Relations Between Climatic Changes and Prehistoric Human Migrations

ARTICLE IN PRESS

Quaternary International xxx (2010) 1e9

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Quaternary International

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint

Relations between climatic changes and prehistoric human migrations during Holocene between Gissar Range, Pamir, Hindu Kush and Kashmir: The archaeological and ecological data

Anne Dambricourt Malassé*, Claire Gaillard

UMR 7194 CNRS, Department of Prehistory, National Museum of Natural History, Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, 1, rue René Panhard, 75013 Paris, France article info abstract

Article history: In the beginning of the Holocene, hunteregatherer populations settled in the Pamir plateau, especially in Available online xxx the tectonic depression of Markansu near the Kara Kul Lake (Osh Kona site, 4100 m, 9580 BP and 7145 BP). These populations were well adapted to high altitude life conditions in summer. They were using stone tools related to a cobble tool tradition that Ranov considered as the local continuation of an Asian Middle Palaeolithic (Ferghana, Darwaz or Punjab). However, they disappeared during the second half of the Holocene. As well, huntersegatherers characterised by a tradition close to Markansu Culture, namely Hissar Culture, appeared during the Holocene in the northern mountains of the TajikeAfghan depression (Amu Darya upper basin) occupying the middle altitude valleys (Gissar Range) when Neolithic populations began to develop at lower altitudes. For Ranov, origin and destiny of both Markansu and Hissar cultures were the most important questions to solve in this region. The Department of Prehistory, National Museum of Natural History (Paris) conducted ﬁeld work in collaboration with the University of Peshawar between 1996 and 1998 in the northernmost valley of the Indus basin giving access to the Wakhan corridor. The upper Yarkhun valley (Chitral district, Pakistan), accessible only by foot, was surveyed from 2500 to 4000 m altitude. This allowed the discovery of 6 sites yielding lithic artefacts, among which half are cobble tools. They attest to human activity later than 5500 BP, suggesting pop- ulation movements between the Amu Darya and Indus basins. The consequences of the Quaternary climate oscillations between South Asian monsoon and Northern hemisphere inﬂuences on the one hand, and the impact on biotopes of the increasing pastoral activity on the other hand, are discussed as probable causes for the disappearance of the mountainous nomadic hunters of Central Asia. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction between the Indian and the Eurasian tectonic plates. Recent isotopic analysis from the enamel of herbivores suggests that the The sharp contrast between the highest mountains in the world Tibetan plateau was 2700 m below its present elevation 2e3 with peaks exceeding 7000 m altitude in Pamir, and the two Amu million years ago (Wang et al., 2008). The elevation has increased Darya and Indus upper basins, confers specificity to the human faster since the Pliocene, and transformed the landscapes and the settlements in this region since the Late Pleistocene and particu- climate during the Pleistocene. Surveys in the sub-Himalayan and larly during the Holocene. Due to the strong gradients the climate TajikeAfghan foothills as well as in higher regions such as eastern changes made the biotopes shift more vertically than horizontally. Pamir, have shown evidence of prehistoric occupations, but As far as early human populations are concerned, this leads to a distinction is made between low-middle altitude and high alti- different adaptations (behaviour and biology), since it is not tude zones (above 2000 m). The first human occupations are necessary to move on long distances for escaping drastic environ- known since the Lower Pleistocene: 2 Ma in the Potwar plateau in mental changes (Fig. 1). the western Siwaliks (Rendell and Dennell, 1985; Rendell et al., The Himalayas, Hindu Kush, Pamir, and Tibetan Plateau are 1989) and Tajik loess (Ranov, 1995, 2005; Ranov and Dodonov, young mountainous formations emerging from the collision 2003, Dennel 2004, 2008), whereas in the Pamir, settlements seem to be rare before the Holocene (Fig. 2). One specific feature of the Holocene populations in the foothills * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ(33) 01 55 43 27 39; fax: þ(33) 01 43 31 22 79. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (A. Dambricourt Malassé), [email protected] and high plateaus is the persistence of a stone knapping technology (C. Gaillard). contemporary to the Neolithic culture, that recalls the Soanian

Please cite this article in press as: Dambricourt Malassé, A., Gaillard, C., Relations between climatic changes and prehistoric human migrations during Holocene..., Quaternary International (2010), doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2010.04.001 ARTICLE IN PRESS

2 A. Dambricourt Malassé, C. Gaillard / Quaternary International xxx (2010) 1e9

the Pamir. This paper will discuss the hypothesis of the development and the disappearance of a vast hunting territory during the Holocene between Amu Darya and Indus upper basins in the light of the Pleistocene human settlements and Quaternary climate changes.

2. Southern Tajikistan

The southern part of Tajikistan comprises two contrasted regions: the Pamir with high valleys and plateau on the one hand, and the hills of the the Gissar Range covered with loess on the other hand (Fig. 2). Exploration in this sector began in 1956 with the archaeologist V. A. Ranov and later developed in collaboration with J. Schäfer in Gissar Range (Schäfer et al., 1998) and V.A. Zhukov in Pamir (especially the Mesolithic Istyk cave).

