In particular, much of the early research in Palaeolithic archaeology in India was carried out by scholars such as de Terra and. Paterson ( 1939), Krishnaswami.
EARTH SCIENCES AND THE LOWER PALAEOLITHIC: RECENT RESEARCH AND fUTURE PROSPECTS S. N. RAJAGURU, S. PAPPU, SUSHAMA DEO and SHEilA MISHRA Introduction
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Ever since the pioneering discovery of prehistoric stone tools by the British , ,· geologist, R. B. Foote in 1863 (Foote ....... .. , . 1866), earth sciences have played a crucial role in the study of Palaeolithic sites in India. In particular, much of ,,..... •. ,. the early research in Palaeolithic ; , ; / archaeology in India was carried out i "'--· ..... by scholars such as de Terra and i -, ! Paterson ( 1939), Krishnaswami (1938) and Zeuner (1950), who were ..!I t'' ~ trained geologists having a good · : knowledge of prehistory. In addition ,, : to this, prehistorians like Cammiade ! and Burkitt (1930) also realized the crucial need to investigate palaeonvironments and to establish the stratigraphic context of prehistoric artefacts. Excellent summaries of the 0 contribution of earth sciences towards understanding Palaeolithic sites are 0 present (Korisettar and Rajaguru 1998, Rajaguru et a/. 1992; Pappu 1995), which summarize the state of Ag. 1. Location map showing sites discussed in the. paper. research till1999. Mishra eta/. (2007) have provided a global review of Lower Palaeolithic understanding of the Indian Acheulian. This paper sites in fluvial contexts. As far as the Lower Palaeolithic focuses only on sites where the authors have conducted (Acheulian) industries are concerned, these studies have research with the aim of summarizing the current state revealed a wealth of information on site contexts and of knowledge and at highlighting work conducted in stratigraphic sequences, palaeoenvironmental contexts the past decade (Fig. 1 ). in addition to providing a few dates (Korisettar and Didwana (27o 24' N, 74o 35' E) Rajaguru 1998; Mishra 1992, 1995). In recent years, excavations at Attirampakkam, Tamil Nadu; Morgaon, Didwana in district Nagaur, West Rajasthan was Maharashtra; studies of sites associated with tephra in investigated by Misra and Rajaguru (Gaillard et a/. Maharashtra and with miliolites at Madhuban, Gujarat, 1983, 1985; Misra 1995). lt is discussed in this paper, have yielded new information on the context and age primarily owing to new information which is emerging of Palaeolithic sites in Peninsular India. In addition to from recent studies. This site occurs in semi-arid/arid this, these regions are the focus of advanced studies in eastern margin of the Thar desert and dose to the playa the field of dating methods and sedimentological developed in a tectonic depression in gneiss-schistanalysis, which are providing new dimensions to the .~
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Earth Sciences and the Lower Palaeolithic
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