Recent Insights into the Raw Material Exploitation during the Lower Palaeolithic in the Northern Upland Deccan and Konkan Region of Peninsular India

Jayendra Jayant Joglekar

The Lower Palaeolithic in India is mostly represented by Large Flake Acheulian technology. The peninsular India has been a hub of early hominin occupation since the Early Pleistocene. A range of raw materials such as quartzite, sandstone, limestone, basalt, dolerite have been used for making Acheulian tools in different parts of peninsular India. In this paper recent observations on the raw material exploitation in Northern Upland Deccan and Konkan region of the peninsular India will be deliberated. Fresh investigations were carried out in the upper Krishna river basin, upper Sina valley, around Khaksar Lake, and Pedambe in last ten years or so. These explorations yielded a good number of Acheulian artefacts made from locally available basalt in different forms, and gabbro at Pedambe. Lower Palaeolithic artefacts such as cleavers, cleaver-flakes, scrapers/knives, large flakes, cores, etc have been collected from varied geomorphic contexts. The presence of large flake-based artefacts confirmed that giant cores were exploited, a few such possible giant cores were observed in the field. Basalt boulders, cobbles, core-stones, slabs were some of the different forms that were utilized for detachment of large flakes. The minor variability in the Acheulian record in this region will be discussed here.