Beyene, Y. et al. The characteristics and chronology of the earliest Acheulean at Konso, Ethiopia. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 110, 1584–1591 (2013).
Google Scholar
Haslam, M. et al. Late Acheulean hominins at the marine isotope stage 6/5e transition in north-central India. Quat. Res. 75, 670–682 (2011).
Google Scholar
Carotenuto, F. et al. Venturing out safely: The biogeography of Homo erectus dispersal out of Africa. J. Hum. Evol. 95, 1–12 (2016).
Google Scholar
Benito, B. M. et al. The ecological niche and distribution of Neanderthals during the Last Interglacial. J. Biogeogr. 44, 51–61 (2017).
Google Scholar
Bae, C. J., Douka, K. & Petraglia, M. D. On the origin of modern humans: Asian perspectives. Science (80-) 358, 65 (2017).
Google Scholar
Rogers, A. R., Harris, N. S. & Achenbach, A. A. Neanderthal-Denisovan ancestors interbred with a distantly related hominin. Sci. Adv. 6, 1–8 (2020).
Ruff, C. B., Trinkaus, E. & Holliday, T. W. Body mass and encephalization in Pleistocene Homo. Nature 387, 173–176 (1997).
Google Scholar
Rightmire, G. P. Brain size and encephalization in early to Mid-Pleistocene Homo. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 124, 109–123 (2004).
Google Scholar
Rightmire, G. P. Later Middle Pleistocene Homo. in Handbook of Palaeoanthropology (eds. Henke, W. & Tattersall, I.) 2221–2242 (Springer, 2015).
Lahr, M. M. The complex landscape of recent human evolution. Science (80-) 372, 995 (2021).
Google Scholar
Athreya, S. & Hopkins, A. Conceptual issues in hominin taxonomy: Homo heidelbergensis and an ethnobiological reframing of species. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24330 (2021).
Google Scholar
Grun, R. et al. U-series and ESR analyses of bones and teeth relating to the human burials from Skhul. J. Hum. Evol. 49, 316–334 (2005).
Google Scholar
Harvati, K. et al. Apidima Cave fossils provide earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in Eurasia. Nature 571, 500–504 (2019).
Google Scholar
Hershkovitz, I. et al. The earliest modern humans outside Africa. Science (80-) 359, 456–459 (2018).
Google Scholar
Kolobova, K. A. et al. Archaeological evidence for two separate dispersals of Neanderthals into southern Siberia. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 117, 2879–2885 (2020).
Google Scholar
Chen, F. et al. A late Middle Pleistocene Denisovan mandible from the Tibetan Plateau. Nature 569, 409–412 (2019).
Google Scholar
Douka, K. et al. Age estimates for hominin fossils and the onset of the Upper Palaeolithic at Denisova Cave. Nature 565, 640–644 (2019).
Google Scholar
Rizal, Y. et al. Last appearance of Homo erectus at Ngandong, Java, 117,000–108,000 years ago. Nature 577, 381–385 (2020).
Google Scholar
Brown, P. et al. A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia. Nature 431, 1055–1061 (2004).
Google Scholar
Détroit, F. et al. A new species of Homo from the Late Pleistocene of the Philippines. Nature 568, 181–186 (2019).
Google Scholar
Wedage, O. et al. Specialized rainforest hunting by Homo sapiens ~45,000 years ago. Nat. Commun. 10, 739 (2019).
Google Scholar
Athreya, S. Modern human emergence in South Asia: A review of the fossil and genetic evidence. in Emergence and Diversity of Modern Human Behaviour in Paleolithic Asia (eds. Kaifu, Y., Izuho, M., Goebel, T., Sato, H. & Ono, A.). 61–79. (Texas A&M University Press, 2015).
Patnaik, R. et al. New geochronological, paleoclimatological, and archaeological data from the Narmada Valley hominin locality, central India. J. Hum. Evol. 56, 114–133 (2009).
