Anek R Sankhyan

• Doctor of Philosophy
• CEO at Anthropological Survey of India

We report here a number of mandibular, maxillary and dental fossil remains of Indian Suoidea from the Middle Siwalik of Haritalyangar area in Bilaspur District of Himachal Pradesh, North India. Haritalyangar is well known for the diversity of the Late Miocene fauna and the hominoids and other primates. The suoid remains were collected by one of the...

The present work is focused on the hipparionine remains from the late Miocene to early Pliocene deposits of the Haritalyangar areas, Himachal Pardesh, India. These remains are taxonomically ranked to five genera (Plesiohipparion, Proboscidipparion, Cormohipparion, Sivalhippus, and Eurygnathohippus) and seven species. The described taxa are predomin...

The present study exploresbilateral asymmetry accountable to ante-mortem trauma in two mid-late Pleistocene hominin clavicles discovered from Hathnora in the central Narmada valley, which had earlier yielded a partial cranium. The two female fossilized clavicles and the female cranium were initially thought of belonging to the same individual, but...

Understanding of human evolution in South Asia primarily rests on a solitary calvarium (partial skullcap) from Hathnora in the central Narmada valley, but its disputed taxonomic status has blurred the picture. Early explorations (1983-1992) led to the discovery of 2-clavicles and a 9thrib from Hathnora, but those were so tiny to fit with the calvar...

Understanding of human evolution in South Asia primarily rests on a solitary calvarium (partial skullcap) from Hathnora in the central Narmada valley, but its disputed taxonomic status has blurred the picture. Early explorations (1983-1992) led to the discovery of 2-clavicles and a 9th rib from Hathnora, but those were so tiny to fit with the calva...

Hafting has brought a landmark change in technology and behavior of the Palaeolithic man heralding evolution of anatomical modernity and behavior. The author recently discovered large assemblages of Late Acheulian to Middle Palaeolithic industries from the Quaternary fans of the Sub-Himalayan piedmont area of Ghumarwin Sir Khad valley of Himachal P...

The varied invited contributions of distinguished specialists to the volume have been arranged in five sections, which deal with a multifaceted approach to understand the complicated issues of hominoid and human origins. In addition, a number of contributions deal with the bio-cultural diversities of the prehistory, including Protohistory, of the I...

Deals with palaeontological, archaeologcal and genomic researches done in India on human origins

Discusses the details of the Narmada hominin fossil findings

Bamulian: A Unique Sub-Himalayan Palaeolithic Culture of North India Abstract Reported here is a uniquely rich and diverse Acheulean site at Bam along the Sir Khad -a long tributary of the river Satluj flowing through Ghumarwin - Bilaspur area of Himachal Pradesh, north India. The Acheulian presence was first noticed in the year 2010 and a number...

Abstract Reported here is a unique and richest Acheulian site Bam-Tanda along the Sir Khad -a tributary of river Satluj flowing through Ghumarwin - Bilaspur area of Himachal Pradesh, north India. The indication of Acheulian was noted since 2010, but the magnitude of such findings could only be realized after having collected 450 tools in the fall o...

https://sciencetrends.com/cranial-trepanation-womans-skull-india-neolithic-alignments/

Interdisciplinary work among anthropologists, archaeologists, and astronomers can provide a very interesting point of view for problems such as the one in this article.

For the first time reported here are the Lower Palaeolithic Acheulian cultural findings discovered recently from Ghumarwin area of district Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh. The area is popular for the fossil remains of the earliest ape-men to which the author has contributed considerably, besides reporting for the first time the Soanian pebble industrie...

14- postcranial hominin fossils from Narmada valley.

Aim: To report morphometric analysis on six rare fossil femora and three humeri of the Pleistocene prehistoric humans who roamed about the Central Narmada valley (M.P.) during 300,000 to 40,000 years ago. Methods: Fossils were discovered through intensive explorations and trial excavations. The sites were mapped and shown in their lithostratigraphi...

ABSTRACT Address for Correspondence: Dr. Anek R. Sankhyan, Palaeo Research Society, IPH Colony, Ghumarwin (H.P.) - 174021, India. E-Mail:arsankhyan@gmail.com Aim: To report the first ever made discovery of two 70,000 years- old prehistoric fossil sacra along with their detailed comparative morphometric study with modern human sacra to see any patte...

The author has recently discovered six femoral and three humeral fossil fragments of the Stone Age humans from Central Narmada valley. The present study deals with the stature estimations of those prehistoric men by using the segment ratios and the obtained lengths of the fossil femora and the Humeri. The study is significant in forensic studies as...

The Late Miocene sequence at Haritalyangar, Himachal Pradesh, India, has produced abundant remains of the hominid Sivapithecus and the sivaladapids Sivaladapis and Indraloris. Also recovered from these sediments is an isolated and worn upper molar that was made the holotype of Krishnapithecus krishnaii and assigned to the Pliopithecoidea. However,...

Miocene rare fossils from India, tentatively attributed to chameleons, are described for the first time. The material consists of a fragment of the left squamosal and an element interpreted as a posterodorsal process of the parietal. The specimens come from a late Miocene site of the Nagri Formation (Middle Siwaliks, ~ 9 Mya) at Haritalyangar, Nort...