2.1. AfghaneTajik depression and Gissar Range

The sites located in southern Dushanbe are in a clear strati- graphical context, in well-studied long sequences of loess including many pedocomplexes, which reflect warmer climatic phases during the Pleistocene (Ranov, 1982, 1984, 1995, 2001; Ranov and Schäfer, 2000; Ranov et al., 1999). The earliest occupation appears at Kul’- Fig. 1. Localisation of Hindu Kush-Himalayan Region (Yarkhun, white arrow). dara, in the pedocomplexes 12 and 11, dated to about 900e950 ka (Ranov and Dodonov, 2003; Ranov, 2005). At the end of the Palaeolithic and preceding the Neolithic, two technical traditions technical tradition frequently found on the surface of the sub- co-existed in Central Asia, the Mesolithic with geometric microliths Himalayan terrain, and is marked by the large utilisation of and an Epipalaeolithic resulting from a local evolution of the quartzite cobbles for making cobble tools and flakes. The question Palaeolithic cobble tool tradition (Ranov, 1993, 2003, 2005). was raised of a common background or technical template between Then, contemporary to the Neolithic, a series of sites discovered the mountainous regions of Pamir and the Indus upper basin in the 1960s by Okladnikov revealed the presence of a hunting including the Himalayan foothills and Sub-Himalayan ranges territory associated with a specific environment. These sites usually (Siwaliks). Three expeditions in 1996, 1997 and 1998 in the high occur on the lower river terraces (20e30 m), at altitudes ranging valleys of Hindu Kush, close to the Pamir plateau, investigated the from 700 to 1500 m, always in the context of loess deposits, sur- possibility of finding traces of such a local tradition (Dambricourt rounded by mountains. They are mostly open air sites where fire- Malassé, 2008; Gaillard and Dambricourt Malassé, 2008). Lithic places are not common (Ranov, 1982; Amosova et al. 1993). The assemblages have been discovered in the upper Yarkhun valley lithic assemblages, attributed to the Hissar Culture, include (southern slopes of the Hindu Kush Range, Pakistan), in six locali- numerous tools on cobbles from a large variety of rocks. However, ties between 2500 and 4000 m altitude (Gaillard et al., 2002), the flint was also used, and in this case the knapping technology is well last one close to the Boroghol Pass (3800 m of altitude) which mastered and oriented towards the production of flakes and small allows communication between the Hindu Kush high valleys and blades. There is no pottery, but some polished axes and a few ornaments in bone are found. Among the bone remains, domesticated as well as wild animals are represented. In the later stages, grinders and pestles increase in number, suggesting increasing consumption of grains. The economy of these populations observed during the VIIIeVII millennia was based on hunting and gathering. While the neolithisation clearly occurred in some localities during the VIeIV millennia in vast areas (1e1.5 ha) (Ranov 1984; Amosova et al., 1993), the destiny of those hunteregatherer tribes remains unclear. Two possible evolutions have been proposed: shift towards either farmingebreeding economy or pastoralism (Ranov, 1984, 2005). Nevertheless nothing allows systematic conclusion of a transformation driven by an inner trend. Hunteregatherers were living in the same environment as farmers; some of the tribes could collect cultivated grains and kill some animals from the livestock, all the more easily as they were domesticated. A third hypothesis which had not been taken into account is the extinction of some tribes by endemism and disorganisation of their ecosystem, because of interferences between climate changes and anthropic activities such as deforestation and overgrazing.

2.2. Pamir

Fig. 2. Map of Western Himalaya, Pamir, Hindu Kush; Southern Tadjikisan: mountainous systems (arrow), river basins (star), archaeological stations (bubble) and Above 2000 m altitude, prehistoric evidence is scarce before the glaciers (circles) (satellite view from Google Earth). early Holocene. In the northeastern region, a Late Pleistocene

A. Dambricourt Malassé, C. Gaillard / Quaternary International xxx (2010) 1e9 3 occupation is known from the Djamanta cave on the Karasu river, the archaeological layer yielded broken bones and fires-places but no tools (Ranov and Sidorovo, 1979). Similar occupations are also known in south Pamir from many open-air sites dated to between 20 and 12 ka BP in the Alichur Valley (Ranov, 1984). Ranov did not rule out the possibility of earlier human occupations, even as early as the Middle Pleistocene when the Pamir was below its present altitude. Although rare, some isolated Mousterian or Upper Palaeolithic artefacts, dating from 40 to 20 ka were actually collected (Ranov, 1984). PlioePleistocene river terraces are still preserved and they have not recorded any trace of ice sheets (Bondarev et al., 1997). A partial isolated temporal bone, dated to 30 ka and excavated from the Darra-i-Kur rock-shelter in Badakhshan (Afghanistan) at 1300 m altitude clearly shows bio- logical adaptation (see below). Therefore, altitude is not a sufficient argument to explain the scarcity of archaeological evidence before the early Holocene. The severely low temperatures during the Last Glacial Maximum seem to be a satisfying hypothesis. Fig. 4. UjsuRiver, Osh-Khona archaeological site (arrow) and Kara Kul Lake (satellite In contrast, numerous localities with pebble tools were recorded view adapted from Google Earth). on Holocene terraces in the entire Eastern Pamir. Most remarkable are two open-air sites. The first one, in the north, is the Epi- Such a co-existence is observed during the same period in the palaeolithic site of Osh-Khona in the Markansu tectonic depression, northern Tibetan plateau, around Quingkai Lake (Western China). near the Kara Kul Lake, at the altitude of 4100 m (Ranov, 1984, 1988, Jiangxigou 2, dating to ca. 9000e5000 BP with microlithic tools and 1993). The second one, in the southeastern Pamir, is Karatumshuk a small number of ceramic shards, “appears to be connected to early (Tokhtamych) near the Sarykol Range and the Chinese border. In Neolithic agricultural settlements along the upper Yellow River (Huang the southeastern Pamir, the sites are located along the Alichur and He) drainage during the middle Holocene, and may provide insights Murgab Rivers (Figs. 2 and 3). into foragereagriculturalist interactions that lead to the development Today, the Markansu depression (Margansu valley or Death of pastoralist systems in the region”, whereas Heimahe 3 is, “a brief Valley) offers a desolated mineral landscape drastically contrasting hunter’s camp dating ca. 8450 cal BP, with evident affinities to late with the early Holocene conditions (Fig. 4). Half a dozen open air Upper Paleolithic camps in the same region that date several thousand sites (on moraines and river terraces) provide lithic assemblages years older” (Rhode et al., 2007). characterized by two stone knapping processes, one producing Osh-Khona archaeological site is located on the right bank of the pebble tools and the other one producing microliths and micro- Ujsu River, at its confluence with the Oshkhona Zhilga River, 15 km blades. This particular tradition, the “Markansu Culture”, mixes from the modern Ujsu glacier terminus (Ranov and Sidorovo, 1979). Epipalaeolithic and Mesolithic. While hunting activity is attested The excavations have exposed a cultural layer typical of hunters’ from the Epipalaeolithic sites of Markansu, a proto-pastoralist summer campsites, with three 14C dates: 9530, 7380 and 7095 BP economy cannot be excluded in the other sites. (Velitchko and Lebedeva, 1974; Ranov and Davis, 1979). All the bone remains belong to wild fauna: large mammals (Ovis, Capra), rodents (chiefly marmots and hares) and birds. Charcoal remains from fire- places represent three taxa: Betuta (birch), Juniperus (juniper) and Eurotia ceratoides (winterfat) (Ranov and Sidorovo, 1979). The assemblage includes a large number of cobble tools, small blades in selected flint, end and side scrapers, etc. The most difficult question to solve is the origin of these hunters. Ranov thought they could not originate from Xinjiang, where a quite distinct SiberoeMongolian tradition occurs. He suggested they arrived from the neighbouring terrain of Fergana, easier to access but with important cultural adaptations. In the southeast, the hypothesis of a North-West Indian or Far West Tibetan origin for the hunters’ open-air site of Karatumshuk cannot be dismissed, even though few archaeological data are available. Osh-Kona is the only human settlement for which climate changes are well documented, through multidisciplinary investigations leading to reconstruct oscillations during the final Pleisto- cene and Holocene (Serebryanny and Solomina, 1996; Bondarev et al., 1997). The age of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) is disputed, as it occurs either at ca. 44 ka or at 14e10 ka. Neverthe- less, in either case the Kara Kul basin was free of ice during the interval 15,660 BP to 3240 BP, and the major deglaciation occurred ca. 10,000 years ago, at the end of Batura glacial stage (10.8e9.0 ka BP) (Lewis et al., 2002). Three lake terraces have been identified: T1: 8e7 m above river level of Markansu valley dated between 12,200e11,800 BP, T2: 6e5m,9000e8500 BP and T3: e Fig. 3. Localisation of Holocene archaeological stations in eastern Pamirs (in Frumkin, 1.5 1m(Bondarev et al., 1997). The summer campsite is associated 1970). with the second terrace, but the settlement could have been

