Archaeology & Prehistory
Attirampakkam: early Middle Palaeolithic transition
c. 385,000-172,000 yaPalaeolithic homininsAttirampakkam sitePan-Indian / unspecified
385,000 years ago
Thousands of Levallois-technique tools, pushing back the Middle Palaeolithic in India by ~200,000 years.
- Dated
- 385,000–172,000 years ago
- As scholars put it
- c. 385,000-172,000 ya
- Originator
- Palaeolithic hominins
- Source text
- Attirampakkam site
- Region
- Pan-Indian / unspecified
- Discipline
- Archaeology & Prehistory
- Evidence
- Documented
- Confidence
- Medium
- Verification
- Verified-web
Meanwhile in the West
Similar tool transitions occurred in Africa around the same era.
Fair to say
The classification and its migration implications are debated by some archaeologists (e.g. whether it is truly Middle Palaeolithic).
Path to modern innovation
Reframes debates on human dispersal into Asia.
Builds on
Transmission
Suggests early spread of advanced tool-making, possibly before modern humans left Africa.
References
- 1Akhilesh, Pappu et al., Nature (2018)
Further reading
Corrections and additional sources: edit IND-156 on GitHub.