ABSTRACT

India preserves an important Lower Palaeolithic record which can convey significant information about hominid adaptation to a unique geographic and environmental region of the Old World. Despite the vast size of the Indian landmass and the range of environments, palaeoanthropologists have not gained an appreciation for the significance of the existing and potential data base. Whilst archaeologists have recently outlined the importance of the Lower Palaeolithic record of Africa, the Near East and eastern Asia in relation to hominid adaptations and behaviour (Toth and Schick 1986; Schick and Dong 1993; Bar-Yosef 1994; Clark 1994; Schick 1994), the Indian record has not been placed in a similar palaeoanthropological context. Reviews describing the Indian material evidence have clearly shown that a large number and variety of Lower Palaeolithic occurrences and complexes are present in many regions (Sankalia 1974; Jacobson 1979; Paddayya 1984; Misra 1987, 1989; Sali 1990; Mishra 1994), although the sketchiness of the overall work described in these syntheses also demonstrates that much fundamental palaeoanthropo-logical research remains to be conducted.