4 A. Dambricourt Malassé, C. Gaillard / Quaternary International xxx (2010) 1e9 interrupted between 9500 and 7400 BP by moister climatic well described for the Nanga Parbat (North Pakistan, Karakoram condition ca. 8700 BP, when the glaciers re-advanced and the lake range, 440 km south of Kara Kul Lake; Fig. 2). When the sub- level increased. A new phase of occupation occurred until 7000 BP continental temperatures were increasing along with humidity, the then the hunters abandoned the site. high massifs of the South Karakoram and South Hindu Kush were Zech et al. (2005) concluded that, “Increasing aridity in the Pamir exposed to strong monsoons and the glaciers advanced (William is most likely responsible for the progressively limited extent of the et al., 2000) whereas in the opposite, the Tibet plateau was influ- glaciers during the Late Pleistocene”. The causes of this increasing enced by the, “Northern Hemisphere climate oscillations (rapid aridity cannot be imputed to a rapid uplift of the Pamir, as the climate changes), with minor influences from the South Asian tectonic rise in the last ten thousand years did not exceed 2 or 3 cm/ monsoon” (Seong et al., 2009). So, the coldest phases of the Indian y(Agakhanyantz, 1996). Sub-continent were not necessarily restricting conditions for the The culture directly overlying the hunters’ settlements is the North-Western Indian hunters to migrate to the Indus high valleys Bronze Age and especially the pastoral Kajrat-Kum Culture: no and reach the Wakhan Corridor. transitional Eneolithic has ever been observed. The hunters abandoned the Pamir plateau during the second period of the Holocene, 2.3. Anthropological features probably because of increasing aridity generating an impoverish- ment of the biodiversity until the present. The Kara Kul Lake is the Only two Pleistocene human fossils are known in this huge largest of the High Pamir (tectonic origin, area: 38,000 ha, palaeozone from sub-Himalayan borderlands to Gissar Range. The maximum depth: 242 m), but today it is remarkably poor in fish, first one is the famous Neandertal child excavated from the Teshik and just one endemic species (Noemacheilus lacusnigri) reproduces. Tash rock-shelter (180 m) in Uzbekistan, and associated with For comparison, Yashikul Lake (moraine and landslide origin, area: a Mousterian lithic industry (Movius,1953a,b). However, this Middle 4800 ha, maximum depth: 50 m) shelters 3 species (Savvaitova and East or European technical tradition has never been recorded in the Pietr, 1999). Prehistoric populations hunted large numbers of birds: High Pamir. The second human fossil is the petrous bone from Darra- in 1976, a maximum of 230 Tibetan Sandgrouses were identified in i-Kur rock-shelter (1300 m; Afghanistan). This fragmented bone is the huge Kara Kul ecosystem (Yakovlev, 1976). Kara Kul Lake is quite similar to the Middle East Protocromagnoïds (Angel, 1972). considered a dead lake: no study bears on the evolution of the fish Nevertheless the skull base developed particular features, for species during the Holocene, and it is difficult to know whether the instance the important size of the foramen that corresponds to the biodiversity was reduced quickly during the last centuries or vascularisation of the middle ear. The internal acoustic meatus (a progressively since the disappearance of the last nomadic hunter- neuro-vascular orifice) is thrice the normal size of that of Homo egatherers of Central Asia. sapiens in cross section. This implies more oxygenised blood. Increasing aridity provoked greater salinity of the Kara Kul Lake Besides, the imprint of an important muscle of the vocal tract, the but also changes in air circulation. The French surgeon Marie Jeanne fossa digastrica, is especially deep and indicates a powerful muscular Koffman, a member of the 1958 Pamirian Expedition headed by B.A. system sustaining the larynx. The styloïd bones are also robust as Lidvintchskij, describes the Markansu depression not only as a part of this system sustaining the throat; some tendons and a desolated landscape but as a huge rocky desert with dust devils muscles fixed on the styloïd bones help in opening the Eustachian able to project stone blocks (personal communication). The dust tube to equalize middle-ear pressure with the outside atmospheric devil is an ascent of warm and dry air created by a very powerful pressures in altitude. Therefore the biology was clearly adapted to thermal phenomenon (zone of warm air surrounding by cold air). the high altitude conditions and to important changes of the The Kyrgyz people precisely name this depression “creek of atmospheric pressure. The corpse was not discovered in its natural tornadoes” or “creek of death”, “Markansu”. environment (1300 m) and the most frequent life conditions for this Ranov considered the Hissar culture as an enigma, nevertheless person were higher biotopes in Pamir or Hindu Kush (Dambricourt observing similarities with the Markansu Culture (Ranov, 1984). In Malassé, 2008; Gaillard and Dambricourt Malassé, 2008). Only comparing the high valleys around the Kara Kull depression, it four Mesolithic skeletons are known from the excavated site of clearly appears that communications were easy with the Gissar Tutkaul: two women and two children. The skulls alone have been Range (Fig. 1). Moreover, archaeologists recorded the same micro- described. The adults had developed robust features and theycannot lithic points in Istyk cave (Istykskaja, South-Eastern Pamir, 37440 N, be related to any geographical type (Kiyatkna and Ranov; 1971; 74230 E) and in the AfghaneTajik depression as in Tutkaul (Gissar Dambricourt Malassé, 2008). Range) and on the other side of the Amu Darya, in the dunes of Northern Afghanistan (Ranov, 2003). So, Ranov considered the Hissar Culture as a component of the Eastern Pamirian Epi- palaeolithiceNeolithic related to hunting economy, and based on seasonal activities between the middle-low valleys and the Pamir plateaus. Unfortunately, all the Pamirian valleys have not been explored, especially the Gorny Badakhshan and the Darvaz Range respectively in Central and South Western Pamir (Fig. 1) where archaeological records could provide more precise observations. Moreover, movements between South Eastern Pamir and India cannot be excluded as Ranov and Sidorovo concluded, “On the south and south-west of the Pamir we find the well-known rich Palaeolithic sites of Punjab (.) H. de Terra’s previous works have led to the discovery of much later Mesolithic cultures. These industries, in our opinion, show a definite similarity with the Gissar culture” (works of de Terra et al. 1934, 1936; Teilhard de Chardin and de Terra 1936; Ranov and Sidorovo, 1979, p. 176). During the Holocene, the Southern Hindu Kush highest ranges Fig. 5. Yarkhun valley, Zesht-O-Gust archaeological site (arrow) in 1996 (picture C. were exposed to continental monsoons generating asynchronies Gaillard).

