Ref ID:	22546
Ref Type:	Book Section
Authors:	Parth R. Chauhan, Shantanu Ozarkar, Shaunak Kulkarni
Title:	Genes, stone tools, and modern human dispersals in the center of the Old World
Date:	2015
Source:	Emergence and diversity of modern human behavior in paleolithic Asia
Place of Publication:	College Station, Texas
Publisher:	Texas A&M University Press
Abstract:	This paper broadly reviews the current status and problems with various hypotheses related to modern human dispersals and evolution in the Indian subcontinent. The focus is mainly on the available archaeological and genetic evidence. The currently known Middle/Upper Paleolithic archaeological records are complex, inconclusive, and not dated well enough to reliably assume that most or all such assemblages were produced exclusively by modern humans. Some or all of the Middle Paleolithic evidence may even belong to nonmodern groups. Current problems also exist with regard to the techno-chronological definition and recognition of the Upper Paleolithic as a typomorphological marker for "modern human behavior" and cognition as compared with comparable contemporaneous evidence from Europe and Africa. Likewise, the known South Asian genetic evidence continues to be ambiguous with regard to patterns of early arrival, subsequent dispersal within the region and possible interbreeding with preexisting regional nonmodern populations. At present, the only reliable evidence is the fossil evidence and microlithic archaeological evidence, which collectively suggest the presence of modern human populations in South Asia by <i>at least</i> 45 ka. In conclusion, various subthemes and issues related to "out of Africa 3" and the Indian subcontinent, are also highlighted and briefly discussed (e.g., Middle Paleolithic and hominin species, dispersal routes taken, cultural and dispersal implications of ostrich eggshells).
Date Created:	5/11/2015
Editors:	Yousuke Kaifu, Masami Izuho, Goebel, Ted Hiroyuki Sato, Akira Ono
Page Start:	94
Page End:	113