33°30′N73°12′E / 33.5°N 73.2°E /33.5; 73.2
  Shown within Pakistan | |
| Location | Soan Valley,Punjab |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 33°30′N73°12′E / 33.5°N 73.2°E /33.5; 73.2 |
| History | |
| Periods | Lower Palaeolithic |
| Site notes | |
| Discovered | 1983 |
| Archaeologists | |
Riwat (Rawat, Murree) is aPaleolithic site inPunjab, northernPakistan. Another site, calledRiwat Site 55, shows a later occupation dated to around 45,000 years ago.[1]
The site was discovered in 1983. The artifacts consist of flakes and cores made of quartzite. The collection of pebble tools is claimed to be 1.9 million years old and has been disputed because the artifacts weren't found in their original context.[2] The claims of the dating of the site are being continuously researched.[3]
Riwat was discovered by the British Archaeological Mission to Pakistan, directed byF. Raymond Allchin andBridget Allchin (1977–1987),[4] andRobin Dennell (1988–1999).[5] In the early 1980s, the mission set out to investigate the earliest periods in the prehistory of Pakistan, which at that point were only poorly understood, based on the work ofHelmut de Terra andT. T. Paterson in the 1930s. One of the localities described by de Terra and Paterson was a place near the village ofRawat where artefact-bearingPleistocenequartzite deposits could be found eroding out of the ridges and slopes of theSoan Valley. Revisiting the site, which they calledRiwat Site 55, in 1983, the mission discovered prehistoricstone tools in good condition, and therefore decided to open an excavation, which was conducted over two seasons by Dennell and Pakistani archaeologist M. Halim. The site was dated to theUpper Palaeolithic, about 45,000 years ago.[4]
At the same time, Dennell, together with geologistHelen Rendell, decided to survey the area around Riwat for more Palaeolithic sites. They noted several finds which appeared to be older than those at Site 55, perhaps indicating aMiddle Palaeolithic or evenLower Palaeolithic occupation, but conclusively demonstrating that they were made by human hands, and that they were as old as suspected, proved difficult.[4] In 1985, Rendell and Dennell published a paper in which they argued that some of the Riwat artefacts could be dated to the Lower Palaeolithic, between 400,000 and 700,000 years ago.[6] Later, in 1988, they selected six artefacts which they argued were as much as two million years old, and therefore the earliest evidence of humans outside of Africa known at the time.[7][8]
The Lower Palaeolithicassemblage at Riwat consists of sixteen pieces offlaked stone that were found at the base of a deeply erodedgully. With the exception ofhandaxes, thestone tools used by hominins in this period (theOldowan industry) were very simple, consisting of large flakes struck from acore with little preparation or forethought. As a result of this and their great age, they can be difficult to distinguish from pieces of stone that were flaked through natural processes, such as rolling down a slope. Dennell therefore analysed the Riwat assemblage for characteristic features of human modification:bulbs of percussion and ripple marks, indicating that significant force was applied to the core in a single place; a large number of flakes struck from the same core, using up a majority of the core's original surface; flakes struck from different directions; andretouch. Based on this analysis, he presented six pieces which he considered likely to be artefacts:[7]
A further seven pieces were described as possibly manufactured by hominids, but "equivocal".[7] In 1988 Dennell and his team revisited Riwat and found another flake (R88/1) that they considered likely to be artefactual. They were also able to document that out of more than 1,000 stones in the same deposit, none were flaked (indicating that they were not deposited in an environment where natural flaking was common).[9]
| ThePaleolithic |
|---|
| ↑Pliocene (beforeHomo) |
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| ↓Mesolithic |
