Middle Paleolithic Assemblages from the Indian Subcontinent Before and After the Toba Super-Eruption

Michael Petraglia; Ravi Korisettar; Nicole Boivin; Christopher Clarkson; Peter Ditchfield; Sacha Jones; Jinu Koshy; Marta Mirazón Lahr; Clive Oppenheimer; David Pyle; Richard Roberts; Jean-Luc Schwenninger; Lee Arnold; Kevin White

doi:10.1126/science.1141564

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Middle Paleolithic Assemblages from the Indian Subcontinent Before and After the Toba Super-Eruption

Michael Petraglia1,2,*,
Ravi Korisettar3,
Nicole Boivin1,
Christopher Clarkson4,
Peter Ditchfield5,
Sacha Jones1,
Jinu Koshy3,
Marta Mirazón Lahr1,
Clive Oppenheimer6,
David Pyle7,
Richard Roberts8,
Jean-Luc Schwenninger5,
Lee Arnold8,
Kevin White9

¹ Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QH, UK.
² Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA.
³ Department of History and Archaeology, Karnatak University, Dharwad 580 003, India.
⁴ School of Social Science, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia.
⁵ Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK.
⁶ Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge CB2 3EN, UK.
⁷ Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PR, UK.
⁸ GeoQuEST Research Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia.
⁹ Department of Geography, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AB, UK.

↵* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: m.petraglia{at}human-evol.cam.ac.uk

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Science 06 Jul 2007:
Vol. 317, Issue 5834, pp. 114-116
DOI: 10.1126/science.1141564

Michael Petraglia

1 Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QH, UK.

2 Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA.

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For correspondence: m.petraglia@human-evol.cam.ac.uk

Ravi Korisettar

3 Department of History and Archaeology, Karnatak University, Dharwad 580 003, India.

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Nicole Boivin

1 Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QH, UK.

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Christopher Clarkson

4 School of Social Science, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia.

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Peter Ditchfield

5 Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK.

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Sacha Jones

1 Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QH, UK.

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Jinu Koshy

3 Department of History and Archaeology, Karnatak University, Dharwad 580 003, India.

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Marta Mirazón Lahr

1 Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QH, UK.

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Clive Oppenheimer

6 Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge CB2 3EN, UK.

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David Pyle

7 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PR, UK.

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Richard Roberts

8 GeoQuEST Research Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia.

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Jean-Luc Schwenninger

5 Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK.

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Lee Arnold

8 GeoQuEST Research Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia.

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Kevin White

9 Department of Geography, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AB, UK.

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Abstract

The Youngest Toba Tuff (YTT) eruption, which occurred in Indonesia 74,000 years ago, is one of Earth's largest known volcanic events. The effect of the YTT eruption on existing populations of humans, and accordingly on the course of human evolution, is debated. Here we associate the YTT with archaeological assemblages at Jwalapuram, in the Jurreru River valley of southern India. Broad continuity of Middle Paleolithic technology across the YTT event suggests that hominins persisted regionally across this major eruptive event.

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Middle Paleolithic Assemblages from the Indian Subcontinent Before and After the Toba Super-Eruption

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