Ravi Korisettar

Population increase and environmental deterioration correspond with microlithic innovations in South Asia ca. 35,000 years ago

Genetic studies of South Asias population history have led to postulations of a significant and early population expansion in the subcontinent, dating to sometime in the Late Pleistocene. We evaluate this argument, based on new mtDNA analyses, and find evidence for significant demographic transition in the subcontinent, dating to 35–28 ka. We then examine the paleoenvironmental and, particularly, archaeological records for this time period and note that this putative demographic event coincides with a period of ecological and technological change in South Asia. We document the development of a new diminutive stone blade (microlithic) technology beginning at 35–30 ka, the first time that the precocity of this transition has been recognized across the subcontinent. We argue that the transition to microlithic technology may relate to changes in subsistence practices, as increasingly large and probably fragmented populations exploited resources in contracting favorable ecological zones just before the onset of full glacial conditions.

The oldest and longest enduring microlithic sequence in India: 35 000 years of modern human occupation and change at the Jwalapuram Locality 9 rockshelter

Abstract The Jwalapuram Locality 9 rockshelter in southern India dates back to 35 000 years ago and it is emerging as one of the key sites for documenting human activity and behaviour in South Asia. The excavated assemblage includes a proliferation of lithic artefacts, beads, worked bone and fragments of a human cranium. The industry is microlithic in character, establishing Jwalapuram 9 as one of the oldest and most important sites of its kind in South Asia.

Dating the Neolithic of South India: new radiometric evidence for key economic, social and ritual transformations

The Neolithic period in South India is known for its ashmounds, superseded (in its Iron Age) by megalith builders with craft specialisation. Thanks to a major radiocarbon dating programme and Bayesian analysis of the dates, the authors have placed this sequence in a new chronological framework: the ashmounds, formed by burning cattle dung, are created by a few generations of people. In many cases the mounds are then succeeded by villages, for which they may have acted as founding rituals. The new tightly dated sequence also chronicles the cultivation of particular crops, some indigenous and some introduced from Africa.

Southern Neolithic Cultivation Systems: A Reconstruction based on Archaeobotanical Evidence

Scholars in rhetoric are increasingly attentive to the power of places and spaces to shape rhetorical performance. This article takes up the connection between ethos and location identified by several recent scholars, arguing that affiliation with and representation of material environments plays a crucial role in ethos. Ethos strategies are further shaped by genres, which are theorized as locations and environments in order to capture a fundamental dynamic between strategy and social norm. To demonstrate the strengths of understanding ethos in relation to both geographical and genre location, I analyze the ethos-maneuvers of Mary Austin, prominent early twentieth-century feminist, activist, and nature writer whose thirty-year public career merits attention from rhetorical scholars. In articulating how genre shapes Austin’s efforts to develop her location in the deserts of the American West into a persuasive public ethos, I argue that ethos emerges in genre-specific formations.

Toward developing a basin model for Paleolithic settlement of the Indian subcontinent: Geodynamics, monsoon dynamics, habitat diversity and dispersal routes

The Indian subcontinent is a continental scale landmass that contains a wide range of physiographic zones and geomorphic features. The Himalayan mountains on the north, the Baluchistan Mountains in the West, the Burma Mountains in the east, and the Indian Ocean on the south provide a distinct geographic boundary to the subcontinent (Figure 1). The mountain ranges and the Indian Ocean effectively isolate the landmass from the rest of Asia. An understanding of hominin dispersal patterns and adaptations requires a proper understanding of the geologic, geomorphic, and environmental features of the region. This chapter attempts to provide a comprehensive geological and ecological framework for delineating Paleolithic colonization and settlement patterns in the Indian subcontinent. The documented evidence of Paleolithic sites reveals adistinctivepattern that helps to explain the existence of zones that may be classified as ‘core’, ‘peripheral’ and ‘isolated areas’. This brings into focus the debate on dispersal routes, i.e., whether movements were primarily along the coast orwhether theywere transcontinental. In a wider view, it is important to consider whether hominin populations of the subcontinent were at the crossroads of movements or whether populations remained isolated for long periods of time. Subbarao (1958) constructed the first geographic model for Indian archeology. Subbarao’s synthesis, The Personality of India (1958), was set in a geographic and environmental framework that adopted the revised three-tier system of Early, Middle and Late Stone Ages. This work identified areas of ‘attraction’, ‘relative isolation’, and ‘isolation’ based on the evidence and distribution of prehistoric sites in diverse geographic areas of the subcontinent. Geographical deterrents governing the patterns of habitation were

