Evidence of early humans found in cold desert

Ladakh, one of the world's highest cold desert, had early humans more than 3,000 years ago, a new government survey has found, falsifying the claims that no early humans could have borne the harsh conditions of the region. Chetan Chauhan reports.

Updated on: Jul 11, 2011, 01:46:35 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Ladakh, one of the world's highest cold desert, had early humans more than 3,000 years ago, a new government survey has found, falsifying the claims that no early humans could have borne the harsh conditions of the region.

It is for the first time that evidence of early human existence has been found in upper Himalayan region, where winter temperature falls to upto minus 30 degree Celsius.

In first week of July, the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) and Jammu University found hearths used by early humans on the bank of Wakka river in Ladakh valley for fire.

"These were mostly transit camps where fire was lit to cook food and to escape from harsh winters," said RK Ganjoo, professor of Geologoy at Jammu University.

The university with ASI are implemented a Central government project for finding traces of early humans in Kargil and Ladakh after similar discoveries were made in neighbouring Tibet and Hindukush in Pakistan in 2009.

During survey of Ladakh valley, Ganjoo and SB Ota of regional director of ASI office in Bhopal discovered number of hearths built by cutting natural slopes of the mountains about 3,000 to 4,000 years ago.

"Early man occupied the valley and exploited the slopes to settle down an carry out its routine activities under the large rock falls. Most interesting is that flat blocks of limestone was used by Early Man as floor around the fire placed," says a paper on their findings.

To fine tine the findings, the sample archeological sites have been sent to investigate the type of wood used for burning the fire and remains of the food materials consumed by the early men. "The investigation will help us to find the exact time and more about early humans in Ladakh region," Ganjoo said.

Earlier humans have been tracked back to two million years in Africa and in India the latest studies indicate presence of humans of stone age in the Attarapakkan region in now Tamil Nadu about 1.5 million years ago.

But so far presence of early humans was not discovered in cold desert region of Himalayas. Britishers in early 19th century conducted archeological survey of Ladakh and Kargil region but ruled out possibility of their existence citing harsh winters.

"Our finding will give a new impetus to geo-archeological research," Ganjoo said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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