On Delhi’s Palaeolithic Trails: Reinvestigations into the Prehistoric Landscape of the Northern Aravallis

Malavika Chatterjee1* and Akash Srinivas2

Delhi, India’s capital and its surrounding region, are seldom associated with the Palaeolithic and remains underrepresented in the broader discussions of the South Asian Lower Palaeolithic. Yet, evidence of prehistoric occupation has been documented since the 1950s through sporadic discoveries along the Delhi ridge, the northernmost extension of the Aravallis. A massive survey conducted in the 1980s by Chakrabarti and Lahiri reported over forty archaeological sites spanning from the Lower Palaeolithic to the microlithic, suggesting long-term, possibly recurrent, hominin occupation in the region. The current study reinvestigates these sites through renewed field explorations and reevaluates the previously collected lithic assemblages through a robust typo-technological and reduction sequence analysis. Preliminary observations indicate a dominance of medium to large flakes and low frequencies of cores, bifaces, and retouched tools. Additionally, opportunistic exploitation of locally available quartzite colluvial clasts is noted. Overall, these attributes broadly align with the Mode 2 technological assessment of the South Asian Palaeolithic. Our study reveals that variability in the reduction strategies was misrepresented by the cultural classification of the assemblage, suggesting that established nomenclatures often prioritise tool morphology over technological processes, thereby obscuring technological variability and skewing technological classification. The project also addresses the rampant loss of archaeological contexts due to urban expansion in the region. As a part of this effort, the artefacts are digitised and developed into 3D models for an open-access digital repository, ensuring their long-term preservation and facilitating comparative research within the global Palaeolithic record.