A. Dambricourt Malassé, C. Gaillard / Quaternary International xxx (2010) 1e9 5

3. Hindu Kush: the Yarkhun Valley The Yarkhun valley was selected for its upper reaches are directly connected with the Pjandzh River (Wakhan Corridor) The Gissar ‘enigma’ (Ranov, 1984) actually raises the question of through one of the lowest passes of the sector, the Boroghol Pass the extent of hunting territories in the high massifs from the Final (3800 m; Fig. 1). The geology consists of metamorphic series Pleistocene (major deglaciation) to the Middle Holocene, when including mainly marble, quartzite, micaschist, schist, gneiss, and fauna exposed to deterioration of the climatic conditions, was amphibolites. After several days of walking, the ﬁrst sites were forced to withdraw in the lower valleys. The southward expansion discovered on the Yarkhun river terraces, 10e25 m above water of this territory was unknown, and that is why in 1996, 1997 and level and about 400e1000 m away from the main river bed. All 1998 the authors explored one of the highest valleys of the Hindu are open-air sites and yield only lithic industry. There are Kush Range, between 2500 and 4000 m high (FrenchePakistani neither any organic remains, ﬁre-places or settlement structures missions funded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs). (Fig. 5).

Fig. 6. Stone tools of the Yarkhun valley (drawings by C. Gaillard).

6 A. Dambricourt Malassé, C. Gaillard / Quaternary International xxx (2010) 1e9

From downstream to upstream along the upper Yarkhun River, six spots and sites were identified: Nakht Sir Dem (NAK): 3 artefacts, Shusht (SHT): 3 artefacts, Lasht-Savalior (SAV): 24 artefacts, Zeshtsh-o-Gutsh (ZTG), altitude 3350 m: 42 artefacts, Boroghol- Chilmarâbâd (BOR), altitude 3650 m: 7 artefacts, Thinioupk (THI), altitude 3900 m: 18 artefacts. Most of the tools are made in amphibolite (80%). Only in the upper reaches of the Yarkhun the quartzite is preferred. There are also a few tools in marble, but crystalline rocks such as gneiss and schist, the most common in the local landscape, were apparently not used. The large majority of the tools are core tools of rather large size; the smaller items, particularly cutting tools, are rare in these series and one can wonder whether there was no small cutting tool at all or whether they were made in other raw mate- rials, such as schist for instance, of which all the natural fragments are cutting, or even wood. Many of the tools (56% at ZTG) are on fl cobbles, usually at, others being on different types of blanks, Fig. 8. Terraces in Lasht sector, with the brown boulders (arrow). especially flakes and small slabs. The flakes are always slightly abraded and it is possible that they were selected among the components of the gravel. The shaping of the tools is very light and Chitral) was possible only by walking on the glaciers. Necessarily does not modify much the original morphology of the blanks. the artefacts are much more recent than Late Pleistocene. Typologically, they are not well defined and only a few of them When the valley is broad enough, a few terraces can be observed display standard morphologies occurring in different sites. These along the river (2e4). All along the Yarkhun, in the sector of Shusht more standardised tools may deserve the names of axes or adzes, and Lasht, the alluvium includes a conspicuous level of boulders with triangular or rectangular outline (Fig. 6). In some cases the (30e50 cm) bearing a dark brown patina. These brown boulders lateral sides are concave, either naturally or resulting from a large usually lie close to the Yarkhun water level. At the site of Zeshtsh-o- flake scar; these recall one type of the Aceramic Neolithic of Gutsht, this level is well exposed on the bank and appears as a boulder Kashmir (“waisted tool”). Besides, there are a few choppers and conglomerate hardened by cementation of the sandy matrix (Fig. 8). chopping tools characterised by large and deep flake scars. Tentatively, this dark patination may be related to the “desert As far as chronology is concerned, it is difficult to assign an age varnish” of the Batura glacial stage observed in the nearby Hunza to these sites, since the tools are usually lying on the surface or valley (Derbyshire et al. 1984) dating to 10.8e9.0 ka BP (Owen et al., hardly buried in the deposit of the lowest terrace. They are slightly 2002; Lewis et al., 2002; Waragai, 2004). At Zeshtsh-o-Gutsht, lithic rolled and none of them is in mint condition, therefore they cannot artefacts are resting on a loose grey gravel of unpatinated cobbles and be very recent (Fig. 7). devoid of any large boulders; this gravel covers the brown boulders. The only chronological reference is the Quaternary geomor- The major deglaciation with the retreat of the ChitraleYarkhun phology. During the Last Glacial Maximum, the snowline in Hindu glacier generated huge terraces only visible in cross section in the Kush was located at 900e1100 m high (Porter, 1985) and the lower course of the Yarkhun River. The faults between Pamir and bottom of the Yarkhun valley was covered by a glacier. The profile of Hindu Kush, two tectonic complexes characterized by intra-conti- the Boroghol Pass shows a typical glacial valley profile. Commu- nental subductions between Hindu Kush and Pamirian plates nication between both sides of the Hindu Kush Range (Wakhan and (Negredo et al., 2007), could have been active and the tectonics

Fig. 7. Stone tools from Lasht (picture A. Dambricourt Malassé).

