The Ice Age in the Indian Subcontinent and Associated Human Cultures : With Special Reference to Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Sind, Liddar & Central and Peninsular India

by H. De Terra and T.T. Paterson

This book deals with the geological and archaeological results of an expedition carried out to understand the Ice Age cycle in the Himalayas and to unravel the Pleistocene history of the Stone Age in other parts of India.

Due to the regional division of this fieldwork, the book has two main categories. The first, Part I, deals with the Ice Age in southwestern Kashmir including Sind, Liddar, Pir Panjal, Jammu and Ladakh and the second, Part II, III, IV, and V, studies the Pleistocene and archaeological studies in other parts of India, mainly Potwar and Indus regions and Central and Peninsular India. This arrangement will enable the reader to first get acquainted with the classical cycle in the Himalayas and then understand the Pleistocene stratigraphy of the adjoining plains.

The work, originally published in 1939, has long been out-of-print and is being reissued in a limited edition. It is hoped that this book will facilitate an understanding of Pleistocene geology and prehistory in Asia and encourage the development of a border science, in which geologists and archaeologists jointly study human evolution.

Contents:

1. Introduction
2. I. The Ice age in Southwestern Kashmir:
   1. Geographic and geologic aspects of the region:
      1. Physiographic divisions
      2. The climate of Kashmir
      3. Brief outline of geologic structure
      4. Drainage pattern and structural history
      5. Preglacial land forms
      6. Physical geologic factors now active in Kashmir
   2. The glaciation on the Himalayan slope/T.T. Paterson:
      1. Glacial sequence in the Sind Valley
      2. Glacial sequence in the Liddar Valley. Summary
   3. The Pleistocene record in the Kashmir Basin:
      1. Sections in the Karewa series
      2. Morphologic and sedimentary records of the Karewa lake shores
   4. Glaciation of the northeastern slope of the Pir Panjal:
      1. First glaciation
      2. First interglacial period
      3. Later major glaciations
   5. Glaciation of the southwestern slope and its corresponding features in the foothills of Jammu and Poonch:
      1. Glaciation of the Jhelum tract
      2. Outlet of the Chenab Valley at Akhnur
      3. Terraces and fan deposits in the Tawi Valley above Jammu
      4. The Pleistocene deposits of Poonch/T.T. Paterson.
   6. The Kashmir Pleistocene in its relation to the valley basins of the upper Indus drainage system:
      1. Dainelli’s analysis of the Himalayan ice age
      2. The Pleistocene records in Ladak or Indian Tibet.
   7. Summary of the Pleistocene in Kashmir:
      1. Early Pleistocene
      2. Middle Pleistocene.
   8. Postglacial geology and prehistoric man in Kashmir.
   9. Petrology of the Karewa lake beds/Paul D. Krynine:
      1. Sedimentation and genetic significance of the Karewa deposits
      2. Descriptive petrography.
3. II. Pleistocene geology and stone age cultures in northwest and peninsular India:
   1. Outline of the upper Siwalik and younger Pleistocene history of the Potwar region:
      1. The Potwar at the end of the Tertiary period
      2. Upper Siwalik period
      3. Post-Siwalik stages.
   2. Geologic sections through culture-bearing Pleistocene deposits of the Potwar:
      1. Soan Valley
      2. Eastern Potwar
      3. Summary.
   3. Pleistocene deposits of the salt range.
   4. Origin and climatic record of the Pleistocene in the northwest Punjab:
      1. Sedimentation in relation to diastrophism and climatic changes
      2. Source of upper Siwalik deposits.
   5. Prehistory of the Potwar and Indus regions/T.T. Paterson:
      1. Stratigraphy.
      2. Typology
   6. Conclusions.
4. The Pleistocene in the Narbada Valley of Central India:
   1. Geology of the area:
      1. Narbada laterite
      2. Lower Narbada group
      3. Upper Narbada group
      4. New alluvium and regur clay
      5. The Narbada sequence and its possible correlation with the extra-peninsular Pleistocene.
   2. Culture-bearing localities:
      1. Vicinity of Hoshangabad
      2. Vicinity of Narsinghpur.
5. Stratigraphic and typologic sequence of the Madras Paleolithic industries/T.T. Paterson.
6. The late stone age sites at Sukkur and Rohri, on the lower Indus in upper Sind:
   1. General features and location.
   2. Geologic age.
   3. The industries of Sukkur and Rohri/T.T. Paterson:
   4. Sukkur
   5. Rohri
   6. Dating.
7. Literature references.
8. Index.