London: 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.
The international, multidisciplinary research team, led
by Oxford University in collaboration with Indian
institutions, has uncovered what it calls 'Pompeii-like
excavations' beneath the Toba ash.
The seven-year project examines the environment that
humans lived in, their stone tools, as well as the plants and
animal bones of the time.
The team has concluded that many forms of life survived
the super-eruption, contrary to other research which has
suggested significant animal extinctions and genetic
bottlenecks.
According to the team, a potentially ground-breaking
implication of the new work is that the species responsible
for making the stone tools in India was Homo sapiens.
Stone tool analysis has revealed that the artefacts
consist of cores and flakes, which are classified in India as
Middle Palaeolithic and are similar to those made by modern
humans in Africa.
"Though we are still searching for human fossils to
definitively prove the case, we are encouraged by the
technological similarities.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 09:22