A. Dambricourt Malassé, C. Gaillard / Quaternary International xxx (2010) 1e9 7

of which the earliest provides an industry mostly comprising pebbles and flakes (Stacul, 1984). The overlying level yields fine wheel-thrown pottery attesting a complete cultural change. Three 14C dates give an age of 4970e4930 BP. “The stone artefacts are all made from pebbles (.) there are also tools made from animal bones. Animal remains include antler and boar tusks, and lead us to think that in this period those who frequented the shelter practised hunting” (Sharif and Thapar, 1999). The authors conclude that the Ghaligai Neolithic belongs to a single complex, also including Sarai Kala near Taxila and Burzahom in Kashmir, both located on the eastern side of the Indus. A few stratified Neolithic settlements are known in the Srinagar Valley of Kashmir, especially at Burzahom (Indian Archaeology, a Review (I.A.R.), 1961e1962, 1964e1965) and Gufkral (Sharma, 1982a,b; Fig. 1). These sites are imbedded in the top of a loess sequence, developed in the valley since 300 ka (Singhvi et al., 1987), but believed to be devoid of any Palaeolithic remains. Worth noting Fig. 9. The Yarkhun valley and connexion with the Wakhan corridor (Boroghol Pass) in 2009 (satellite view adapted from Google Earth). in the Srinagar Valley is the occurrence of an Aceramic Neolithic phase before the Neolithic proper. This cultural phase without pottery is identified in stratigraphy at Gufkral (Sharma, 1982a,b), could have contributed to change the regime of the Yarkhun, Kanshipur and in several small localities. The lithic industry of this especially when the water level increased in the Himalayan fringes, phase includes different types of stone tools and at some places as shown by a recent FrancoeNepali research program (Bettinelli large split cobbles that were first attributed to the Palaeolithic but et al., 2008). Nevertheless, considering the climate factors only, actually are Neolithic (Pant et al., 1982). this occupation probably occurred after the major deglaciation ending the Batura glacial phase attested by the brown varnish on 5. Discussion and conclusion the boulders. The second terrace was formed during a climatic phase not easy to date. For instance advances of Nanga Parbat Human occupation on the Western Himalayan fringes is attested glacier appear to have resulted from an increase in precipitations at least 2 Ma ago, as shown by the flakes from Riwat in the Potwar during winter ca. 7000e5500 BP. In Bhutan the same phenomenon plateau (Siwaliks, Pakistan). Human occupation is known in Eastern is observed ca.6710e4680 BP (Meyer et al., 2009). This period China around 2 Ma in the Renzi caveeRenzidong (Huang, 1999; corresponds to the Atlantic climatic optimum. If extrapolation is Dong, 2006) and future investigations will probably discover reasonable to the North-Western Hindu Kush, this implies a new equally old human settlements in early Indian Pleistocene forma- little glacial advance in the high valleys, which ended 5500 years tions (Dambricourt Malassé, 2009). The Himalayas and Tibet ago when a cooling phase started again implying drier conditions, Plateau were 2700 m below the present altitude when the first drop of snowfall and therefore reducing ice masses. In the Tibetan human populations began to move between India and Western plateau “an abrupt shift to dry climatic conditions between 5000 and China. Later, migrations depended on the climate because of the 4500 BP coincided with glacial decay” (Meyer et al., 2009). So it elevation and formation of new natural barriers such as the glaciers seems reasonable to date the grey cobble gravel terrace of the during the maximum of glacial periods. In the loess deposits of Yarkhun River to the Atlantic phase or to a later humid or warmer Southern Tajikistan (pedocomplex 12e11, 90 0e950 ka), human phase after 5500 years BP. The communication between the Amu settlements were favoured by a warmer/wetter climatic stage and Darya and Indus upper basins, separated by the Hindu Kush Range, the associated lithic technology was mainly based on the produc- again became theoretically possible since the second half of the tion of small flakes. In the Siwaliks, lithic assemblages composed of Holocene and is attested for the first time by the discovery of flakes and cores on cobbles indicate human activity much before 1 archaeological stations in the Yarkhun Valley dating no more than Ma (Pabbi Hills). Then, around 1 Ma the rich fauna started dis- the 6th millennium (Gaillard et al., 2002; Fig. 9). The same pattern appearing (Nanda, 2002, 2008) while the first conglomeratic fans has been recently observed in Bhutan “the sudden disappearance of accumulated down slope as a consequence of an important uplift of juniper and rhododendron pollen, the immediate onset of pollen input the mountain range. Soon after, the severe global cooling down and from cereals and a clear pattern of over-grazing, trampling and peat change in the glacialeinterglacial periodicity disturbed the deterioration can be linked to human arrival in the valleys at ca. ecosystems. 4280 130 cal BP” (Meyer et al., 2009). The Acheulian technical tradition occurring in peninsular India To conclude, nomadic hunters occupied not only the Eastern since 1.2 Ma (Paddayya et al., 2002) probably arrived in the sub- Pamir as in Alichur or Murgab Valleys, but also the Hindu Kush as in Himalayan lands during this Pleistocene ecosystemic crisis (Rendell the Yarkhun valley, with possible access between the two through and Dennell, 1985), but sites are few and no archaeological record passes such as Boroghol Pass. From where did these populations indicates a long and local evolution. The Acheulian is totally missing come and where did they live during winter, is the actual question. in the loess sequences of Tajikistan where native populations There were no reasons for them to limit their territories to the continued to mainly produce flakes and cobble tools. The Acheulian Pamir: Epipalaeolithic and Mesolithic activities are equally attested technology did not cross the mountainous massif. Therefore the in the lower valleys of the southern Hindu Kush. Hindu Kush seems to have been a natural barrier during Lower and Middle Pleistocene, even in the interglacial periods. However, as in 4. The Siwaliks and Kashmir southern Tajikistan, the cobble tool component never disappeared from the Northwestern Indian lithic industries before the Middle The same pattern as the Hissar cultural transition or accultura- Holocene: it occurs in the Acheulian assemblages (Gaillard et al., tion is observed in the nearby Swat Valley in the rock shelter site of 2008) as well as in the probably much later Soanian assemblages Ghaligai (Fig. 1). This site offers a sequence of seven major periods (Gaillard et al., this issue). Obviously the increasing abundance of

