Ghar-i-Mordeh Gusfand (Cave of the Dead Sheep): A New Mousterian Locality in North Afghanistan

Dupree, Louis; Lattman, Laurence H.; Davis, Richard S.

doi:10.1126/science.167.3925.1610

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…At the site of Dara-i-kure a rock shelter in Afghanistan (Dupree, Lattman, andDavis 1970) Dupree (1970:492) describes a Middle Paleolithic assemblage with Levallois flakes, Mousterian points, large side scrapers, cleavers, flake hand axes, and tortoise cores, as well as flake blades and possible combination tools such as burin-points and burinend-scrapers. At Teshik-Tash in Uzbekistan a rather generalized Mousterian is associated with an adolescent burial (Okladnikov et al 1949), while at Kiik-Koba in the Crimea a Mousterian industry contained Levallois flakes, disc cores, and bone points (Mongait 1961: 82).…”

Section: Asiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Upper Paleolithic Man and Late Middle Paleolithic Tools

Brose

Wolpoff

1971

American Anthropologist

118

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The appearance of anatomically modern Homo sapiens in Europe, the Near East, and Africa must represent either an in situ evolution of Neandertals or a migration. Those who suggest the latter claim a sudden replacement of Neandertals by anatomically modern Homo sapiens. However, the “evidence” actually cited claims only the sudden replacement of Middle by Upper Paleolithic industries. We criticize the migration explanation on two grounds. (1) There is no “sudden replacement” of Middle Paleolithic by Upper Paleolithic industries, but rather a gradual change in the frequencies of already present tools. Numerous sites in these areas exhibit transitional industries. (2) Concomitantly, there is no morphological evidence indicating a “sudden replacement” of hominids. There is no absolute association between anatomically modern Homo sapiens and Upper Paleolithic industries. Instead, the evidence clearly shows that early anatomically modern Homo sapiens is a late Middle Paleolithic local phenomenon.

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Section: Asiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Upper Paleolithic Man and Late Middle Paleolithic Tools

Brose

Wolpoff

1971

American Anthropologist

118

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“…One of the most important and unexplored issues regards the south-easternmost spread/distribution of both H. neanderthalensis and Levallois assemblages (Finlayson 2004;Bar-Yosef 2000. At present Levallois Mousterian industries attributed to the Neanderthals are known from the coast of Iranian Makran (Vita-Finzi and Copeland 1980), the Hormuz Strait islands (Dashtizadeh 2010), Iran (Coon 1951;Hole and Flannery 1968;Smith 1986;Roustari et al 2004;Jaubert et al 2009;Bazgir et al 2014), Afghanistan (Dupree et al 1970;Dupree 1972;Davis 1978), and former Soviet Central Asia (Ranov 1976, p. 102;Movius 1953a;Ranov and Gupta 1979;Ranov et al 2005). Characteristic Levallois complexes (Baumler 1995, p. 19;Boëda 1995) are very rare in the Indian Subcontinent, with the exception of a few surface assemblages and isolated finds from the Indus Valley, among which are those from Lower Sindh (Biagi 2006;Biagi and Starnini 2014a, b), and perhaps the Indian Thar Desert (Blinkhorn 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neanderthals and Modern Humans in the Indus Valley? The Middle and Late (Upper) Palaeolithic Settlement of Sindh, a Forgotten Region of the Indian Subcontinent

Biagi

Starnini

2017

The Middle and Upper Paleolithic Archeology of the Levant and Beyond

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(Pakistan), a region of the Indian Subcontinent of fundamental importance\ud for the study of the spread of both Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern\ud Humans (AMH) in south Asia.\ud Most of the Middle Palaeolithic assemblages known to date were collected\ud during the geological surveys carried out during the 1970s in Lower Sindh by\ud Professor A.R. Khan, and the short visits paid to Upper Sindh by B. Allchin.\ud More finds were discovered by the Italian Archaeological Mission during the\ud last 30 years mainly at Ongar, near Hyderabad (Lower Sindh), and the Rohri\ud Hills, near Rohri (Upper Sindh).\ud The presence of characteristic Levallois Mousterian assemblages at Ongar,\ud and other sites west of the Indus River, opens new perspectives to the study\ud of the dispersal of Neanderthal groups, whose south-easternmost spread has\ud systematically been avoided by most authors.\ud Although the presence of typical Levallois Mousterian assemblages attributed\ud to Neanderthals has been recorded from Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and\ud former Soviet Central Asia, the presence of similar complexes in the Indian\ud Subcontinent is very scarce. The occurrence of typical Levallois cores, flakes,\ud blades, points, Mousterian scrapers and one Mousterian point at Ongar is\ud suggested to mark the south-easternmost limit of this cultural aspect. In contrast,\ud the Middle Palaeolithic of the Indian Subcontinent is mainly characterized by\ud unretouched flake assemblages and scrapers. Levallois points and flakes have\ud already been described as a minor component of the so-called “Late Soan”\ud complexes of the Punjab along the same western bank of the Indus in north\ud Pakistan.\ud Even more complex is the definition of the earliest Late (Upper) Palaeolithic\ud assemblages in the study region. In contrast with what previously suggested,\ud Late (Upper) Palaeolithic sites are quite common in some areas of Lower\ud Sindh, among which are the Mulri Hills (Karachi) and Jhimpir (Thatta). The\ud assemblages from Karachi region sites are characterized by subconical cores\ud with bladelet detachments, curved, backed points, bladelets, lunates of different\ud shape and size, and, in a few cases, a high percentage of burins. The situation\ud in Upper Sindh is absolutely different. The Rohri Hills yielded evidence of an\ud impressive number of Late (Upper) Palaeolithic flint workshops, characterized\ud by subconical\ud bladelet and bladelet-like flakelet cores, and impressive amounts\ud of debitage products. A similar situation has been recorded also from Ongar\ud (Milestone 101), where modern limestone quarrying still underway has\ud destroyed all the archaeological sites.\ud To conclude: Sindh is a very important region for the study of the Palaeolithic\ud of the Indian Subcontinent and its related territories. It is unfortunate that our\ud knowledge of this important territory is very scarce, and its archaeological\ud heritage is under systematic destruction

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Regions within the Sphere of Indian Cultural Influence

1984

Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology

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Ghar-i-Mordeh Gusfand (Cave of the Dead Sheep): A New Mousterian Locality in North Afghanistan

Cited by 5 publications

References 1 publication

Early Upper Paleolithic Man and Late Middle Paleolithic Tools

Early Upper Paleolithic Man and Late Middle Paleolithic Tools

Neanderthals and Modern Humans in the Indus Valley? The Middle and Late (Upper) Palaeolithic Settlement of Sindh, a Forgotten Region of the Indian Subcontinent

Regions within the Sphere of Indian Cultural Influence

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