Africans who settled in India 350,000 years ago developed stone technology before modern ‘civilization’

Earlier findings have suggested that the presence of Africans in India had been in Indus Valley. But, recent archaeological excavations of more than 7,000 stone artifacts buried at Attirampakkan in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu showed that early Africans stayed in the South of India prior to settling in the Indus Valley. 

The findings made by Indian and French archaeologists unraveled stone artifacts dating back 385,000 to 172,000 years ago, according to Daily Sabah. The archaeologists said the findings provide an insight into the early culture in India somewhere around 125,000 years ago. 

The lead archaeologist at the Sharma Centre for Heritage Education, Dr. Shanti Pappu, told the Times of Israel they arrived on the age of the stone axe tools by using the luminescence dating technology which provides a more accurate time frame compared to carbon dating. 

The archaeologists indicated that the excavations have given them reason to question early assumptions about the exodus of Africans across India and other parts of the world. They explained that earlier reports had indicated that early Africans started their exodus to other parts of the world at least 300,000 years ago. 

The researchers said the excavations in the Southern part of India give a sense that early Africans migrated much earlier than findings say. Delving into details of the artifacts, the researchers said the early Africans used the best technology known as Levallois 400,000 years ago to make their weapons. The researchers explained that the stone tool technology predates 1.75 million years and they are in grades. 

The level of technology used by the early Africans in India could easily turn sharp stone tools into weapons such as spears and axes. 

The lead archaeologist on the Attirampakkam project, Dr. Pappu, said the tools were carved using specialized technology. He said the findings have provided them with further insight into how the early men lived their lives outside Africa and Europe. 

He added that for researchers interested in the migration of early men, what the findings tell them is that the exodus of Africans may have been initiated by certain factors and this calls for more research into it.