Continuity of mammalian fauna over the last 200,000 y in the Indian subcontinent

Significance Mammalian extinction during the past several hundred thousand years has been a major focus for evolutionary biologists, geologists, and archaeologists, often being linked to climate change and human overhunting. Until relatively recently, study has been largely restricted to the Americas, Europe, and Australasia. We present the oldest well-dated sequence of mammalian faunas for the Indian subcontinent, demonstrating continuity of 20 of 21 identified mammals from at least 100,000 y ago to the present. We suggest that, although local extirpations occurred, the majority of taxa survived or adapted to substantial ecological pressures in fragmented habitats. These results complement data from Africa and elsewhere that demonstrate the necessity of a nuanced ecological understanding of such extinctions in different areas of the world. Mammalian extinction worldwide during the Late Pleistocene has been a major focus for Quaternary biochronology and paleoecology. These extinctions have been variably attributed to the impacts of climate change and human interference. However, until relatively recently, research has been largely restricted to the Americas, Europe, and Australasia. We present the oldest Middle–Late Pleistocene stratified and numerically dated faunal succession for the Indian subcontinent from the Billasurgam cave complex. Our data demonstrate continuity of 20 of 21 identified mammalian taxa from at least 100,000 y ago to the present, and in some cases up to 200,000 y ago. Comparison of this fossil record to contemporary faunal ranges indicates some geographical redistribution of mammalian taxa within India. We suggest that, although local extirpations occurred, the majority of taxa survived or adapted to substantial ecological pressures in fragmented habitats. Comparison of the Indian record with faunal records from Southeast and Southwest Asia demonstrates the importance of interconnected mosaic habitats to long-term faunal persistence across the Asian tropics. The data presented here have implications for mammalian conservation in India today, where increasing ecological circumscription may leave certain taxa increasingly endangered in the most densely populated region of the world.

Exploring Neolithic and Megalithic south India: the Bellary District archaeological project

The southern part of the Indian peninsula is an area of outstanding archaeological interest. While its historic cities and temples have long attracted the interest of both scholars and tourists, however, south India’s equally remarkable prehistoric period remains have only rarely received the attention they deserve. A new joint Cambridge-Karnatak University research project was thus initiated in 2002 to study the unique Neolithic and Iron Age remains of the southern Deccan. This 2-month pilot project focused its efforts on the Bellary District of Karnataka, where prehistoric megaliths and ‘ashmounds’ (large mounds of burnt cattle dung) occupy a stunning landscape of naturally sculpted granitic rock formations (FIGURE 1). The aim of the project was to explore, survey and record visible archaeological and landscape features in order to acquire insights into the indigenous processes of neolithization and megalithism that led to the formation of these unique and still enigmatic monuments of ash and stone. The Bellary project incorporated a range of approaches at different scales of analysis. One particular cluster of sites, known as SanganakalluKupgal, was selected for intensive exploration and survey. This included surface exploration and study of a variety of activity areas, including permanent and temporary habitation sites, stonequarrying and tool-production areas, rock-art sites, rock-shelters, ashmounds and megaliths. In addition, systematic fieldwalking was undertaken on the plain that surrounds the large granitic outcrops upon which most prehistoric activity seems to have focused. Fieldwalking tended to confirm this general south Deccan land-use pattern, since finds off the granitic tors were predominantly of the Early Historic and later periods. Nevertheless, several small rock-art sites and a rock-shelter rich in microliths and containing a partially exposed human burial were also discovered during this phase of the project. Exploration of sites in the region surrounding Sanganakallu-Kupgal was also undertaken in order to investigate the relationships between archaeological and landscape features. This aspect of the project made use of theoretical concepts and methodological approaches that have not previously been applied in studies of south Indian prehistory, including symbolic and phenomenological approaches to understanding the perception and use of landscapes in the past. This research demonstrated that the location of sites, and particularly ashmound sites, was influenced by patterns of visibility and movement, the presence of visually dramatic landscape features and the east-west movement of the sun across the sky. It suggests that the evocative landscape of the southern Deccan was not just a backdrop for Neolithic activities, but rather a mythical and possibly sacred ‘force’ that permeated many aspects of Neolithic (and subsequent Megalithicllron Age) life. Some preliminary efforts were also made to analyse the rock art found at Sanganakallu-Kupgal and other sites in the Bellary district. Rock-art motifs, predominantly in the form of pictographs, are found in remarkable quantities at SanganakalluKupgal. These are dominated by depictions of the long-horned, humped cattle that were domesticated during the southern Neolithic, but also include ithyphallic and dancing figures, and hunting, bull-capturing and sexual scenes, as well as apparently abstract motifs. The presence of remarkable ‘ringing rocks’ at Sanganakallu and other sites with large concentrations of rock-art motifs was also noted for the first time (see FIGURE 2). Combined with the fact that many motifs are visible only to the physically able (viewing them involves climbing rocks) and to small groups or individuals, these ringing rocks suggest that rock-art production andlor viewing was part of an overall ritualized sensory experience available only to a particular sector of society or even individual. Several specifically targeted micro-scale investigations were also carried out at a number of sites in order to shed light on particular aspects of landscape use and perception. For example, micromorphological and bulk geoarchaeological sampling of exposed ashmound sections at three different sites was carried out with the aim of

