ABSTRACT
ThemostdistinctiveLateStoneAgeindustriesinSouthern AsiaarethoseoftheMicrolithictradition.Insofarasthey representthecultureofhuntersandgathererslivingin Post-PleistocenetimestheyqualifyasMesolithic,butthis termisoftenavoidedbecauseoftheshadowyboundary separatingMesolithicfrom'secondary'Neolithiccultures127 insomepartsofAsia.Themicrolithictraditionspreadinto India,probablyfromthewest,andpossiblyonlyamillennium
ortwobeforethearrivalthereofprimaryNeolithicculture. AlthoughnumerousmicrolithicsitesareknowninSouthern
Asia,fewareindepositswhichcanbecloselydated.Itis probablethatmanyofthemareverylate,andrepresentthe localsurvivalofhuntingandgatheringeconomyeveninto IronAgetimes;butotherswererelativelyearly,forexample, thoseassociatedwiththeterisorsanddunesoftheTinnevelly districtinSouthernIndiaappeartohaveantedatedaclimatic phasemorehumidthanthatoftoday,andtohavebeencontemporaneouswitharaisedsea-levelwhichhasbeententativelycorrelatedwiththeClimaticOptimum,c4000BC (ZeunerandAllchin,1956).
