Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene Lithic industries in the southern fringes of the Himalaya

The Siwalik Range especially in its western sector is known for numerous surface sites yielding large quantities of cobble tools. These tools have for long been considered to belong to the Lower Palaeolithic but they are sometimes associated with other apparently more evolved tool types having a transversal trimmed cutting edge. These types look like adzes/axes and are made from large flakes, split cobbles or flat cobbles. Moreover, such assemblages composed of choppers along with these adze/axe-like tools occur on geological surfaces formed in the late Pleistocene; they are probably later than these deposits in age. These assemblages compare well with the industries occurring further east in Nepal or northern South-East Asia related to the Hoabinhian industries. It is suggested that they are linked through subsistence and technical behaviours to the particular environment of the sub-Himalayan belt and its eastern extension characterised by densely forested hilly landscapes, generously irrigated by perennial streams. Besides, this region was not severely disturbed during the last glacial maximum and could have been a refuge for many animal and vegetal species. It has certainly favoured “latitudinal” circulation (precisely circulation along the geomorphological features) of human and animal populations despite the global climatic changes.