of bifaces; an increase in the size variation of bifaces; a decrease in the
proportion of bifaces in an assemblage; an increase in the use of flake blanks; and an increase
in the use of cryptocrystalline materials. Here we statistically test these patterns by
comparing a series of four earlier Acheulian assemblages from Isampur, Morgaon, Chirki-onPravara and Singi Talav with a series of four later Acheulian assemblages from Teggihalli
II,Mudnur X, Bhimbetka IIIF-23, and Patpara. Our results indicate that many of the proposed
patterns are real, and we offer some interpretations as to what they represent for the evolution
of hominin behaviour and cognition.
Introduction
Since Robert Bruce Foote’s discovery of
Acheulian bifaces at Pallavaram and
Attirampakkam 150 years ago, hundreds
of Acheulian sites have been found across
India (Mishra 1994). In the last 25 years
the advancement of dating techniques has
allowed for the upper and lower time
limits of the Indian Acheulian to be
ascertained in absolute years. Firstly,
Uranium-Thorium dating of calcrete in
association with artefacts at several sites
pushed the age of the Acheulian back
beyond 350 thousand years (Mishra 1995).
Argon-Argon dating of Toba tephra
associated with heavy duty picks at Bori
increased the age to 670 thousand years
(Mishra et al. 1995). Electron Spin
Resonance (ESR) dating of bovid teeth
from Acheulian levels at Isampur produced
a date of 1.27 Ma (Blackwell et al. 2001).
Most recently, cosmogeneic dating of the
deep levels at Attirampakkam yielded
some of the oldest dates for the Acheulian
in the world, with a mean age of 1.51 Ma
(Pappu et al. 2011), but possibly as old as
1.77 Ma. At the other end of the spectrum
three Acheulian sites in the Son Valley
have been dated with Optically Stimulated
Luminescence (OSL) to just 140-131 Kyr
making them among the youngest
Recent Advances in Acheulian Culture Studies in India
Acheulian found anywhere in the world
(Haslam et al., 2011; Shipton et al., in
press). The duration of the Acheulian in
India is thus approximately 1.5 million
years; 10,000 times longer than the
eventful 150 years since Bruce Foote’s
first Acheulian discovery.
Given this vast timescale it is
unsurprising that several researchers have
suggested there may be temporal trends in
the Indian Acheulian (Misra 1978; Gaillard
et al. 1986; Mishra 2007; Paddayya 2007;
Shipton et al. 2009a; Shipton 2013). The
observed patterns usually relate to the
diagnostic artefacts of the Acheulian, the
shaped bifaces that we call handaxes and
cleavers. The trends include a decrease in
mean biface size but an increase in the
relative thinness of bifaces; a decrease in
the elongation of bifaces but an increase in
biface flake scar density and a decrease in
the shape variation of bifaces but an
increase in the size variation of bifaces;
and an increase in the use of flake blanks
and cryptocrystalline materials. While
these trends have been noted, there has
been relatively little statistical testing;
hence they remain somewhat tentative.
The goal of this article is to quantitatively
compare these variables across a sample of
earlier and later Acheulian assemblages.
While the chronology of the Indian
Acheulian is not yet refined enough to
confidently assign ages to many individual
sites, a few assemblages can at least be
divided into earlier and later groups
(Gaillard et al. 2010a). Palaeomagnetic
chronologies have enabled assignation of
some sites to one side or the other of the
Matuyama-Brunhes polarity switch 0.78
Ma ago. In this study we use this
convenient boundary, lying approximately
halfway through the Indian Acheulian, to
divide our assemblages into two groups.
The Key Sites (Fig. 1)
Isampur
Isampur is located in the Hunsgi Valley in
Karnataka, on the eastern edge of the
Deccan plateau, roughly in the centre of
peninsula India (Paddayya and Petraglia
1997). The site occurs on a siliceous
limestone pediment on the western edge of
24
a 2-3 m deep palaeo-drainage channel that
has silted up since the hominin occupation
(Paddayya et al. 1999; Petraglia et al.
1999). Acheulian artefacts were discovered
here by Paddayya in 1982-83 field season
after much of the black and brown clayey
silts overlying the limestone pediment
were removed to serve as fill material for
the embakment of an irrigation canal. The
artefacts occur in a thin horizon (15 - 30
cm), set in a hard matrix of carbonate rich
brown silt lying on the bedrock.
Taphonomic study attests to the high
integrity of the site, particularly Trench 1,
as proved by the non-rounded condition of
artefacts and natural clasts, presence of
very small artefacts (< 1 cm3) and
horizontal orientation of the artefacts. ESR
dating of two fossilized Bos teeth put the
age of hominin occupation at Isampur at
1.2 ± 0.17 Ma, assuming a linear uptake
model (Paddayya et al. 2002). The
limestone bedrock weathers in a
predictable way leaving joint-bounded
slabs of thicknesses varying from 2 to 20
cm. The slab pieces from bedrock at
Isampur were being pried out by hominins
for lithic manufacture. The larger slabs
were being used as giant cores for
obtaining cleaver blanks, while the smaller
slabs were being shaped into handaxes
(Shipton et al. 2009b).
Teggihalli II
Teggihalli II is located in the Baichbal
Valley, about 200 m from the Doddahalla
stream. Here Acheulian artefacts, mostly
of limestone, and a small amount of fossil
fauna were found in a discrete patch,
within a brown clayey silt matrix
(Paddayya 2007). Farming activities and
the resultant soil erosion resulted in the
recent deflation of the overlying deposits,
but the artefacts were still buried by a
metre of sediment and appeared to be
undisturbed. A Uranium-Thorium date on
a fossilized tooth from the cultural layer
produced an age of 287 Kyr (Szabo et al.
1990). Unlike Isampur and some other
sites in the Hunsgi and Baichbal Valleys
where artefacts lay directly on the bedrock
or in the eroding gruss, at Teggihalli the
Empirical Differences between the Earlier and Later Acheulian in India
artefact bearing horizon is separated from
the bedrock by around 1m of culturally
sterile silt (Paddayya 2007).
Fig. 1: The location of the study sites within the Indian Subcontinent. 1. The Hunsgi and
Baichbal Valleys (including Isampur, Teggihalli II and Mudnur X); 2. Morgaon; 3. Chirki-onPravara; 4. Bhimbetka; 5. Patpara; 6. Singi Talav.
Mudnur X
Mudnur X is also located in the Baichbal
Valley, about 2 km upstream from
Teggihalli II where the Tallahalli stream
meets the Doddahalla stream. Three
discrete artefact clusters were found here
in a distinct 10-15 cm thick horizon within
the same brown clayey silt layer that
occurs at Teggihalli II (Paddayya 2007). At
Mudnur X the Acheulian horizon was
some 4 m above the bedrock and 2 m
below the present ground surface. As with
the above mentioned sites from Hunsgi
and Baichbal Valleys, the majority of the
artefacts from Mudnur X were made on
the siliceous limestone that can be found in
the Valley.
basaltic landscape. The site occurs near the
bank of the seasonal Karha river, a
tributary of the Bhima. Excavations at the
site produced large basalt artefacts,
derived from sandy basalt gravels laid
down by flash floods in a braided stream
(Deo et al. 2007; Mishra et al. 2009). The
fresh condition of the excavated artefacts
and the presence of relatively small pieces
indicate the site has not undergone much
post-depositional
disturbance.
A
palaeomagnetic study of the Morgaon
sequence indicates that the deposits fall
within the Matuyama period (Sangode et
al. 2007), while lenses of Toba Tephra
occur
stratigraphically
above
the
Acheulian horizon (Gaillard et al. 2010a).
Morgaon
Morgaon is located in Maharashtra on the
western side of the Deccan plateau in a
Chirki-on-Pravara
The site of Chirki is located on the Pravara
river, near Nevasa town in Maharashtra, in
25
Recent Advances in Acheulian Culture Studies in India
the central part of Deccan plateau.
Acheulian artefacts occur in a basal
colluvial gravel on top of the basalt
bedrock, sealed by a fluvial cross-bedded
gravel, which is in turn capped by a black
fissured clay (Corvinus 1983). While some
of the smaller artefacts may have been
winnowed from the site the bifaces are in
fresh condition and have not undergone
much
post-depositional
transport.
Paleomagnetic study of the black fissured
clay at the site of Laxmi Nala a few
kilometres upstream showed that it
belonged to the Matuyama period.
Therefore the underlying gravels, which
also occur in the Laxmi Nala, may be
assigned to this period as well (Sangode et
al. 2007). A Uranium-Thorium date on
calcrete in the artefact-bearing layer at
Laxmi Nala produced an age of at least
350 Kyr (Gaillard et al. 2010b). The
artefacts from Chirki are made of basalt an amygdaloidal basalt available at the site
and a more compact basalt from a dyke
several kilometres away (Corvinus 1983).
Bhimbetka IIIF-23
Bhimbetka is a complex of sandstone
rockshelters on the northern edge of the
Vindhayan hills in Madhya Pradesh.
Rockshelter IIIF-23 is one of the largest in
the complex and excavation here produced
a continuous 3.5 m deep sequence
spanning from the microlithic to the
Acheulian period (Misra 1978). Three
Acheulian-bearing layers (6, 7 and 8) were
exposed and these measured around 2.4 m
in total thickness. The presence of
occasional handaxes and cleavers in the
Middle Palaeolithic assemblage of layer 5,
together with the presence of Levallois
technology in Layer 6, indicates a gradual
transition from the Acheulian to the
Middle Palaeolithic at the site (Misra
1978). The Acheulian artefacts are similar
in character throughout the sequence so
the industry may be broadly assigned to
the Late Acheulian. The artefacts are in
very fresh condition and occur in
horizontally bedded floors indicating they
were deposited in situ by hominins
occupying the shelter. Nearly all artefacts
were made on orange quartzitic sandstone,
26
with the bifaces made on a purplish iron
rich variety that is particularly hard, while
the smaller artefacts were made on a
yellowish softer variety (Misra 1978). The
yellowish quartzitic sandstone is available
on and around the shelter while the
purplish variety occurs as a discrete vein
some distance away. The cortex on some
of the cleavers is weathered, showing that
the purplish quartzite was obtained from
the regolith, similarly to the nearby site of
Adamgarh (Joshi 1964).
Patpara
Patpara is another transitional Acheulian to
Middle Palaeolithic assemblage from a site
in the Son valley in Madhya Pradesh. The
Son river flows northwards and eastwards
from the Vindhyan and Maikal hills of
central India, and is a major tributary of
the Ganga. The site occurs on the northern
side of an east-west trending quartzitic
sandstone ridge in the middle part of the
Son valley (Blumenschine et al. 1983).
Associated Acheulian
and
Middle
Palaeolithic artefacts were excavated from
red-brown gravelly and sandy clays, at
three different localities (Shipton et al., in
press). The artefacts are very fresh and
have undergone minimal post-depositional
transport although they may have clustered
in local topographic lows (Blumenschine
et al. 1983). Statistically indistinguishable
OSL ages of 137 and 140 Kyr were
obtained from two Acheulian bearing
horizons at Patpara locality III (Haslam et
al. 2011). The artefacts are made both on
the local quartzitic sandstone of the ridge
and from chert probably obtained from the
Kaimur Hills several kilometres away.
Singi Talav
On the edge of the Thar desert in western
Rajasthan, hominin occupation has been
observed around the Didwana palaeo-lake.
In the Singi Talav depression, 2 km south
of Didwana town, two levels of Acheulian
occupation were exposed and these were
interpreted as occurring on a lakeshore
(Misra et al. 1982). The same lacustrine
deposits occur at the site of Amarpura 3
km to the west of Didwana where they are
particularly thick, with the Acheulian
Empirical Differences between the Earlier and Later Acheulian in India
artefacts also occurring in the upper
Amarpura section (Gaillard et al. 1986).
The upper part of the Amarpura lacustrine
sequence was dated by ESR to 797 Kyr
(Kailath et al. 2000), and based on
stratigraphic correlation (Gaillard 1985)
this is regarded as a minimum date for the
Acheulian layers at Singi Talav (Gaillard
et al. 2010b). The Singi Talav artefacts are
in fresh condition and there is little
difference between the two occupation
layers except in the proportions of artefact
types (Gaillard et al. 2010b). Bifaces from
Singi Talav were made on schistose
quartzite slabs, small flake tools were
struck from a different homogenous
quartzite; and polyhedrons, spheroids and
hammerstones were made on a coarsegrained quartzite.
Table 1: Comparison of mean values for length, refinement, elongation and flake scar density
between earlier and later assemblages
Volume
Refinement
Elongation
Flake scar
density
Age
Earlier
Later
Earlier
Later
Earlier
Later
Earlier
Later
N
178
111
178
111
178
111
178
110
Mean
284567
128721
0.5657
0.4429
1.5890
1.4848
0.1028
0.2029
SD
209066
76750
0.12706
0.09841
0.25574
0.20267
0.05106
0.12792
Significance
P<0.001
P<0.001
P<0.001
P<0.001
Table 2. The relationship (r2 linear) between biface dimensions for each assemblage
Isampur
Morgaon
Chirki
SingiTalav
Teggihalli II
Mudnur X
Bhimbetka
Patpara
Length-Width
0.54
0.101
0.544
0.542
0.777
0.577
0.351
0.774
Length-Thickness
0.459
0.301
0.422
0.687
0.439
0.34
0.003
0.684
Analysis
The assemblages were divided into two
groups for statistical analyses. The first
group of assemblages older than 780 Kyr
comprised Isampur, Morgaon, Chirki and
Singi Talav; the second group of
assemblages younger than 780 Kyr
comprised Teggihalli II, Mudnur X,
Bhimbetka IIIF-23 and Patpara.
All
bifaces were measured for Isampur, Singi
Talav, Teggihalli II, Mudnur X and
Patpara, while samples of over 30 bifaces
were taken for Chirki, Morgaon and
Bhimbetka IIIF-23.
Width-Thickness
0.435
0.002
0.297
0.439
0.406
0.283
0.01
0.497
For illustrating the variation in biface
length, thickness to width ratio, length to
width ratio, and flake scar density we
created box plots of each variable by
assemblage (Figs. 2-5). These figures
show that bifaces from the younger
assemblages tend to be smaller, relatively
thinner, less elongate, and have higher
flake scar densities. These are not hard
and fast rules as there are exceptions with
Mudnur X having thicker and more
elongate bifaces than those of Morgaon,
while the Bhimbetka bifaces have low
flake scar densities.
Despite these
27
Recent Advances in Acheulian Culture Studies in India
exceptions there are clearly discernible
patterns in these variables, so we tested the
significance of the difference in mean
values for the early and late bifaces (Table
1). Unequal variances t-tests produced
highly significant differences between
earlier and later bifaces for each of the
variables (Table 1).
Fig. 2: Box plot of biface volume in cubic millimetres. Horizontal lines show the median
value, boxes show interquartile range, bars show the 90th and 10th percentiles. Open circles
denote outliers defined as 1.5 to 3 times the interquartile range beyond the interquartile range,
while asterisks denote outliers greater than 3 times the interquartile range. Assemblages are
ordered by mean value.
Fig. 2 shows the variation in biface
volume for each of the assemblages with
Isampur having the highest variation in
volume. We used a D’AD test to test the
difference in the coefficient of variation
(standard deviation divided by the mean)
between the early and late assemblages
28
and found that the higher variation in the
earlier Acheulian sample could be due to
chance (p=0.1). In addition the sample
could be biased by the fact that Isampur is
a quarry and manufacturing locale and
may contain both newly made and worn
out bifaces.
Empirical Differences between the Earlier and Later Acheulian in India
Fig. 3: Box plot of biface thickness to width ratio (refinement)
To explore changing patterns of blank
preference we plotted blank type by site
(Fig. 6). Fig. 6 shows that most of the
later assemblages are dominated by flake
blanks, while the earlier assemblages, with
the exception of Morgaon, have more of a
mixture of blanks. A chi-squared test
comparing blank types between the earlier
and later assemblages was significant at
the p<0.001 level, suggesting that there is
a strong preference for flake blanks over
cobbles and slabs in the later Acheulian
(cobbles and slabs were grouped together
for this test).