Google Scholar
Pappu, S. et al. Early Pleistocene presence of Acheulian hominins in South India. Science 331, 1596–1599 (2011).
Google Scholar
Paddayya, K. et al. Recent findings on the Achuelian of the Hunsgi and Baichbal valleys, Karnataka, with special reference to the Isampur excavation and its dating. Curr. Sci. 83, 641–647 (2002).
Blinkhorn, J. & Petraglia, M. D. Environments and cultural change in the Indian subcontinent: Implications for the dispersal of Homo sapiens in the Late Pleistocene. Curr. Anthropol. 58, S463–S479 (2017).
Google Scholar
Benito-calvo, A., Barfod, D. N., Mchenry, L. J. & De, I. The geology and chronology of the Acheulean deposits in the Mieso area (East-Central Ethiopia). J. Hum. Evolut. 2014, 26–38 (2014).
Google Scholar
De la Torre, I., Mora, R., Arroyo, A. & Benito-calvo, A. Acheulean technological behaviour in the Middle Pleistocene landscape of Mieso (East-Central Ethiopia ). J. Hum. Evol. 76, 1–25 (2014).
Google Scholar
Shipton, C. et al. Acheulean technology and landscape use at Dawadmi, central Arabia. PLoS ONE 13, e200497 (2018).
Scerri, E. M. L. et al. The expansion of later Acheulean hominins into the Arabian Peninsula. Sci. Rep. 8, 1–9 (2018).
Google Scholar
Brooks, A. S. et al. Long-distance stone transport and pigment use in the earliest Middle Stone Age. Science (80-) 360, 90–94 (2018).
Google Scholar
Valladas, H. et al. Dating the Lower to Middle Paleolithic transition in the Levant: A view from Misliya Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel. J. Hum. Evol. 65, 585–593 (2013).
Google Scholar
Carmignani, L., Moncel, M. H. E., Fernandes, P. & Wilson, L. Technological variability during the Early Middle Palaeolithic in Western Europe: Reduction systems and predetermined products at the Bau de l’Aubesier and Payre (South-East France). PLoS ONE 12, e178550 (2017).
Google Scholar
Blinkhorn, J. et al. The first directly dated evidence for Palaeolithic occupation on the Indian coast at Sandhav, Kachchh. Quat. Sci. Rev. 224, 105975 (2019).
Google Scholar
Blinkhorn, J., Achyuthan, H., Petraglia, M. & Ditchfield, P. Middle Palaeolithic occupation in the Thar Desert during the Upper Pleistocene: the signature of a modern human exit out of Africa?. Quat. Sci. Rev. 77, 233–238 (2013).
Google Scholar
Petraglia, M. et al. Middle Paleolithic assemblages from the Indian subcontinent before and after the Toba super-eruption. Science 317, 114–116 (2007).
Google Scholar
Petraglia, M. D., Ditchfield, P., Jones, S., Korisettar, R. & Pal, J. N. The Toba volcanic super-eruption, environmental change, and hominin occupation history in India over the last 140,000 years. Quat. Int. 258, 119–134 (2012).
Google Scholar
Clarkson, C. et al. Human occupation of northern India spans the Toba super-eruption ~74,000 years ago. Nat. Commun. 11, 1–10 (2020).
Google Scholar
Akhilesh, K. et al. Early Middle Palaeolithic culture in India around 385–172 ka reframes out of Africa models. Nature 554, 97–101 (2018).
Google Scholar
Dennell, R. The Palaeolithic Settlement of Asia. (Cambridge University Press, 2009).
Chauhan, P. R. Human evolution in the center of the old world: An updated review of the South Asian Paleolithic. in Pleistocene Archaeology—Migration, Technology, and Adaptation (eds. Ono, R. & Pawlik, A.). 94625. (IntechOpen, 2020).
Roberts, P., Blinkhorn, J. & Petraglia, M. D. A transect of environmental variability across South Asia and its influence on Late Pleistocene human innovation and occupation. J. Quat. Sci. 33, 285–299 (2018).
