Soanian

The Soanian culture (Urdu: سوانی ثقافت) is a prehistoric technological culture from the Siwalik Hills in the South Asia. It is named after the Soan River Valley in Pakistan.[1] Soanian sites are found all along the Siwalik region but the major sites are in the Soan region of Pakistan. The Soanian culture has been dated back to the Middle Pleistocene period (774,000 to 129,000 years ago) or the mid-Holocene epoch (Northgrippian).[2][3]

This culture was first discovered and named by the anthropology and archaeology team led by Helmut De Terra and Thomas Thomson Paterson. Soanian artifacts were made of quartzite pebbles, cobbles, and boulders, all from the Siwalik region.[4][5]

Apart from a few places, like the Soan Valley in Pakistan, there aren't many places where you find a lot of Soanian tools. Usually, you'll only find a few dozen of these artifacts in one spot. Soanian tools likely came about because of how rocks formed in the past. This made it easy for people to move around the materials they needed to make these tools.[6]

References

  1. Paracha, Nadeem F. (2017-02-02). "Pakistan: The lesser-known histories of an ancient land". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
  2. Lycett, Stephen J. (2007). "Is the Soanian techno-complex a Mode 1 or Mode 3 phenomenon? A morphometric assessment". Journal of Archaeological Science. 34 (9): 1434–1440. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2006.11.001.
  3. Chauhan, Parth R. (2008). "Soanian lithic occurrences and raw material exploitation in the Siwalik Frontal Zone, northern India: a geoarchaeological perspective". Journal of Human Evolution. 54 (5): 591–614. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2007.09.017.
  4. Soni, Vidwan Singh; Soni, Anujot Singh (2013-12-08). "NEW OBSERVATIONS ON THE AGE AND CONTEXT OF SOANIAN TOOLS FOUND IN POST-URBAN HARAPPAN SITES AND ALONG WTH SE ASIAN TYPE TOOLS ON THE MID-HOLOCENE TERRACES IN THE NW SUB-HIMALAYAS". Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association. 32 (0). doi:10.7152/bippa.v32i0.13603. ISSN 1835-1794.
  5. Chauhan, Parth R. (2008). "Soanian lithic occurrences and raw material exploitation in the Siwalik Frontal Zone, northern India: a geoarchaeological perspective". Journal of Human Evolution. 54 (5): 591–614. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2007.09.017.
  6. Chauhan, Parth R. (2008). "Soanian lithic occurrences and raw material exploitation in the Siwalik Frontal Zone, northern India: a geoarchaeological perspective". Journal of Human Evolution. 54 (5): 591–614. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2007.09.017.