Archaeology & Prehistory
Attirampakkam: oldest stone tools in India
c. 1.5 million years agoPalaeolithic homininsAttirampakkam site (Tamil Nadu)Tamil Nadu
1.5 million years ago
Acheulean hand-axes and cleavers, among the oldest securely dated stone tools in South Asia.
- Dated
- 1.5 million years ago
- As scholars put it
- c. 1.5 million years ago
- Originator
- Palaeolithic hominins
- Source text
- Attirampakkam site (Tamil Nadu)
- Region
- Tamil Nadu
- Discipline
- Archaeology & Prehistory
- Evidence
- Documented
- Confidence
- High
- Verification
- Verified-web
Meanwhile in the West
Comparable to early Stone Age tools in Africa and Eurasia.
Fair to say
The tool-makers were archaic humans (likely Homo erectus); no hominin fossils were found, so the maker is inferred.
Path to modern innovation
Shows deep-time human presence in India, older than our species.
1.5 million years agoAttirampakkam: oldest stone tools in India
Transmission
First Indian site dated by cosmogenic-nuclide (Al/Be) methods.
References
- 1Pappu et al., Science (2011)
Further reading
Corrections and additional sources: edit IND-155 on GitHub.