8 A. Dambricourt Malassé, C. Gaillard / Quaternary International xxx (2010) 1e9 quartzite cobbles resulting from the dismantlement of the Hima- Dambricourt Malassé, A., 2008. Le peuplement humain en Eurasie: la Haute Asie et ’ layas and spreading in vast alluvial fans, were encouraging the les piémonts sous-himalayens du Plio-Pléistocène à l Holocène, origines, évolution humaine et migrations. L’Anthropologie 112 (3), 370e403. production of cobbles tools and flakes. Dambricourt Malassé, A., 2009. Embryogeny and Human phylogeny. Chapitre 8. In: The major deglaciation occurred during Early Holocene, as Sankhyan, A.R. (Ed.), Asian Perspectives on Human Evolution. Serial Publica- e attested in the high massifs, Himalayas, Hindu Kush, Pamir and tions, New Delhi, pp. 103 121. “ Dennell, R.W., 2004. Early hominid landscapes in Northern Pakistan. In: BAR Tibetan Plateau. Deglaciation in the mountain ranges of the Hima- International Series, vol. 1265. J & E. Hedges Ltd, Oxford, 454 p. layas and the consequent meltwater discharge into the adjacent seas Dennell, R.W., 2008. The taphonomic record of Upper Siwalik (Pinjor stage) land- was negligible immediately after the global LGM and it was therefore scapes in the Pabbi Hills, Northern Pakistan, with consideration regarding the preservation of hominin remains. In: Chauhan, P., Patnaik, R., (Guest Eds.). of minor importance as a forcing factor for global climate change Multiple Approaches to South Asian Paleoanthropology: A Tribute to Gudrun during the end of the last glacial cycle. However, our studies show that Corvinus, Quaternary International 192 (1), 62e77. glaciation and particularly deglaciation is important in controlling the Derbyshire, E., Li, J.J., Street-Perrott, F.A., Xu, S.Y., Waters, R.S., 1984. Quaternary fi glacial history of the Hunza Valley, Karakoram mountains, Pakistan. In: deposition of thick valley lls and the landscape evolution of the high Miller, K.J. (Ed.), The International Karakoram Project, vol. 2, Cambridge mountain environments” (Owen et al., 2002). During the glacial University Press, Cambridge, pp. 456e495. phases the Hindu Kush Range was probably an “ice barrier” Dong, W., 2006. Récentes découvertes de restes d’Hominidés fossiles en Chine du ’ between the Amu Darya and Indus upper basins. Nevertheless, Sud. (Recent discoveries of hominid fossils in southern China). L anthropologie 110, 241e257. whereas exogenous traditions reached the foothills on both sides at Frumkin, G., 1970. Archaeology of Soviet Central Asia. Brill, Leiden, 218 pp. different periods, Acheulian in the South, Mousterian (naming of Gaillard, C., Dambricourt-Malassé, A., 2008. Les principales étapes de l’occupation ’ ’ Ranov) in the North, none of them developed. Only the cobble tool humaine en bordure de l Himalaya occidentale. L Anthropologie 112 (3), 404e422. tradition (at least the cobble tool element) persisted beyond the Gaillard, C., Dambricourt-Malassé, A., Magraner, J., Maîtrerobert, A., Taj, A., Voisin, J.- neolithisation, eventually crossing the barrier of the Hindu Kush as L., Nasir, A., 2002. Discovery of recent lithic industries with archaic features in Gupta (1979) suggested previously, when passes were ice-free. the Hindu Kusch range (Chitral district, North Pakistan). Bulletin of the Indo- Pacific Prehistory Association 22, 25e33. The data suggest that the hunting territory in high plateaus was Gaillard, C., Singh, M., Dambricourt, A. Late Pleistocene to early Holocene industries a biotope exploited during summer, since the Late Pleistocene, by in the southern fringes of the Himalaya. Quaternary International, in this issue. Central Asian hunters and that a huge territory opened from the Gaillard, C., Singh, M., Rishi, K.K., 2008. Technological analysis of the Acheulian assemblage from Atbarapur in the Siwalik Range (Hoshiarpur district, Punjab). second half of the Holocene, including lower valleys not only such Man and Environment 33 (2), 1e14. as Gissar and Afghani Badakhshan, but also Chitral, Swat, Indus and Gupta, S.P., 1979. Archaeology of Soviet Central Asia, and the Indian Borderlands. In: maybe other regions awaiting further investigations in Himalayas Prehistory, vol. 1. B.R. Publishing Corporation, Delhi, 194 pp. Huang, W., 1999. A message from early man: new finds from research on the lower and Western China. Without those movements which allowed and middle Paleolithic of China. Nihon Kôkogaku (Archaeological Studies in interbreeding between the tribes, the genetic variability would Japan) 8, 1e17. have declined. Indian Archaeology - A Review 1961e1962, 1964e1965 Annual Publication on But the most important event is that, after having for at least 2 Archaeological Reports, Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi. Kiyatkina, T.P., Ranov, V., 1971. Perviy anthropologiskie naxodki kamennogovea million years, exposed to predators, climate changes, faunal Tadjikictan (neolithicekhe erepa yz Tutkaula). Voproc Anthropologii 37, extinction, earthquakes, high altitude conditions, living in the 149e156. lower valleys of the highest massifs of the earth, crossing the Lewis, A.O., Finkel, R.C., Caffee, M.W., Gualtieri, L., 2002. Timing of multiple late Quaternary glaciations in the Hunza Valley, Karakoram mountains, northern highest plateaus, hunting in the forest, knapping cobbles to make Pakistan: defined by cosmogenic radionuclide dating of moraines. Geological their tools, this way of life disappeared suddenly about 5000e4000 Society of America bulletin 114 (5), 593e604. years ago. The high valleys were their summer hunting territories Meyer, M.C., Hofmann, Ch.