Google Scholar
Goudie, A., Allchin, B. & Hegde, K. The former extensions of the Great Indian Sand desert. Geogr. J. 139, 243–257 (1973).
Google Scholar
Blinkhorn, J. The gateway to the oriental zone: Environmental change and palaeolithic behaviour in the Thar Desert. Quat. Int. 596, 79–92 (2021).
Google Scholar
Gaillard, C., Misra, V. N., Rajaguru, S. N., Raju, D. R. & Raghavan, H. Acheulian occupation at Singi Talav in the Thar Desert: A preliminary report on 1981 excavation. Bull. Deccan Coll. Res. Inst. 44, 141–152 (1985).
Raghavan, H., Gaillard, C. & Rajaguru, S. N. Genesis of Calcretes from the Calc-pan site of Singi Talav near a micromorphological approach. Geoarchaeology 6, 151–168 (1991).
Google Scholar
Misra, V. N. & Rajaguru, S. N. Palaeoenvironments and prehistory of the Thar Desert, Rajasthan, India. in South Asian Archaeology 1985. 296–320. (Scandinavian Institute of Asian Studies Occasional Papers, 1989).
Misra, V. Geoarchaeology of the Thar desert, northwest India. Mem. Soc. India 210–230 (1995).
Gaillard, C. Contribution à la Connaissance du Paléolithique Inférieur-Moyen en Inde. (Université de Provence, 1993).
Gaillard, C., Mishra, S., Singh, M., Deo, S. & Abbas, R. Lower and Early Middle Pleistocene Acheulian in the Indian sub-continent. Quat. Int. 223–224, 234–241 (2010).
Google Scholar
Gaillard, C., Mishra, S., Singh, M., Deo, S. & Abbas, R. Reply to: “Comment on ‘lower and early Middle Pleistocene Acheulian in the Indian sub-continent’” by P. Chauhan. Quat. Int. 223–224, 260–264 (2010).
Google Scholar
Kailath, A. J. et al. Electron spin resonance characterization of calcretes from Thar desert for dating applications. Radiat. Meas. 32, 371–383 (2000).
Google Scholar
Chauhan, P. R. Comment on ‘Lower and Early Middle Pleistocene Acheulian in the Indian sub-continent’ by Gaillard et al. (2009) (Quaternary International). Quat. Int. 223–224, 248–259 (2010).
Alexandre, A., Meunier, J. D., Lézine, A. M., Vincens, A. & Schwartz, D. Phytoliths: Indicators of grassland dynamics during the late Holocene in intertropical Africa. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 136, 213–229 (1997).
Google Scholar
Diester-Haass, L., Schrader, H. J. & Thiede, J. Sedimentological and paleoclimatological investigations of two pelagic ooze cores off Cape Barbas, North-West Africa. Meteorol. Forshungergebnisse 16, 19–66 (1973).
Twiss, P. C. Predicted world distribution of C3 and C4 grass phytoliths. in Phytolith Systematics: Emerging Issues (eds. Rapp, G. R. & Mullholland, S. C.). 113–128. (Springer, 1992).
Breecker, D. O., Sharp, Z. D. & McFadden, L. D. Seasonal bias in the formation and stable isotopic composition of pedogenic carbonate in modern soils from central New Mexico, USA. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. 121, 630–640 (2009).
Google Scholar
Szabo, B. J., McKinney, C., Dalbey, T. S. & Paddayya, K. On the age of the Acheulian culture of the Hunsgi-Baichbal Valleys, Peninsular India. Bull. Deccan Coll. Postgrad. Res. Inst. 50, 317–321 (1990).
Atkinson, T. J., Brown, P. J., Powar, N. J. & Kale, V. S. The Acheulian horizon at Chirki-Nevasa and its chronological implications. Bull. Deccan Coll. Postgrad. Res. Inst. 36, 3–14 (1990).