To test the hypothesis that there was a
preference for cryptocrystalline materials
in the later Acheulian we conducted a
Fisher’s Exact test on the frequency of
bifaces
made
on
cryptocrystalline
materials (such as chert and quartz) versus
those made on microcrystalline materials
(such as quartzite, limestone, basalt,
dolerite and schist) (Table 3). The test
showed that there is no significant
difference (p=0.4129) in the selection of
these materials for biface manufacture
between the earlier and later traditions.
29
Recent Advances in Acheulian Culture Studies in India
Fig. 4: Box plot of biface length to width ratio (elongation)
Fig. 5: Box plot of biface flake scar density in scars per square cm
30
Empirical Differences between the Earlier and Later Acheulian in India
Fig. 6: Blank type by assemblage
Table 3: The frequency of bifaces made
on microcrystalline and cryptocrystalline
materials for the earlier and later
Acheulian
Earlier Later
Microcrystalline
176
111
Cryptocrystalline
7
7
Discussion
In the forgoing pages we have assessed
purported trends in the Indian Acheulian
using quantitative analyses. Our results
show that some of the trends, such as
increasing biface shape standardization
and an increasing preference for
cryptocrystalline materials in biface
manufacture, are illusory. It could be that
cryptocrystalline materials were being
favoured for tools other than bifaces, but
that is beyond the scope of this article.
Most of the previously identified trends in
Acheulian bifaces are however supported
by the above analyses. There are often
exceptions within these trends which
indicate that we are not dealing with
absolute distinctions but only general
trends that may be influenced by multiple
aspects of behaviour.
The metric analyses revealed four
important temporal distinctions in
Acheulian bifaces: later bifaces tend to be
smaller, relatively thinner and shorter, and
have higher flake scar densities (Fig. 7).
While there are exceptions to these trends,
in combination they are reliable indicators
of whether a biface assemblage belongs to
the earlier or later Acheulian.
31
Recent Advances in Acheulian Culture Studies in India
Fig. 7: A cleaver from Morgaon (above) and a handaxe from Patpara (below). Note the
differences in flake scar density and thinness between the two.
The decrease in size and the increase in
flake scar density may reflect greater
reduction of bifaces in the later Acheulian.
As bifaces are flaked they will accrue
more flake scars whilst their volume is
reduced. This is particularly true of
bifaces made on flake blanks which start
out with few flake scars. Bifaces which
are small because they are heavily reduced
will have high flake scar densities, but
those that are small because they are made
on small flakes or clasts will not (Shipton
2011). The later Acheulian bifaces with
high scar densities from Teggihalli II,
Mudnur X and Patpara are thus small
because they are highly reduced.
Increased reduction may have a number of
non-mutually exclusive explanations.
32
Knapping actions are not rigid
templates imposed on the stone, but rather
represent dynamic outgrowths resulting
from a practical understanding of the
changing stone morphology and its
potentials (Roux and Brill 2005). Flake
scar density reflects the number of flaking
decisions made while repeatedly reevaluating the object in order to arrive at a
target form. Greater flake scar densities
on bifaces indicate greater employment of
dynamic planning. Increased reduction
may also reflect enhanced re-sharpening of
bifaces as a result of greater curation. In
the Hunsgi and Baichbal valleys the
bifaces from Teggihalli II and Mudnur X
occur further away from their raw material
sources than those at Isampur and other
Empirical Differences between the Earlier and Later Acheulian in India
sites with large, low scar density bifaces
(Shipton 2013). It has been suggested that
biface re-sharpening preferentially reduces
the tip (McPherron 2006), which may be
one explanation for why later bifaces are
less elongate. Alternatively the shift away
from elongate bifaces may reflect cultural
divergence from the ancestral African
Acheulian, which is characterized by more
elongate bifaces. A pattern supported by
this study is the increasing preference for
flake blanks in the later Acheulian. This
may reflect the increasing use of prepared
core techniques for the production of
standardized flakes.
In India and
elsewhere, the later Acheulian is often
associated with prepared core techniques,
foreshadowing the preference for small
prepared cores in the succeeding Middle
Palaeolithic period (DeBono and GorenInbar 2001; Petraglia et al. 2003; Sharon
and Beaumont 2006). The use of core
preparation again suggests greater
planning in the later Acheulian.
