On the Late Pliocene stone tools of the Quranwala Zone, north-west sub-Himalayas, India

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3603448
AutoresVidwan Singh Soni (Punjabi University, autor correspondente), Anujot Singh Soni (Punjabi University)
Ano2017
Volume91
Fascículo357
Data de publicação2017-06-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAntiquity (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0003-598X • E-ISSN: 1745-1744
EditoraAntiquity Publications (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.15184/aqy.2017.43
OpenAlexW2622528961
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas4

A recent study of the Quranwala Zone (QZ) of the north-west sub-Himalayas, India, presents evidence for anthropic activity during the Pliocene that includes a number of stone tools found in association with fossil animal bones with cut marks. Based on the date of the Pliocene rock outcrop, the tools and bones are suggested to date from 2.6 Ma (Gaillard et al. 2016). There is, however, a question mark over the context of these tools within an outcrop of Pliocene rocks and, hence, over the date of these tools and the fossil bones. The trench from which they were excavated at Masol 2 (Gaillard et al.2016: fig. 3) lies in a depression at the bottom of a slope; the description provided in section 2 of the paper by Gaillard et al. (2016) suggests that the stone tools may not have been in situ within the Pliocene levels, but had accumulated there and were mixed with the fragments of fossil bone due to geological processes. Moreover, many of the stone tools, such as the 'simple choppers' found in association with the fossil animal bones (Gaillard et al.2016: figs 6, 8, 9), are usually found on much more recent sites and are therefore unlikely to date from 2.6 Ma

Archaeology · Context (archaeology · Geography · Outcrop · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Geology · Paleontology · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology