The Lower Paleolithic of the Indian Subcontinent

This broad overview highlights the Indian subcontinent as an important and exciting source of new discoveries regarding Lower Paleolithic hominins and their biological and behavioral evolution. Broadly situated in the center of the Old World, the region arbitrarily encompasses Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Bhutan; it represents the richest easternmost domain of classic Acheulean bifaces in the Old World.1 The region comprises diverse ecological zones with complex geological and climatic histories, including a bi-annual monsoon prevalent since the Miocene, all of which had major impacts on faunal and floral distributions and associated hominin adaptations. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.