Quaternary fluvial and eolian deposits on the Belan river, India: paleoclimatic setting of Paleolithic to Neolithic archeological sites over the past 85,000 years

Archeological sites in the bedrock Belan Valley at the southern margin of the Ganga Plains of India have unearthed Paleolithic to Neolithic artifacts and the first known evidence for rice cultivation. We present a sedimentological and paleoclimatic analysis for Belan sections, incorporating new luminescence and radiocarbon dates and a compilation of previous research. Some 20 m of strata are exposed in fluvial terraces, commencing with pedogenic...