Deo, S. G., Joglekar, J. J. & Rajaguru, S. N. Geomorphic context of two acheulian sites in semi-arid peninsular India: Inferring palaeoenvironment and chronology. Quat. Int. 480, 166–177 (2018).
Google Scholar
Blinkhorn, J. A new synthesis of evidence for the Upper Pleistocene occupation of 16R Dune and its southern Asian context. Quat. Int. 300, 282–291 (2013).
Google Scholar
Baskaran, M., Maratheb, A. R., Rajagurub, S. N. & Somayajulu, B. L. K. Geochronology of Palaeolithic cultures in the Hiran Valley, Saurashtra, India. J. Archaeol. Sci. 13, 505–514 (1986).
Google Scholar
Jain, M., Tandon, S. K. & Bhatt, S. C. Late Quaternary stratigraphic development in the lower Luni, Mahi and Sabarmati river basins, western India. J. Earth Syst. Sci. 113, 453–471 (2004).
Google Scholar
Juyal, N., Chamyal, L. S., Bhandari, S., Bhushan, R. & Singhvi, A. K. Continental record of the southwest monsoon during the last 130 ka : evidence from the southern margin of the Thar Desert, India. Quat. Sci. Rev. 25, 2632–2650 (2006).
Google Scholar
Ajithprasad, P. Early Middle Palaeolithic: A transition phase between the Upper Acheulian and Middle Palaeolithic cultures in the Orsang Valley, Gujarat. Man Environ. 30, 1–11 (2005).
Bednarik, R. G., Kumar, G., Watchman, A. & Roberts, R. G. Preliminary results of the EIP Project. Rock Art Res. 22, 147–197 (2005).
Blinkhorn, J., Achyuthan, H., Ditchfield, P. & Petraglia, M. Palaeoenvironmental dynamics and Palaeolithic occupation at Katoati, Thar Desert. India. Quat. Res. (United States) 87, 298 (2017).
Google Scholar
Gaillard, C. & Rajaguru, S. N. Revisiting the Acheulian site of Singi Talav at Didwana (Rajasthan) 35 years. in Rethinking the Past: A Tribute to Professor V. N. Misra (ed. Deo, S. G.). 25–39. https://doi.org/10.7765/9780719098451.00013 (Indian Society for Prehistoric and Quaternary Studies, 2017).
d’Errico, F., Gaillard, C. & Misra, V. N. Collection of non-utilitarian objects by Homo erectus in India. in Hominidae: Proceedings of the 2nd International Congress of Human Paleontology (ed. Giacobini, G.). 237–239. (Jaca Book, 1989).
Key, A. J. M., Jarić, I. & Roberts, D. L. Modelling the end of the Acheulean at global and continental levels suggests widespread persistence into the Middle Palaeolithic. Hum. Soc. Sci. Commun. 8, 1–12 (2021).
Google Scholar
Wasson, R. J., Smith, G. I. & Agrawala, D. P. Late Quaternary sediments, minerals and inferred geochemical history of Didwana Lake, Thar Dessert, India. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 46, 345–372 (1984).
Google Scholar
Jakher, G. R., Bhargava, S. C. & Sinha, R. K. Comparative limnology of Sambhar and Didwana lakes (Rajasthan, NW India). Saline Lakes 67, 245–256 (1990).
Google Scholar
Sinha, R. et al. Late Quaternary palaeoclimatic reconstruction from the lacustrine sediments of the Sambhar playa core, Thar Desert margin, India. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 233, 252–270 (2006).
Google Scholar
Sinha, R. & Raymahashay, B. C. Evaporite mineralogy and geochemical evolution of the Sambhar Salt Lake, Rajasthan, India. Sediment. Geol. 166, 59–71 (2004).
Google Scholar
Deotare, B. C. et al. Palaeoenvironmental history of Bap-Malar and Kanod playas of western Rajasthan, Thar desert. J. Earth Syst. Sci. 113, 403–425 (2004).