-Ch., Gemmell, A.M.D., Haslinger, E., Häusler, H., Wangda, D., 2009. Quaternary Holocene glacier fluctuations and migration of but in winter they probably returned in the lower valleys. The new Neolithic yak pastoralists into the high valleys of northwest Bhutan. Science event which occurred around 5000 years ago was pastoralism and Reviews 28 (13e14), 1217e1237. the extensive exploitation of wood. Observing the ecosystem in the Miehe, G., Miehe, S., Schlütz, F., 2009. Early human impact in the forest ecotone of southern High Asia (Hindukush, Himalaya). Quaternary Research 71, 255e265. south of the Yarkhun valley (Chitral), Miehe et al. (2009) raise the Movius, H.L., 1953a. Paleolithic and Mesolithic site in Central and Soviet Asia. question of the deforestation and ask which Neolithic factors have Proceedings of the Philosophical American Society 97, 383e421. generated a deregulation of the mountainous climate. Besides the Movius, H.L., 1953b. The Mousterian cave of Teshik-Tash, southeastern Uzbekistan, central Asia. Bulletin of the American School of Prehistoric Research. 17:11e17. possibilities of shifting to agricultural or pastoral economies, a third Nanda, A.C., 2002. Upper Siwalik mammalian faunas of India and associated events. hypothesis regarding the disappearance of the last central Asian Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 21, 47e58. hunters-gatherers is their extinction caused by endemism in rela- Nanda, A.C., 2008. Comments on the Pinjor mammalian fauna of the Siwalik group tion with the forest retreat in the low altitude zones. in relation to the post-Siwalik faunas of Peninsular India and Indo-Gangetic Plain. In: Multiple Approaches to South Asian Paleoanthropology: A Tribute to Gudrun Corvinus, vol.1, pp. 6e13. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ journal/10406182192. Negredo, A.M., Replumaz, A., Villaseñor, A., Guillot, S., 2007. Modeling the evolution of continental subduction processes in the PamireHindu Kush region. Earth and References Planetary Science Letters 259, 212e225. Owen, L.A., Finkel, R.C., Caffee, M.W., Gualtieri, L., 2002. Timing of multiple late Agakhanyantz, O., 1996. The Pamir is rising. In: Shoumatoff, Nicholas, Quaternary glaciations in the Hunza Valley, Karakoram mountains, northern fi Shoumatoff, Nina (Eds.), Around the Roof of the World. The University of Pakistan: de ned by cosmogenic radionuclide dating of moraines. Geological e Michigan Press, pp. 103e109. Society of America Bulletin 114, 593 604. Amosova, A.G., Ranov, V.A., Filimonova, T.G., 1993. Les énigmes de la culture de Paddayya, K., Blackwel, B.A.B., Jhaldiyal, I.R., Petraglia, M.D., Fevrier, S., Chaderton, D. fi Hissar. In: Découverte des civilisations d’Asie Centrale. Les Dossiers d’Archéo- A., Blickstein, J.I.B., Skinner, A.R., 2002. Recent ndings on the Acheulian of the logie 185, 14e21. Hunsgi and Baichbal valleys, Karnataka, with special reference to the Isampur e Angel, J.L., 1972. A middle Palaeolithic temporal bone from Dara-i-Kur, Afghanistan. excavation and its dating. Current Science 83 (5), 641 647. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 62 (4), 54e56. Pant, R.K., Gaillard, C., Nautiyal, V., Gaur, G.S., Shali, S.L., 1982. Some new lithic and e Bettinelli, P., Avouac, J.P., Flouzat, M., Bollinger, L., Ramillien, G., Rajaure, S., ceramic industries from Kashmir. Man and Environment 6, 37 40. Sapkota, S., 2008. Seasonal variations of seismicity and geodetic strain in the Porter, S.C., 1985. Extent of Late-Pleistocene glaciers in Afghanistan based on inter- Himalaya induced by surface hydrology. Earth and Planetary Science Letters pretation of landsat imagery. In: Agrawal, D.P., Kusumgar, S., Krishnamurty, V. 266, 332e344. (Eds.), Climate and geology of Kashmir and central Asia: the last four millionyears. e Bondarev, L.G., Gobedzhishivli, R.G., Solomina, O.N., 1997. Fluctuations of local Current Trends in Geology, vol. 4, pp. 191 195. New Delhi. glaciers in the southern ranges of the former USSR: 18,000e8000 B.P. Quater- Ranov, V.A., 1982. The Hissar neolithic culture of Soviet Central Asia. Man and e nary International 38/39, 103e108. Environment 6, 63 71.

