A Late Palaeolithic assemblage at Kunjaram, south-east India

Bibliographic Data

ID3371101
AuthorsMalavika Chatterjee (Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute), Kumar Akhilesh (0000-0001-8888-1786, Sharma Centre for Heritage Education India), Shanti Pappu (0000-0003-4786-4968, Sharma Centre for Heritage Education India, corresponding author), Sudha Ravindranath (0000-0002-5269-6527, Government of India), Udayaraj, Udayaraj Udayaraj (National Remote Sensing Centre)
Year2017
Volume91
Issue360
Publication date2017-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAntiquity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-598X • E-ISSN: 1745-1744
PublisherAntiquity Publications (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.15184/aqy.2017.214
OpenAlexW2774999426
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited7

In contrast to the Acheulian and Middle Palaeolithic, the Late Palaeolithic archaeological record of the south-east coast of India is poorly understood (Pappu 2001; Petragliaet al. 2010; Pappuet al. 2011). Considerable uncertainty surrounds the definition of the blade-based microlithic or non-Levallois, flake-based assemblages, largely as a result of the lack of chronometric dates from excavated sites and due to the paucity of lithic studies (Pappu 2001). The Late Palaeolithic is a crucial period in relation to questions about the dispersals of anatomically modern humans across India and Sri Lanka (Petragliaet al. 2010; Mellarset al. 2013; Robertset al. 2015) and regional evolutionary trajectories of blade technologies. Here, we present an overview of the site complex of Kunjaram (KJ) in the Kortallaiyar River Basin, Tamil Nadu, south-east India. This represents one of the 43 Late Palaeolithic sites documented in this region (Pappuet al. 2010). While analysis of the lithics from other sites continues, we focus here on the lithic assemblage from KJ-3 because of its good preservation and potential to yield information on all stages of the reduction sequence, as well as its geographic proximity to the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic site of Attirampakkam, which would enable the construction of regional cultural sequences

Archaeology · Assemblage (archaeology · Biology · Blade (archaeology · Flake · Geography · Lithic technology · Period (music · Stone tool · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Geology · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access