In Foote's Steps: The History, Significance and Recent Archaeological Investigation of the Billa Surgam Caves in Southern India

The ossiferous Billa Surgam cave complex in southern India has the longest record of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental exploration of any Indian cave system, commencing in the first half of the nineteenth century. The remarkable record of these investigations, which have paralleled and even driven the understanding of Palaeolithic occupation in the sub-continent, has to date never been comprehensively reviewed and placed in historical context. Here we document and evaluate more than 160 years of work at Billa Surgam, including the initial results of recent archaeological excavations at the caves. Recognition of the significance of these caves is important for assessing their contribution to the notion of the Indian Upper Palaeolithic, for charting the development of Indian Pleistocene archaeology, and for preservation of the complex from current mining threats.

Megalithic markings in context: Graffiti marks on burial pots from Kudatini, Karnataka

The megaliths of south India remain one of the most distinctive and enigmatic features of South Asian archaeology. Numbering in the thousands, and found throughout the southern part of the Indian peninsula, these monuments are remarkable not only for their abundance, but also for their variety. The so-called ‘Megalithic period’1 of south India is characterised by an astounding array of megalithic types. The majority, though not all, of the south Indian megaliths appear to be associated with human burials (Leshnik 1974; Mohanty & Selvakumar 2001; Moorti 1994). Despite the allure of the megaliths, and the large numbers of them that have now been excavated, the south Indian megalithic tradition remains poorly understood. Most reports simply describe the monuments and their associated finds, and explanations for their diversity are overwhelmingly culture-historical in nature. Megalith types, or more often sub-types, are associated with ‘peoples’ and new types of megaliths are taken to indicate the arrival of new migrant populations. In April of 2002, our joint Cambridge University — Karnatak University team excavated a human burial at the site of Kudatini in mid-eastern Karnataka (Fig. 1; see Boivin et al. 2002 and forthcoming, and Mushrif et al. forthcoming).2 While this burial was not marked on the surface by any lithic feature, several characteristics allowed us to associate it with the Megalithic tradition. In particular, the style of the burial, and its associated finds (most notably the Black-and-Red Ware pottery) were characteristic of burials of the south Indian Megalithic tradition. In addition, chronological indicators (discussed in Boivin et al. forthcoming) suggested a late Neolithic — early Iron Age date for the burial, which coincides with the early phase of the Megalithic period. Finally, the fact that some of the burials that are clearly part of the Megalithic burial tradition in south India nonetheless display no associated large lithic features (Mohanty & Selvakumar 2001; Moorti 1994) allowed us to attribute the burial to the Megalithic tradition despite the absence of any stone element, on the surface or otherwise. The burial at Kudatini, which is the first to be identified at the site, is a pit burial of a small child (approximately 6-7 years; see Mushrif et al. forthcoming). The 70 cm deep pit was dug down to bedrock and contained a zoomorphic terracotta sarcophagus encircled by at least 13 pots (see Figs. 2 and 3). The sarcophagus contained the disarticulated, fractional remains of the child, as well as animal bones, predominantly from cattle and bird species (Joglekar, pers. comm.). Several of the pots also contained one or more human bones or bone fragments (Mushrif et al. Megalithic Markings in Context: graffiti marks on burial pots from Kudatini, Karnataka

Living with Floods:Archaeology of a Settlement in the Lower Ganga Plains, c. 600–1800 CE

Settlements on river banks are subject to seasonal floods that are recurrent during the peak of monsoon over the Indian subcontinent. Though the intensity of monsoon floods varies from region to region, some areas are prone to intense annual floods. The Ganga-Brahmaputra (G-B) Basin is known for such catastrophic events which are triggered by the monsoon system over the subcontinent, particularly during the southwest monsoon season.