Google Scholar
Roy, P. D., Sinha, R., Smykatz-Kloss, W., Singhvi, A. K. & Nagar, Y. C. Playas of the Thar Desert: Mineralogical and geochemical archives of Late Holocene climates. Asian J. Earth Sci. 1, 43–61 (2008).
Google Scholar
Achyuthan, H., Kar, A. & Eastoe, C. Late Quaternary-Holocene lake-level changes in the eastern margin of the Thar Desert, India. J. Paleolimnol. 38, 493–507 (2007).
Google Scholar
Dhir, R. P. et al. Multiple episodes of aggradation and calcrete formation in Late Quaternary aeolian sands, Central Thar Desert, Rajasthan, India. J. Asian Earth Sci. 37, 10–16 (2010).
Google Scholar
Juyal, N., Chamyal, L., Bhandari, S., Bhushan, R. & Singhvi, A. Continental record of the southwest monsoon during the last 130 ka: Evidence from the southern margin of the Thar Desert, India. Quat. Sci. Rev. 25, 2632–2650 (2006).
Google Scholar
Giosan, L. et al. Fluvial landscapes of the Harappan civilization. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 109, E1688–E1694 (2012).
Google Scholar
Achyuthan, H., Quade, J., Roe, L. & Placzek, C. Stable isotopic composition of pedogenic carbonates from the eastern margin of the Thar Desert, Rajasthan, India. Quat. Int. 162, 50–60 (2007).
Google Scholar
Sharma, K., Bhatt, N., Shukla, A. D., Cheong, D. K. & Singhvi, A. K. Optical dating of late Quaternary carbonate sequences of Saurashtra, western India. Quat. Res. (United States) 87, 133–150 (2017).
Google Scholar
Blinkhorn, J., Achyuthan, H., Jaiswal, M. & Singh, A. K. The first dated evidence for Middle-Late Pleistocene fluvial activity in the central Thar Desert. Quat. Sci. Rev. 250, 106656 (2020).
Google Scholar
Singhvi, A. K. et al. A ~200 ka record of climatic change and dune activity in the Thar Desert, India. Quat. Sci. Rev. 29, 3095–3105 (2010).
Google Scholar
Blinkhorn, J., Achyuthan, H., Ditchfield, P. & Petraglia, M. Palaeoenvironmental dynamics and Palaeolithic occupation at Katoati, Thar Desert, India. Quat. Res. 87, 298–313 (2017).
Google Scholar
Shipton, C. Hierarchical organization in the Acheulean to Middle Palaeolithic transition at Bhimbetka, India. Camb. Archaeol. J. 26, 601–618 (2016).
Google Scholar
Shipton, C. et al. Generativity, hierarchical action and recursion in the technology of the Acheulean to Middle Palaeolithic transition: A perspective from Patpara, the Son Valley, India. J. Hum. Evol. 65, 93–108 (2013).
Google Scholar
Potts, R. et al. Environmental dynamics during the onset of the Middle Stone Age in eastern Africa. Science (80-) 360, 86–90 (2018).
Google Scholar
Tryon, C. A. & Mcbrearty, S. Tephrostratigraphy of the bedded tuff member (Kapthurin Formation, Kenya) and the nature of archaeological change in the later middle Pleistocene. Quatern. Res. 65, 492–507 (2006).
Google Scholar
Tryon, C. A., McBrearty, S. & Texier, P.-J. Levallois lithic technology from the Kapthurin Formation, Kenya: Acheulian origin and Middle Stone Age diversity. African Archaeol. Rev. 22, 199–229 (2006).
Google Scholar
Zaidner, Y. & Weinstein-Evron, M. The emergence of the Levallois technology in the Levant: A view from the Early Middle Paleolithic site of Misliya Cave. Israel. J. Hum. Evol. 2020, 102785 (2020).
Google Scholar
Jacobs, G. S. et al. Multiple deeply divergent Denisovan ancestries in papuans. Cell 177, 1010-1021.e32 (2019).
