A Re-examination of the Palaeolithic Archaeological Record of Northern Tamil Nadu, South IndiaJ. and E. Hedges, 2001 - 246 pages The concepts developed in the Kortallayar river basin, South India, especially those related to the 'Madras Handaxe tradition' of the Acheulian, and that of the relationship between culture sequences, river terraces and Pleistocene environments, determined the future course of Indian prehistoric archaeology. The present work arose out of a need to re-examine this classic area in Indian archaeology. It attempts to assign meaning to the variability seen in the Palaeolithic archaeological record of the Kortallayar river basin, and to put forward some alternative models of hominid adaptive strategies in the Middle to Late Pleistocene in this part of Northern Tamil Nadu. It includes critique of the terrace sequences proposed by previous researchers, examination of site formation processes operating in the region, regional analyses and the cautious application of an ethnographic approach to South Indian and Sri Lankan hunter-gatherer settlement and subsistence strategies and their archaeological correlates. |
Common terms and phrases
abraded Acheulian Allikulli hills AMSL archaeological artefact types artefacts Aryathur assemblage Attirampakkam bedrock bifaces blade core blanks calcrete chips chopping tools clasts clayey-silts cleavers cobbles colluvial comprises core grading core scrapers cortex cortical flakes debitage deposits detached dorsal surface duricrust edge damage Erumaivettipalayam Ferricrete lag ferricretes ferricritised gravels finished tools flake core flake scars flake-blade Foote formation Grid Gudiyam gully Gunipalayam handaxes hominid India Irulas Kanjipadi Kortallayar basin laterites Levallois flakes Levallois points Lithic located Lower Palaeolithic Mailapur maximum number mean dimension microlithic Middle Palaeolithic Middle Palaeolithic tools monsoon Nambakkam Neyvelli notch noted Palar Parikulam patination pebbles percentage Petraglia Placepalayam Plate Pleistocene Poondi possible predominate prepared core processes quartzites quartzitic sandstones Quaternary Rangaveram range raw material region reworked river sandstones Satyavedu sediments sequence settlement shales sheet flood sq km Sriperumbudur stone tools strategies stratigraphic striking platform Table Tamil Nadu terrace thermal fracture flakes thick trimming unretouched Vadamadurai variability