Coasting into India? - Assessing lithostratigraphic context of Middle Palaeolithic occupation in Saurashtra Peninsula

The coastal rim of the Indian subcontinent is believed to have played a crucial role in the dispersal of early Modern Humans from Africa into the Indian subcontinent during the Late Pleistocene. However, the paucity of substantial evidence along the Indian coastal margins has made it difficult to assess this hypothesis directly. The peninsular region of Saurashtra in Gujarat (India) is one of the key regions that possesses a vast coastline of ∼1600 km, located east of the Indus Delta. Earlier research has revealed widespread evidence of Late Acheulian and Middle Palaeolithic occupations in the region during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. Here, we report evidence of new Middle Palaeolithic localities from the central (Bhadar river basin) and northern (Aji river basin) parts of the Saurashtra peninsula. This study reviews the lithostratigraphic context of hominin occupation across Saurashtra and provides crucial insights into the chronology of Middle Palaeolithic localities. Our comparative data suggest that most of the Middle Palaeolithic assemblages in Saurashtra belong to the Gt2 horizon, which dates back to the onset of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3. These findings are further examined in light of ongoing discussions on Late Pleistocene hominin population dynamics, dispersal patterns, and eustatic fluctuations.