Population increase and environmental deterioration correspond with microlithic innovations in South Asia ca. 35,000 years ago.
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.
Petraglia
Michael
M
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, United Kingdom. michael.petraglia@rlaha.ox.ac.uk
Clarkson
Christopher
C
Boivin
Nicole
N
Haslam
Michael
M
Korisettar
Ravi
R
Chaubey
Gyaneshwer
G
Ditchfield
Peter
P
Fuller
Dorian
D
James
Hannah
H
Jones
Sacha
S
Kivisild
Toomas
T
Koshy
Jinu
J
Lahr
Marta Mirazón
MM
Metspalu
Mait
M
Roberts
Richard
R
Arnold
Lee
L
D001106:Archaeology / Q000379:methods; D001208:Asia; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D004463:Ecology; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011158:Population Growth; D013019:South Africa
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial