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{{
Infobox archaeological culture
|name = Soanian
|map =
|mapalt =
|altnames =
|horizon =
|region = [[Indian subcontinent]]<ref name="SchugWalimbe2016"/>
|period = [[Lower Paleolithic]]
|dates = 500,000 – 125,000 BP{{sfn|Petraglia|Allchin|2007|pp=5–6}}<ref name="murray">{{cite book |last=Murray |first=Tim |author-link=Tim Murray (archaeologist) |title=Time and Archaeology |url=https://archive.org/details/timearchaeology00murr |url-access=limited |publisher=Routledge |year=1999 |location=London | page=[https://archive.org/details/timearchaeology00murr/page/n98 84] |isbn=978-0-415-11762-3}}</ref>
|typesite = Sivalik region<ref name="SchugWalimbe2016"/>
|majorsites = [[Sivalik Hills]]<ref name="SchugWalimbe2016"/>
|extra =
|precededby = [[Acheulean]]
|followedby = [[Mousterian]]
}}
The '''Soanian''' is an archaeological culture of the [[Lower Paleolithic]] in the [[Sivalik Hills]] of the [[Indian subcontinent]].<ref name="SchugWalimbe2016">{{cite book|author1=Gwen Robbins Schug|author2=Subhash R. Walimbe|title=A Companion to South Asia in the Past|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7xv-CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA39|date=13 April 2016|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-119-05547-1|pages=39–}} Quote: “Soanian and Soanian‐like assemblages are known throughout the entire Siwalik or Sub‐ Himalayan region, from Pakistan to northeast India including Nepal...”</ref><ref name="sites.google.com">{{cite journal |last1=Lycett |first1=Stephen J. |title=Is the Soanian techno-complex a Mode 1 or Mode 3 phenomenon? A morphometric assessment |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |date=2007 |volume=34 |issue=9 |pages=1434–1440 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2006.11.001|url=http://sites.google.com/site/sjlycett/Lycett_2007_Soan.pdf}}</ref> Contemporary to the [[Acheulean]], it is named after the [[Soan River|Soan Valley]] in [[Pakistan]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1312059|title=Pakistan: The lesser-known histories of an ancient land}}</ref> Soanian sites are found along the Sivalik region in present-day [[India]], [[Nepal]] and [[Pakistan]].<ref name="The Sheffield Graduate Journal of Archaeology">Chauhan, Parth R., ''An Overview of the Siwalik Acheulian & Reconsidering Its Chronological Relationship with the Soanian – A Theoretical Perspective''.</ref> Soanian artifacts were manufactured on quartzite [[Pebble|pebbles]], [[Cobble (geology)|cobbles]], and occasionally on [[Boulder|boulders]], all derived from various fluvial sources
on the [[Sivalik Hills|Siwalik]] landscape. Soanian assemblages generally comprise varieties of [[Chopper (archaeology)|choppers]], discoids, [[Scraper (archaeology)|scrapers]], [[Core (archaeology)|cores]], and numerous flake types, all occurring in varying typotechnological frequencies at individual sites.<ref>Paterson, T.T., Drummond, H.J.H., 1962. Soan the Palaeolithic of Pakistan.Department of Archaeology, Government of Pakistan Karachi.</ref> Excluding some localities in the Soan Valley of Pakistan, the site complex of Guler (Beas Valley) and Toka in India, and the Arjun-3 site in Nepal, Soanian and similar assemblages rarely comprise more than a few dozen artifacts. Most occur in nondatable surface contexts and may be classifiable as off-sites or non-sites, with stray artifacts strewn randomly across [[Sivalik Hills|Siwalik]] landscapes.<ref>Pande, B.M., 1968. A note on two paleoliths from Guler, District Kangra(Himachal Pradesh). Curr. Sci. 37 (19), 558-560.</ref><ref>Foley, R., 1981. Off-site archaeology: an alternative approach for the short-sited. In: Hodder, I., Isaac, G., Hammond, N. (Eds.), Patterns of the Past: Studies in Honour of David Clark. Cambridge University Press, Cam-bridge, pp. 157-183.</ref><ref>Dunnell, R.C., Dancey, W.S., 1983. The siteless survey: a regional scale data collection strategy. In: Schiffer, M.B. (Ed.), Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, 6, pp. 267-287.</ref>
The closest morphological parallels to this outside of South Asia are found in the neighboring regions of [[Tajikistan]] and [[Iran]].<ref>Davis, R.S., 1984. The Soan in Central Asia? Problems in Early Palaeolithicculture history. In: Kennedy, K.A.R., Possehl, G.L. (Eds.), Studies in the Archaeology and Palaeoanthropology of South Asia. Oxford & IBH Publishing Company, New Delhi, pp. 23-32.</ref>

==Findings==
{{Location map+|India|width=350|float=left|caption=Map of the [[Indian subcontinent]] showing important sites of the Soanian culture.|places=
{{Location map~|India|lat=32.016667|long=76.75|position=right|label_size=75|label=[[Chauntra]]}}
{{Location map~|India|lat=33.44|long=72.973611|position=right|label_size=75|label=[[Khasala Kalan]]}}
{{Location map~|India|lat=27.766667|long=82.4|position=right|label_size=75|label=[[Sivalik Hills]]}}
{{Location map~|India|lat=33.016667|long=71.733333|position=left|label_size=75|label=[[Soan River]]}}
}}

The term "Soan Culture" was first used by Hellmut De Terra in 1936,<ref name="MacCurdyPhiladelphia1969">{{cite book
|author=Hellmut De Terra
|editor=George Grant MacCurdy
|title=Early man: as depicted by leading authorities at the International symposium, the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, March 1937
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t8yCCB8BHFcC&pg=PA267
|access-date=16 October 2011
|year=1969
|isbn=978-0-8369-1184-8
|pages=267–}}</ref> but D. N. Wadia had identified the presence of these archaeological implements in 1928.<ref name="Oakley2007">{{cite book
|author=Kenneth Oakley
|title=Frameworks for Dating Fossil Man
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qrmOwp2swlgC&pg=PA224
|access-date=16 October 2011
|date=30 April 2007
|orig-year=1964
|publisher=Transaction Publishers
|isbn=978-0-202-30960-6
|pages=224–}}</ref> Further archaeological research was conducted by Stephen Lycett in order to determine the morphometric assessment of the Soanian techno-complex. The result of this experiment concluded that the Soanian techno-complex contains a Mode 3 [[Levallois technique]] core component.<ref name="sites.google.com"/>

At [[Adiala]] and [[Khasala Kalan]], about {{convert|16|km|mi|abbr=on}} from [[Rawalpindi]] terrace on the bend of the river, hundreds of edged pebble tools were discovered. At [[Chauntra]] in [[Himachal Pradesh]], [[hand axe]]s and cleavers were found. Tools up to two million years old have been recovered. In the Soan River Gorge, many [[fossil]] bearing rocks are exposed on the surface. 14 million year old fossils of [[gazelle]], [[rhinoceros]], [[crocodile]], [[giraffe]] and [[rodent]]s have been found there. Some of these fossils are on display at the [[Pakistan Museum of Natural History]] in [[Islamabad]].

{{clear}}

==See also==
{{Paleolithic|lower}}

* [[South Asian Stone Age]]
* [[Madrasian culture]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal|author=Dani Ahmad Hasan |url=http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/handle/10125/16722/AP-v7n1-2-183-188.pdf?sequence=1 |title=Prehistoric Pakistan|journal=Asian Perspectives|volume=7|year=1964|pages=183–188}}
*{{cite journal|author=B. B. Lal|url=http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/handle/10125/16720/AP-v7n1-2-144-159.pdf.txt;jsessionid=737E60BE5DD68EB393620E6585167F9B?sequence=2|title=A Decade of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology in India, 1951–1960|journal=Asian Perspectives|volume=7|issue=1–2|year=1964|pages=144–159}}
*{{cite book
|author=Hellmut De Terra
|title=Early man: as depicted by leading authorities at the International symposium, the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, March 1937
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t8yCCB8BHFcC&pg=PA263
|access-date=21 August 2011
|year=1969
|publisher=Ayer Publishing, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia
|isbn=978-0-8369-1184-8
|pages=263–}}
*{{cite journal|author=J. Armand |url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/paleo_0153-9345_1979_num_5_1_4242 |title=The Middle Pleistocene Pebble Tool Site of Durkadi in Central India|journal=Paléorient|volume=5|year=1979|pages=105–144|doi=10.3406/paleo.1979.4242 }}
*{{cite book
|author=J. Armand
|editor=V. N. Misra, Peter S. Bellwood
|title=Recent advances in Indo-Pacific prehistory: proceedings of the international symposium held at Poona, December 19–21, 1978
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gMoJj-0Z94UC&pg=PA4
|access-date=22 August 2011
|year=1985
|publisher=BRILL
|isbn=978-90-04-07512-2
|pages=4–
|chapter=The Emergence of the Handaxe Tradition in Asia, with Special Reference to India}}
*{{cite book
|author1=V. A. Ranov
|author2=D. Dorj
|author3=Lu Zün-E
|editor=Vadim Mikhaĭlovich Masson
|title=History of civilizations of Central Asia
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GXzycd3dT9kC&pg=PA45
|access-date=21 August 2011
|year=1999
|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass
|isbn=978-81-208-1407-3
|pages=45–}}
*{{cite book
|author=Kenneth Oakley
|title=Frameworks for Dating Fossil Man
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qrmOwp2swlgC&pg=PA223
|access-date=21 August 2011
|date=30 April 2007
|publisher=Transaction Publishers
|isbn=978-0-202-30960-6
|pages=223–}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120104171240/http://www.assemblage.group.shef.ac.uk/issue7/chauhan.html#dichotomy The Acheulian/Soanian dichotomy]

[[Category:Archaeological cultures in India]]
[[Category:Paleolithic]]
[[Category:Archaeology in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Archaeology of India]]
[[Category:Archaeology of Nepal]]

{{Asia-archaeology-stub}}
{{Pakistan-hist-stub}}

Soanian - Revision history

Md.Rishad: rework details per sources and corrected details as per guidelines

UpdateBot: robot: Update article (please report if you notice any mistake or error in this edit)

->Joe Roe: /* See also */ Rm. general archaeology topics