Dhaba: An initial report on an Acheulean, Middle Palaeolithic and microlithic locality in the Middle Son Valley, north-central India

This paper presents the first report on Dhaba, a newly discovered locality in the Middle Son Valley, north-central India. The locality preserves Acheulean, Middle Palaeolithic and microlithic artefacts within a Late Quaternary stratified alluvial sequence. Initial information is provided on the sedimentary sequence, archaeological survey and excavation, topographical mapping, and lithic technological analysis of Dhaba 1, the largest excavation at the locality. The assemblage is situated within the regional geomorphological and hominin occupation sequences, noting that while Dhaba lies within a kilometre of Toba tephra deposits, no temporal link between the tephra and the artefact-bearing sediments is possible at present. Dhaba currently provides the only known extensive occurrence of Middle Palaeolithic artefacts in the Middle Son Valley that lacks handaxes.