Lithic industries with Palaeolithic elements in Northeast India

Northeast India is one of the poorly documented areas archaeologically and hardly is considered in the discussions on Indian prehistory. To date, no site has pushed back the antiquity of human presence in this region prior to Late Pleistocene. However, circumstantial evidence indicates its significance for early hominin dispersals during Early/Middle Pleistocene from Africa to Island Southeast Asia. The Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene shows an increase in the archaeological record of the Hoabinhian and Anyathian culture, which further demonstrates close affinities with the Southeast Asian record. This paper summarises the lithic industries of the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene in this region in connection with the adjoining areas of Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar.