Prehistoric Tools from Misimagre, Northeast India: A Typo-Technological Study

The northeastern region of India houses many archaeological sites – much of them going back to prehistory. One of the well-known regions is the Garo Hills from where over 35-40 sites have been reported since 1960s. These sites are predominantly Neolithic in nature (on the basis of tool typology), with a few pre-Neolithic ones (which have been highly debated). This paper deals with the lithics found in one site, Misimagre, in the Rongram-Ganol valley where over 240+ tools were recovered from exploration, and 6900+ artifacts collected from a 1x1 test pit. The paper details the type of tools recovered and makes an attempt to analyse the techniques involved in making them. What was found interesting was the coming together of two different early Holocene traditions at Misimagre – a microlithic tradition and a Hoabinhian tradition at the same location. The former is a pan-Indian / world phenomenon while the latter is a typical Southeast Asian phenomenon.