Neanderthals at the south-easternmost edge: the spread of Levallois Mousterian in the Indian Subcontinent

The paper presents a concise overview of current research carried out in the Indian Subcontinent, Central Asia, Iran, and the Arabian Peninsula, which has improved our knowledge of the Middle Paleolithic in the regions. The south-easternmost distribution of the Levallois Mousterian complexes is still unclear. Typical Levallois Mousterian assemblages are known indeed from Iran, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan, though they are almost unknown in the Indian Subcontinent, except for Lower Sindh and the Indus Valley. The evidence gathered by the Italian archaeological expedition in Pakistan from Ongar and other sites in Sindh during the last 20 years offers a challenging hypothesis about a possible south-easternmost diffusion of the Neanderthals that are considered the most probable producers of the chipped stone assemblages presented in this study.