Google Scholar
Browning, S. R., Browning, B. L., Zhou, Y., Tucci, S. & Akey, J. M. Analysis of human sequence data reveals two pulses of archaic Denisovan admixture. Cell 173, 53-61.e9 (2018).
Google Scholar
Sankararaman, S. et al. The combined landscape of Denisovan and Neanderthal ancestry in present-day humans report the combined landscape of Denisovan and Neanderthal ancestry in present-day humans. Curr. Biol. 26, 1–7 (2016).
Google Scholar
Holt, B. G. et al. An update of Wallace’s zoogeographic regions of the world. Science 339, 74–78 (2013).
Google Scholar
Blott, S. J. & Pye, K. Technical communication Gradistat : A grain size distribution and statistics package for the analysis of unconsolidated sediments. Earth Surf. Process. Landforms 26, 1237–1248 (2001).
Google Scholar
Keeling, P. S. Some experiments on the low-temperature removal of carbonaceous material from clays. Clay Miner. Bull. 62, 155–158 (1962).
Google Scholar
Ball, D. F. Loss-on-ignition as an estimate of organic matter and organic carbon in non-calcareous soils. J. Soil Sci. 15, 84–92 (1964).
Google Scholar
Dean, W. E. Determination of carbonate and organic matter in calcareous sediments and sedimentary rocks by loss on ignition: comparison with other methods. J. Sediment. Res. 44, 242–248 (1974).
Google Scholar
Bengtsson, L. & Enell, M. Chemical analysis. in Handbook of Holocene Paleoecology and Paleohydrology (eds. Bengtsson, L., Enell, M. & Berglund, B. E.) 423–454 (Wiley, 1986).
Juggins, S. rioja: Anlaysis of Quaternary science data. R Doc. 1–58 (2015).
Team, R. D. C. R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. http://www.r-project.org (2020).
Parker, A. An index of weathering for silicate rocks. Geol. Mag. 107, 501–504 (1970).
Google Scholar
Nesbitt, H. W. & Young, G. M. Formation and diagenesis of weathering profiles. J. Geol. 2, 129–147 (1989).
Google Scholar
Piperno, D. R. Phytolith Analysis: An Archaeological and Geological Perspective. (Academic Press, 1988).
Twiss, P. A Curmudgeon’s view of grass phytolithology. in Phytoliths: Applications in Earth Sciences and Human History (ed. Meunier, J. D.) 7–25 (A.A. Balkema Publishers, 2001).
Eksambekar, S. Contribution of the Study of Phytoliths to Bioarchaeology. (Deccan College PGRI, 2002).
Durcan, J., King, E. G. & Duller, G. A. T. DRAC : Dose rate and age calculator for trapped charge dating DRAC : Dose rate and age calculator for trapped charge dating. Quat. Geochronol. 28, 54–61 (2015).
Google Scholar
Hijmans, R. J., Cameron, S. E., Parra, J. L., Jones, P. G. & Jarvis, A. Very high resolution interpolated climate surfaces for global land areas. Int. J. Climatol. 25, 1965–1978 (2005).
Google Scholar
Kathayat, G. et al. Indian monsoon variability on millennial-orbital timescales. Sci. Rep. 6, 4–10 (2016).
Google Scholar
Caley, T. et al. New Arabian Sea records help decipher orbital timing of Indo-Asian monsoon. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 308, 433–444 (2011).
Google Scholar
Clemens, S. C. & Prell, W. L. A 350,000 year summer-monsoon multi-proxy stack from the Owen Ridge, Northern Arabian Sea. Mar. Geol. 201, 35–51 (2003).
Google Scholar
Bolton, C. T. et al. A 500,000 year record of Indian summer monsoon dynamics recorded by eastern equatorial Indian Ocean upper water-column structure. Quat. Sci. Rev. 77, 167–180 (2013).
Google Scholar
Source: Ecology - nature.com