Newly Discovered Archaeological Sites In India Reveals Ancient Life Before Toba
Toba folks, I know this is not a very credible source, in fact some of the facts they present are inconsistent and confusing. Furthermore, I’ve never heard of the Malaysian National News Agency, Bernama. But either way there’s a news article they are running that may interest you.
“Newly discovered archaeological sites in southern and northern India have revealed how people lived before and after the colossal Toba volcanic eruption 74,000 years ago…
…has uncovered what it calls ‘Pompeii-like excavations’ beneath the Toba ash… Though we are still searching for human fossils to definitively prove the case, we are encouraged by the technological similarities…
The fact that the Middle Palaeolithic tools of similar styles are found right before and after the Toba super-eruption, suggests that the people who survived the eruption were the same populations, using the same kinds of tools…
The research agrees with evidence that other human ancestors, such as the Neanderthals in Europe and the small brained Hobbits in Southeastern Asia, continued to survive well after Toba.”
This work is a continuous of Michael Petraglia‘s research. I really don’t know what is meant by Pompeii-life excavations. Calling it such is clearly a misnomer when there aren’t any human remains found. At the least, it seems like some more definitive stone tools have been unearthed, cores and flakes from the Middle Palaeolithic — similar to those made by modern humans in Africa.
It seems to be taken word by word from this Oxford University press release, which in turn leads to this general page for Petraglia’s team’s project.
So it seems serious stuff.
Luis
February 25, 2010 at 10:25 am
Thanks for sleuthing that out, Luis. Much appreciated!
Kambiz Kamrani
February 25, 2010 at 3:06 pm
Pompeii-like doesn’t necessarily mean there will be body casts at the site. Pompeii-like would refer to the nature of the site being preserved under layers of ash, like the Ceren site in El Salvador which is nicknamed “the Pompeii of the New World” (no human remains have been found at Ceren).
erica
February 25, 2010 at 7:34 pm