Bifaces in the later Indian Acheulian
are relatively thinner than those of the
earlier Acheulian. This temporal pattern
has been observed across assemblages
throughout the Acheulian world (Shipton
2013). Producing a thin tool is perhaps the
most challenging aspect of biface
manufacture. A thin biface often requires
the production of a large, thin flake blank.
This involves careful preparation of a large
core and striking a precise forceful blow at
such an angle as to facilate the removal of
a large flake, without either shattering the
stone or striking ineffectually (Edwards
2001). Alternatively, producing a thin
lenticular profile from an amorphous
nodule or a rounded cobble is equally
challenging, as the starting form is far
removed from the end goal. Making a thin
biface requires sufficiently invasive flakes
to be struck to thin the piece whilst
maintaining adequate width for an
extensive cutting edge (Callahan 1990).
This may involve using soft hammers at
the later stages of reduction and careful
platform preparation. Step fractures must
also be avoided or removed to allow flakes
to travel across the surface (Edwards
2001). The smaller and thinner a biface is,
the more liable it is to break due to endshock during manufacture. Avoiding endshock requires delicate and precise flaking,
as well as cushioning the blow by coordinating between the striking hand and
the hand in which the biface is held.
Producing a thin biface thus requires both
planning and dexterity. Due to these
difficulties the thin bifaces typical of the
later Acheulian can only be replicated by
modern knappers after lengthy periods of
practice (Bradley and Sampson 1986;
Edwards 2001). The pattern of thinner
bifaces in the later Acheulian may be
attributed to an evolutionary increase in
hominin skill, with more skilled knappers
being able to flake more delicately and
precisely as well as anticipating and
removing potential barriers to reduction.
A quantitative approach allows
perceived patterns in the archaeological
record to be assessed objectively. In this
article we have demonstrated the veracity
of many proposed temporal trends in the
Indian Acheulian. Our inferences about
the causes of this variation suggest some
trends may relate to evolving hominin
cognition, in particular increases in
planning and dexterity. In other words, the
vast time span of the Indian Acheulian has
the potential to reveal much about the
evolution of the human mind.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank M. Yogesh, Jose
Raphael, Tosabanta Padhan and Burhan
Ahmad for assistance during data
collection. This research was funded by a
University of Queensland Post-Doctoral
Fellowship awarded to CS.
References
Blackwell, B., S. Fevrier, J. Blickstein, K.
Paddayya, M. Petraglia, R. Jhaldiyal
and A. Skinner 2001. Esr Dating of an
Acheulian Quarry Site at Isampur,
India. Journal of Human Evolution
40(3): A3.
Blumenschine, R., S. Brandt and J. Clark
1983. Excavations and Analysis of
Middle Palaeolithic Artifacts from
Patpara,
Madhya
Pradesh,
in
Palaeoenvironments and Prehistory in
33
Recent Advances in Acheulian Culture Studies in India
the Middle Son Valley (Sharma, G.R.,
Clark, J.D. Eds), pp. 39-114.
Allahabad: Abinash Prakashan.
Bradley, B. and C.G. Sampson 1986.
Analysis by Replication of Two
Acheulian Artefact Assemblages, in
Stone Age Prehistory: Studies in
Honour of Charles McBurney (G.
Bailey and P. Callow Eds), pp. 29-45.
Callahan, E. 1990. The Basics of Biface
Knapping in the Eastern Fluted Point
Tradition: A Manual for Flintknappers
and Lithic Analysts. Eastern States
Archeological Federation.
Corvinus, G. 1983. A Survey of the
Pravara River System in Western
Maharashtra, India: The Excavations
of the Acheulian Site of Chirki-onPravara.
Tübingen:
Tübinger
Monographien zur Urgeschichte 7: 2.
Debono, H. and N. Goren-Inbar 2001.
Note on a Link between Acheulian
Handaxes and the Levallois Method.
Journal of the Israel Prehistoric
Society 31: 9-23.
Deo, Sushama, Sheila. Mishra, S. N.
Rajaguru, and Savita Ghate. 2007a.
Antiquity of Acheulian Culture in
Upland
Maharashtra:
A
Geoarchaeological
Approach,
in
Human Origin, Genome and People of
India: Genome, Palaeontological and
Archaeological Evidence (A. R.
Sankhayn and V. R. Rao Eds.), pp.
