Attirampakkam

2021-08-11T17:12:07Z

103.113.190.55:

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{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2020}}


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'''Attirampakkam''' or '''Athirampakkam''' ({{Lang-ta|அத்திரம்பாக்கம்}}) is a village located 60 kilometers away from [[Chennai]], [[Tamil Nadu]], [[India]]. The oldest known [[stone tool|stone tools]] in India were discovered near the village,<ref name="nature_2018_01_attirampakkam">{{Cite journal|last=Akhilesh|first=Kumar|last2=Pappu|first2=Shanti|last3=Rajapara|first3=Haresh M.|last4=Gunnell|first4=Yanni|last5=Shukla|first5=Anil D.|last6=Singhvi|first6=Ashok K.|date=2018-01-31|access-date=2018-02-01|title=Early Middle Palaeolithic culture in India around 385–172 ka reframes Out of Africa models |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25444|journal=Nature|language=En|volume=554|issue=7690|pages=97–101|doi=10.1038/nature25444|pmid=29388951|issn=1476-4687}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://qz.com/1195237/stone-tools-found-in-india-suggest-humans-left-africa-earlier-than-we-thought/|title=Tools found in India suggest humans left Africa earlier than we thought|work=Quartz|access-date=2018-02-01|language=en-US}}</ref> which became the [[type site]] for the [[Madrasian culture]].<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/pappu297/ | title=Excavations at the Palaeolithic site of Attirampakkam, South India | date=September 2003 | first1=Shanti | last1=Pappu | first2=Yanni | last2=Gunnell | first3=Maurice | last3=Taieb | first4=Jean-Philippe | last4=Brugal | first5=K. | last5=Anupama | first6=Raman | last6=Sukumar | first7=Kumar | last7=Akhilesh | issue=297 | volume=77 | journal=Antiquity | accessdate=2 July 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://thewire.in/science/stone-tools-found-tamil-nadu-suggest-humans-left-africa-much-earlier | title=Ancient Stone Tools Found in Tamil Nadu Push Back ‘Out of Africa’ Exodus Date | date=2 February 2018 | first=Sarah | last=Iqbal | publisher=The Wire | accessdate=2 July 2020}}</ref>

== Discovery and dating of artifacts ==
William King of the East India Company's Geological Survey found the first primitive stone tools at Attirampakkam in the early 1860s. Later, more stone tools were recovered from Attirampakkam over a 20-year period by archaeologists from the Sharma Centre for Heritage Education in India and other Indian institutions.<ref name="the_verge_2018_01"/> Due to the paucity of any hominine fossils or bones recovered yet from the site or from South Asia as a whole, it is currently not possible to conclude which [[Hominina|hominin species]] had created these tools.<ref name="the_verge_2018_01">{{Cite news|url=https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/31/16955858/stone-tools-attirampakkam-india-hominins-human-evolution-levallois-acheulean-paleolithic|title=Discovery of ancient stone tools rewrites the history of technology in India|work=The Verge|first= Rachel|last=Becker|date=2018-01-31|access-date=2018-03-05}}</ref>

By performing a [[luminescence dating]] method called post-Infrared-Stimulated Luminescence (pIR-IRSL) on about 7,200 artifacts found at Attirampakkam, researchers have made a [[chronology]] of Attirampakkam stone tool technology with a span of about 200,000 years.<ref name="discover_mag_2018_01_31"/> Latest studies indicate that the [[Levallois technique|Levallois technology]] used at Attirampakkam emerged at about 385,000 (± 64,000) years ago, at a time period when processes signifying the end of the [[Acheulean Culture|Acheulian culture]] occurred and a [[Middle Paleolithic|Middle Palaeolithic culture]] had emerged.<ref name="nature_2018_01_attirampakkam"/><ref name="discover_mag_2018_01_31">{{Cite news|url=http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/deadthings/2018/01/31/stone-tools-from-india|title=Stone Tools From India: Another Blow To Human Evolution Model?|date=2018-01-31|work=Discover Magazine|first=Gemma|last=Tarlach|access-date=2018-03-05|language=en-US}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Acheulean industry]]
* [[Madrasian culture]]
* [[Jwalapuram]]
* [[South Asian Stone Age]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Paleolithic]]
[[Category:Archaeology of India]]
[[Category:History of Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Ancient Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Tamilakam]]

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Attirampakkam