Late Quaternary sediments dated to between 12.5 and 2.3 ka and associated microlithic occurrences in the central Narmada Basin, Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract

AbstractThe earliest occurrences of microliths in South Asia date back to the Late Pleistocene at Mehtakheri (45 ka) and Dhaba (48 ka) in central India, Jwalapuram 9 in southern India (38 ka), Kana and Mahadebbara in northeastern India (42–25 ka), and Batadomba–Lena (36–35 ka) and Fa Hien Lena (48 ka) in Sri Lanka. Microlithic technology is distributed across the entire Indian subcontinent, and chronologically continues up to the Iron Age and Early Historic periods. This chapter discusses new data acquired from the first author's doctoral research in two districts of Madhya Pradesh (Hoshangabad and Sehore), which are located in the part of the Narmada Basin in central India. We present here preliminary dates from key areas of distribution in order to understand the geochronological contexts of microliths at Pilikarar, Morpani and Gurla-Sukkarwada. Initial dates from these respective occurrences range between 12.5 and 2.3 ka.