South Asian Upper Paleolithic

Abstract

At the technocultural change from the Middle Paleolithic to the Upper Paleolithic, climatic conditions of South Asia were generally tropical and humid. But the development of blade-based culture evidenced arid and hot conditions. The paleoclimatic studies carried out in the Thar desert of western India indicate that short climatic cycles of dry and humid conditions prevailed in the peninsula during the Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene periods. Particularly at around 18,000 b.p., climatic conditions were marked by lower precipitation. This was the time when blade-based cultures flourished on a large scale, and in comparison to early Upper Paleolithic times, had a wider spread. Another noteworthy feature was that the sites of the earlier phase, the Middle Paleolithic, were many, in comparison to which the Upper Paleolithic localities were restricted. However, in the succeeding phase, around 18,000 b.p., the Upper Paleolithic mode of subsistence gained momentum. The following wet phase of around c. 10,000 b.p. gave impetus to the Mesolithic way of life, which in archaeological records is the transition stage between the Upper Paleolithic and the early Mesolithic.