A. Dambricourt Malassé, C. Gaillard / Quaternary International xxx (2010) 1e9 9

Ranov, V.A., 1984. L’exploration archéologique du Pamir. Bulletin de l’Ecole française throughout the Late Glacial and Holocene in westernmost Tibet. Geological d’Extrême-Orient 73 (73), 67e97. Society of America Bulletin 121 (3e4), 348e365. Ranov, V.A., 1988. Oshkhona, Tadjikistan. In: Leroi-Gourhan, A. (Ed.), Dictonnaire de Serebryanny, L., Solomina, O., 1996. Glaciers and climate of the mountains of the la Préhistoire. Presses Universitaires de France, p. 780. former USSR during the Neoglacial. Mountain Research and Development 16 Ranov, V.A., 1993. Tout commence au Paléolithique. Découvertes des civilisations de (2), 157e166. l’Asie Centrale, Les Dossiers de l’Archéologie 185, 4e13. Sharif, M., Thapar, B.K., 1999. Food-producing communities in Pakistan and North Ranov, V.A., 1995. The “Loessic Palaeolithic” in South Tajikistan, Central Asia: its India. In: Dani, A.H., Masson, V.M. (Eds.), History of civilizations of Central Asia, industries, chronology and correlation. Quaternary Science Reviews 14, 731e745. vol. 1. UNESCO/Motilal Banarsidass Publ., pp. 127e152. Ranov, V.A., 2001. Loess-Paleosoil formation of Southern Tajikistan and the loess Sharma, A.K., 1982a. Excavations at Gufkral, 1981. Puratattva 11, 19e25. palaeolithic. Praehistoria 2, 7e27. Sharma, A.K., 1982b. Gufkral 1981: an Aceramic Neolithic site in the Kashmir valley. Ranov, V.A., 2003. De l’ancien et du neuf dans l’étude du Mésolithique en Asie Asian Perspectives 25, 25e41. moyenne. Paléorient 29 (29-1), 157e165. Singhvi, A.K., Bronger, A., Pant, R.K., Sauer, W., 1987. Thermoluminescence dating Ranov, V.A., 2005. L’énigme de la diffusion des artefacts sur les sites paléolithiques and its implications for the chronostratigraphy of loess palaeosols sequences in du loess au sud du Tadjikistan. In: Molines, N., Moncel, M.H., Monnier, J.L. (Eds.), the Kashmir valley, India. Chemical Geology 65, 45e56. Données récentes sur les modalités de peuplement en Europe au Paléolithique Stacul, G., 1984. Cultural change in the Swât valley and beyond, c. 3000e1400 BC. inférieur et moyen. John and Erica Hedges Ltd, Oxford, pp. 387e397. In: Allchin, B. (Ed.), South Asian Archaeology 1981. Cambridge University Press, Ranov, V.A., Davis, R.S., 1979. Toward a new outline of the Soviet Central Asian pp. 205e211. Paleolithic. Current Anthropology 20 (2) 249e170. Teilhard de Chardin, P., de Terra, H., 1936. Observations on the upper Siwalik Ranov, V.A., Dodonov, A.E., 2003. Small instruments of the lower Palaeolithic site formation and later Pleistocene deposits in India. Proceeding of the American Kuldara and their geoarchaeological meaning. In: Burdukiewicz, J.M., Ronen, A. Philosophical Society 76 (6), 791e822. (Eds.), Lower Palaeolithic small tools in Europe and the Levant. BAR Interna- Terra (de), H., Teilhard de Chardin, P., Hawkes, J.C., 1934. Palaeolithic industries in tional Series, vol. 1115. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 133e147. Western Punjab and Kashmir and their geological significance. Memoirs of the Ranov, V.A., Dorj, D., Lü Zun, -E., 1999. Lower Palaeolithic cultures. In: Dani, A.H., ConnecticutAcademy of Science and Art 3. Masson, V.M. (Eds.), History of civilizations of Central Asia, vol. 1. UNESCO/ Terra (de), H., Teilhard de Chardin, P., Paterson, T.T., 1936. Joint geological and Motilal Banarsidass Publ., pp. 45e64. prehistoric studies in the late Cenozoic in India. Science 83, 233e236. Ranov, V.A., Schäfer, J., 2000. Loessic Palaeolithic. Archaeology. Ethnology and Velitchko, A.A., Lebedeva, I.M., 1974. An attempted of Palaeoglaciological Anthropology of Eurasia 2 (2), 20e32. reconstruction for the Eastern Pamirs. Data of Glaciological Studies 23, Ranov, V.A., Sidorovo, I.F., 1979. The Pamir as Man's habitat. In: Gupta, S.P. (Ed.), 109e117. Archaeology of Soviet Central Asia and the Indian Borderlands. B.R. Publishing Wang, Y., Wang, X., Xu, Y., Zhang, C., Li, Q., Tseng, Z.J., Takeuchi, G., Deng, T., 2008. Corporation, Delhi, vol 1, p. 176. Stable isotopes in fossil mammals, fish and shells from Kunlun Pass Basin, Rendell, H., Dennell, R.W., 1985. Dated lower Palaeolithic artefacts from northern Tibetan Plateau: Paleo-climatic and Paleo-elevation implications. Earth and Pakistan. Current Anthropology 26 (3), 393. Planetary Science Letters 270 (1e2, 15), 73e85. Rendell, H.M., Dennell, R.W., Halim, M.A., 1989. Pleistocene and Palaeolithic Waragai, T., 2004. Calcrete crust formation on the lateral moraine of Batura glacier, investigations in the Soan Valley, Northern Pakistan. In: B.A.R. International Northern Pakistan. 19th Himalaya-Karakoram-Tibet workshop, Niseko, Japan. Series, vol. 544, 346 pp., (Oxford). Himalayan Journal of Sciences 2 (4), 270e272. Rhode, D., Zhang, H., Madsen, D.B., Xing, G., Brantingham, P.J., Haizhou, M., Olsen, J. William, M.P., Sloan, V.F., Shroder, J.F., Sharma Jr., P., Clarke, M.L., Rendell, H.M., W., 2007. Epipaleolithic/early Neolithic settlements at QinghaiLake, Western 2000. Asynchronous glaciation at Nanga Parbat, northwestern Himalaya China. Journal of Archaeological Science 34 (4), 600e612. Mountains, Pakistan. Geology 28 (5), 431e434. Savvaitova, K.A., Pietr, T., 1999. Fish and fisheries in Lake Issik-Kul (Tien Shan), River Yakovlev, E.P., 1976. Kratkie soobshcheniya o vstrechakh Tibetskoi saji [Brief Chu and PamirLakes. In: Petr, T. (Ed.), Fish and fisheries at higher altitudes: Asia. communications on records of the Tibetan Sandgrouse]. Na Pamire [In Pamir]. FAOeFisheries Technical Paper, vol. 385, p. 304. Redkie, ichezayushchie i maliozuchennye ptitsy SSSR [Rare, endangered and Schäfer, J., Ranov, V.A., Sosin, P.M., 1998. The cultural evolution of man and the little-studied birds of the USSR]. (Trudy Okskogo gos. Zapovednika [Proc. of Oka chronostatigraphical background of changing environments in the loess pale- [Okskiy] State Nature Reserve]), 13, 188e189. osoil sequences of Obi-Mazar and Khonako (Tajikistan). Anthropologie (Brno) Zech,R.,Abramowski,U.,Glaser,B.,Sosin,P.,Kubik,P.,Wolfgang,Z.,2005. 36 (2), 121e135. Late Quaternary glacial and climate history of the Pamir Mountains Seong, Y.B., Owen, L.A., Yi, C., Finkel, R.C., 2009. Quaternary glaciation of Muztag Ata derived from cosmogenic 10Be exposure ages. Quaternary Research 64 (2), and Kongur Shan: Evidence for glacier response to rapid climate changes 212e220.