292-308. Kolkata: Anthropological
Survey of India and Allied Publishers
Pvt. Limited.
Edwards, S.W. 2001. A Modern Knapper’s
Assessment of the Technical Skills of
the Late Acheulian Biface Workers at
Kalambo Falls, in Kalambo Falls
Prehistoric Site (Clark, J. D. Ed.), 3,
pp.
605-611. London: Cambridge
University Press.
Gaillard, C. 1985. Le Site Acheuléen De
Singi-Talav À Didwana, Rajasthan,
Inde in Séance Du 23-X-85:
Archéologie Française à L'étranger,
Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique
Française. Comptes Rendus des
Séances Mensuelles Paris 82(7): 196197.
34
Gaillard, C., S. Mishra, M. Singh, S. Deo
and R. Abbas 2010a. Lower and Early
Middle Pleistocene Acheulian in the
Indian Sub-Continent, Quaternary
International 223: 234-241.
Gaillard, C., S. Mishra, M. Singh, S. Deo
and R. Abbas 2010b. Reply
To:’Comment On Lower and Early
Middle Pleistocene Acheulian in the
Indian Sub-Continent’ by P. Chauhan,
Quaternary International 223: 260264.
Gaillard, C., D. Raju, V. Misra and S.
Rajaguru 1986. Handaxe Assemblages
from the Didwana Region, Thar
Desert, India: A Metrical Analysis,
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society
52: 89-214.
Haslam, M., R.G. Roberts, C. Shipton, J.
Pal, J.L. Fenwick, P. Ditchfield, N.
Boivin, A. Dubey, M. Gupta and M.
Petraglia 2011. Late Acheulian
Hominins at the Marine Isotope Stage
6/5e Transition in North-Central India,
Quaternary Research 75(3): 670-682.
Joshi, R. 1964. Acheulian Succession in
Central India, Asian Perspectives 8 (1):
150-163.
Kailath, A., T. Rao, R. Dhir, K. Nambi, V.
Gogte and A. Singhvi 2000. Electron
Spin Resonance Characterization of
Calcretes from Thar Desert for Dating
Applications, Radiation Measurements
32(4): 371-383.
McPherron, S.P. 2006. What Typology
Can Tell Us about Acheulian Handaxe
Production, in Axe Age: Acheulian
Tool-Making from Quarry to Discard
(N. Goren Inbar and G. Sharon Eds.),
pp. 267-285. London: Equinox.
Mishra, S. 1994. The South Asian Lower
Palaeolithic, Man and Environment
19(1-2): 57-72.
Mishra, S. 1995. Chronology of the Indian
Stone Age: The Impact of Recent
Absolute
and
Relative
Dating
Attempts, Man and Environment 20
(2): 11-16.
Mishra, S. 2007. The Indian Lower
Palaeolithic, Bulletin of the Deccan
College Postgraduate and Research
Institute 66: 47-94.
Empirical Differences between the Earlier and Later Acheulian in India
Mishra, S., S. Deo, R. Abbas, S. Naik, G.
Shete, N. Agrawal and S. Rajaguru
2008. Excavations at the Early
Acheulian
Site
of
Morgaon,
Maharashtra (2000–2007), in Recent
Research Trends in South Asian
Archaeology (Paddayya K., P. P.
Joglekar, K. K. Basa and R. Sawant
Eds.), pp. 121-137. Pune: Deccan
College.
Mishra, S., T. Venkatesan, S. Rajaguru and
B.
Somayajulu
1995.
Earliest
Acheulian Industry from Peninsular
India, Current Anthropology 36(5):
847-851.
Misra, V. N. 1978. The Acheulian Industry
of Rock Shelter IIIF-23 at Bhimbetka,
Central India: A Preliminary Study,
Australian Archaeology (8): 63-106.
Misra, V.N., S.N. Rajaguru, R. Wasson, G.
Singh and D. P. Agrawal 1982. Further
Light
on
Lower
Palaeolithic
Occupation and Palaeoenvironment in
Semi-Arid
Zone of
Rajasthan,
Purātattva 11: 11.
Paddayya, K. 2007. Evolution within the
Acheulian in India: A Case Study from
the Hunsgi and Baichbal Valleys,
Karnataka, Bulletin of the Deccan
College Research Institute 66-67: 95111.
