Lower Palaeolithic occupations in Nepal in relation to South Asia

Nepal was, until recently, a blank page on the world prehistory map, apart from a few polished stone axes found without stratigraphic context (Banner) ee and Sharma 1969; Sharma 1983). Although Joshi (1964) conducted prehistoric investigations in the Kathmandu Valley, and Bannerjee (1969) recorded artefacts in Chitwan in the southern part of the country, it transpired that the items were natural river-worked pieces and not artefacts. These were, however, the first attempts at looking into Nepal’s prehistoric past.