Population increase and environmental deterioration correspond with microlithic innovations in South Asia ca. 35,000 years ago
- Michael Petragliaa,b,1,
- Christopher Clarksonc,
- Nicole Boivina,
- Michael Haslama,
- Ravi Korisettard,
- Gyaneshwer Chaubeye,f,
- Peter Ditchfielda,
- Dorian Fullerg,
- Hannah Jamesh,
- Sacha Jonesi,
- Toomas Kivisildh,
- Jinu Koshyd,
- Marta Mirazón Lahrh,
- Mait Metspaluf,
- Richard Robertsj and
- Lee Arnoldj
- aResearch Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, United Kingdom;
- bHuman Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560;
- cSchool of Social Science, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia;
- dDepartment of History and Archaeology, Karnatak University, Dharwad 580003, India;
- eCentre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad 500007, India;
- fDepartment of Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu and Estonian Biocentre, 51010 Tartu, Estonia;
- gInstitute of Archaeology, University College London, London WC1H 0PY, United Kingdom;
- hLeverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QH, United Kingdom;
- iMcDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3ER, United Kingdom; and
- jGeoQuEST Research Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia
Abstract
Genetic studies of South Asia's population history have led to postulations of a significant and early population expansion in the subcontinent, dating to sometime in the Late Pleistocene. We evaluate this argument, based on new mtDNA analyses, and find evidence for significant demographic transition in the subcontinent, dating to 35–28 ka. We then examine the paleoenvironmental and, particularly, archaeological records for this time period and note that this putative demographic event coincides with a period of ecological and technological change in South Asia. We document the development of a new diminutive stone blade (microlithic) technology beginning at 35–30 ka, the first time that the precocity of this transition has been recognized across the subcontinent. We argue that the transition to microlithic technology may relate to changes in subsistence practices, as increasingly large and probably fragmented populations exploited resources in contracting favorable ecological zones just before the onset of full glacial conditions.
Footnotes
- 1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: michael.petraglia{at}rlaha.ox.ac.uk
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Author contributions: M.P., N.B., and R.K. designed research; C.C., M.H., G.C., P.D., D.F., H.J., S.J., T.K., J.K., M.M.L., M.M., R.R., and L.A. performed research; and M.P., C.C., N.B., M.H., D.F., and T.K. wrote the paper.
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Edited by James F. O'Connell, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, and approved May 27, 2009
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
