Soanian

Soanian

Geographical range	Pakistan, India, Nepal
Period	Lower Paleolithic
Dates	500,000—125,000 years ago
Type site	Soan River
Major sites	Adiala, Chauntra, Khasala Kalan, Khasala Khurd, Sivalik Hills
Preceded by	Acheulean
Followed by	Mousterian

The Soanian is an archaeological culture of the Lower Paleolithic (ca. 500,000 to 125,000 BP) in Pakistan. Contemporary to the Acheulean, it is named after the Soan Valley in Pakistan. Soanian sites are found along the Sivalik region in present-day India, Nepal and Pakistan.

Findings

Chauntra

Khasala Kalan

Sivalik Hills

Soan River

Map of the Indian subcontinent showing important sites of the Soanian culture (clickable map).

The term "Soan Culture" was first used by Hellmut De Terra in 1936, but D. N. Wadia had identified the presence of these archaeological implements in 1928. Further archaeological research was conducted by Stephen Lycett in order to determine the morphometric assessment of the Soanian techno-complex. The result of this experiment concluded that the Soanian techno-complex contains a Mode 3 Levallois technique core component.

On Adiyala and Khasala, about 16 km (9.9 mi) from Rawalpindi terrace on the bend of the river, hundreds of edged pebble tools were discovered. At Chauntra, hand axes and cleavers were found.

Tools up to two million years old have been recovered. In the Soan River Gorge, many fossil bearing rocks are exposed on the surface. 14 million year old fossils of gazelle, rhinoceros, crocodile, giraffe and rodents have been found there.

Some of these fossils are on display at the Pakistan Museum of Natural History in Islamabad.

See also

The Paleolithic
↑ Pliocene (before Homo)
Lower Paleolithic (c. 3.3 Ma – 300 ka) Oldowan (2.6–1.7 Ma) Riwat (1.9–0.045 Ma) Soanian (0.5–0.13 Ma) Acheulean (1.8–0.1 Ma) Clactonian (0.3–0.2 Ma) Middle Paleolithic (300–45 ka) Mousterian (600–40 ka) Micoquien (130–70 ka) Aterian (82 ka) Upper Paleolithic (40–10 ka) Baradostian (36 ka) Châtelperronian (41–39 ka) Aurignacian (38–29 ka) Gravettian (29–22 ka) Solutrean (22–17 ka) Magdalenian (17–12 ka) Hamburg (14–11 ka) Federmesser (14–13 ka) Ahrensburg (12–11 ka) Swiderian (11–8 ka)
↓ Mesolithic ↓ Stone Age

• Madrasian Culture
• Synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric cultures

Further reading

• Lal, B. B., A Decade of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology in India, 1951-1960.

External links

• The Acheulian/Soanian dichotomy