Paddayya, K., B. Blackwell, R. Jhaldiyal,
M. Petraglia, S. Fevrier, D.A.
Chaderton II, I.I.B. Blickstein and A.R.
Skinner 2002. Recent Findings on the
Acheulian of the Hunsgi and Baichbal
Valleys, Karnataka, with Special
Reference to the Isampur Excavation
and Its Dating, Current Science 83(5):
101-107.
Paddayya, K., R. Jhaldiyal and M.D.
Petraglia 1999. Geoarchaeology of the
Acheulian Workshop at Isampur,
Hunsgi Valley, Karnataka, Man and
Environment 24(1): 167-184.
Paddayya, K. and M.D. Petraglia 1997.
Isampur: An Acheulian Workshop Site
in the Hunsgi Valley, Gulbarga
District,
Karnataka,
Man
and
Environment 22 (2): 95-110.
Pappu, S., Y. Gunnell, K. Akhilesh, R.
Braucher, M. Taieb, F. Demory and N.
Thouveny 2011. Early Pleistocene
Presence of Acheulian Hominins in
South India, Science 331(6024): 15961599.
Petraglia, M., P. Laporta and K. Paddayya
1999. The First Acheulian Quarry in
India: Stone Tool Manufacture, Biface
Morphology, and Behaviors, Journal
of Anthropological Research (55): 4170.
Petraglia, M.D., J. Schuldenrein and R.
Korisettar 2003. Landscapes, Activity,
and the Acheulian to Middle
Paleolithic Transition in the Kaladgi
Basin, India, Eurasian Prehistory 1(2):
3-24.
Roux, V. and B. Brill 2005. Stone
Knapping: The Necessary Conditions
for a Uniquely Hominin Behaviour.
Cambridge: McDonald Institute for
Archaeological Research.
Sangode, S., S. Mishra, S. Naik and S.
Deo 2007. Magnetostratigraphy of the
Quaternary Sediments Associated with
Some Toba Tephra and Acheulian
Artefact Bearing Localities in the
Western and Central India, Gondwana
Magazine 10: 111-121.
Sharon, G. and P. Beaumont 2006. Victoria
West: A Highly Standardized Prepared
Core Technology, in Axe age:
Acheulian toolmaking from Quarry to
Discard (N. Goren Inbar and G. Sharon
Eds.), pp. 181-200. London: Equinox.
Shipton, C. 2011. Taphonomy and
Behaviour at the Acheulian Site of
Kariandusi,
Kenya,
African
Archaeological Review 28(2): 141-155.
Shipton, C. 2013. A Million Years of
Hominin Sociality and Cognition:
Acheulian Bifaces in the HunsgiBaichbal Valley, India.
Oxford:
Archaeopress (British Archaeological
Reports).
Shipton, C., C. Clarkson , J.N.Pal ,
S.C.Jones , R.G.Roberts, C. Harris ,
M.C.Gupta , Ditchfield, P.W. and M.D.
Petraglia
2013.
Generativity,
Hierarchical Action and Recursion in
the Acheulian to Middle Palaeolithic
Transition: A Perspective from the Son
Valley, India,
Journal of Human
Evolution
35
Recent Advances in Acheulian Culture Studies in India
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2013
.03.007
Shipton, C., M. Petraglia and K. Paddayya
2009a. Acheulian Biface Refinement in
the
Hunsgi-Baichbal
Valley,
Karnataka, India in Theoretical and
Methodological Issues in Evolutionary
Archaeology: Toward a Unified
Darwinian Paradigm.( H. J. Muscio
and G. E. J. Lopez Eds.) pp. 95-102.
Oxford: Archaeopress.
36
Shipton, C., M. D. Petraglia and K.
Paddayya
2009b.
Stone
Tool
Experiments and Reduction Methods
at the Acheulian Site of Isampur
Quarry, India, Antiquity 83(321): 769785.
Szabo, B., C. Mckinney, T.S. Dalbey and
K. Paddayya 1990. On the Age of the
Acheulian Culture of the HunsgiBaichbal Valleys, Peninsular India,
Bulletin of the Deccan College
Postgraduate and Research Institute
50: 317-321.