PALAEOLITHIC CULTURES POTWAR WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO LOWER PALAEOLITHIC

Abstract

This thesis is bassd on fresh Potwar material collected in 1992-1993 and analyaed agsinat the old collections and their claas fications by previoua prehistorIans. features of Potwar including river system and Quaternary sediments are discussed ss s background of Palaeolithic ~ultures, which are aummarized and crt evaluated in ter 2. stratigraphy and pslaeo- environment follows and 1s supported by geological cross sections and photographs of Pleistocene and tool besring deposits. Chapter 4 is entirely devoted to rigorous typological studies of Lower Palaeolithic collections from 13 sites. Based on physical character- i~tlcs, shape and function, a new type list is proposed, and different meaaurements are taken for artefact-tool analyses. Finally the preaent work 1s compared with that de Terra and Pateraon, questioning the validity of Pre-Soan artefacts, which can now be classified ss Acheulian. Then Cambridge Archaeological Mission's 2 million year isolated find from an Upper Siwalik Conglomerate is evaluated against the 1993 discovery of pebble and flake toola from underlying Pinjor Formation, and at preaent are the earliest in Pakistan.