Archaeological evidence demonstrates that hominins entered South Asia soon after dispersing from Africa and they were well established in India by the Middle Pleistocene. This chapter summarizes the evidence for the Narmada fossil sequence, the biostratigraphic and archaeological remains associated with these finds, and what can be learned from the...

We present a very interesting skeleton No.7 of a 25-30 years female from the Neolithic site of Burzahom in Kashmir Valley, India, dated to about 4000 B.P. which exhibits multiple trepanations on the skull. Archaeological and anthropological investigations had revealed that the woman was suffering from a brain anomaly and head injury and was insane...

Ever since known the Andaman Pygmy is a centre of attraction and curiosity for their tiny body, prehistoric life style, affinities with other people and mystery of their entry into the Andaman archipelago. Present study takes stock of the historical, archaeological, palaeoanthropological and genomic evidences, and present-day bio-cultural adaptatio...

Present paper reports a mandibular molar (M3 ) of Deinotherium from the pink clay deposits of the Chinji Formation (Lower Siwalik subgroup) of Ramnagar area (Jammu), and two maxillary molars (M2-M3) from the sandstone block of the Middle Siwalik subgroup exposed at lower altitude of the Nurpur town, District Kangra (H.P.). The palaeontological and...

INTRODUCTION Modern synthesis of evolution attributes evolutionary changes to four major agents: mutation, hybridization, selection and genetic drift. New variants are introduced in the population by genetic mutations and hybridization (=inter-breeding) and natural selection operates on them to eliminate or favour the genotypes and the phenotypes i...

Present paper reports a mandibular molar (M) of Deinotherium from the pink clay deposits of the Chinji Formation (Lower 2 Siwalik subgroup) of Ramnagar area (Jammu), and two maxillary molars (M2-M3) from the sandstone block of the Middle Siwalik subgroup exposed at lower altitude of the Nurpur town (H.P.). The palaeontological and ecological implic...

Surgical intervention upon human brain case is very risky and scaring even today with modern technology, but the spectacular Trephination or Trepanation cranial surgical practice was followed globally as early as 5000-4000 years ago with awesome primitive stone and bronze instruments and archaic anesthetics and painkillers! As this amazing practice...

Abstract: Surgical intervention upon human brain case is very risky and scaring even today with modern technology, but the spectacular Trephination or Trepanation cranial surgical practice was followed globally as early as 5000-4000 years ago with awesome primitive stone and bronze instruments and archaic anesthetics and painkillers! As this amazin...

The emergence of anatomically modern Homo sapiens in South Asia is hotly debated due to a great gap in fossil record. A solitary partial cranium from Hathnora dated around 250 Kya is debated and conveniently interpreted as “evolved” Homo erectus or “archaic” Homo sapiens or Homo heidelbergensis or even Homo indet. Cranial fossils of Pre-Toba or pos...

Present paper discusses the importance of many prehistoric sites visited by him across the world and developed into ancient heritage/world heritage sites visited by numerous tourists worldwide. On the same line, the author highlights the heritage significance of the Haritalyangar-Ghumarwin area in district Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh. This Siwalik a...

Explorations in the Central Narmada Valley have yielded a partial hominin femur and a humerus from a new locality, Netankheri located 3 km upstream from the previous hominin locality, Hathnora. The femur was recovered from the same Middle Pleistocene stratigraphic level that yielded calvarium at Hathnora and shares robust mosaic morphology of Homo...

Thousands of settlements stippled the third millennium B.C. landscape of Pakistan and northwest India. These communities maintained an extensive exchange network that spanned West and South Asia. They shared remarkably consistent symbolic and ideological systems despite a vast territory, including an undeciphered script, standardized weights, measu...

Hathnora in Central Narmada valley (Madhya Pradesh) has earlier yielded a partial skullcap, and two clavicles and a 9th rib of Middle Pleistocene hominins. Recent explorations have brought to light two more hominin fossils—a humerus and a femur from a new locality, Netankheri. The femur is derived from the Middle Pleistocene stratigraphic horizon a...

We report here the first unequivocal case of ancient brain surgical practice, known as trepanation, observed ~ 4300 years ago in a Bronze Age Harappan skull. A decade ago, a Neolithic skull from Burzahom in the Kashmir Valley was reported with multiple trepanations as the first case from the Indian subcontinent. The trepanation, also called trephin...

The old debate on the Chimp-human last common ancestor is neither over nor discussed these days despite of the fact that no later Miocene African hominoid has so far been equivocally designated to be their last common ancestor (LCA). Although, we are far from resolving the debate, we need to consider all options of the choice of the extant and exti...

Abstract: Palaeoanthropological researches in India came to a slow pace after 1980s when the palaeoanthropologists took the hominoid molecular evidence as sacrosanct and restricted the existence of the last common ancestor (LCA) of the great ape-hominid lineage, as well as that of the Homo sapiens to African continent. The consequence of the “molec...

Present Book covers a wide range of aspects on human bio-cultural evolution, right from the ancestors, through the Stone Age hominins, early modern humans, and the recent primitive human groups, their ecology, dispersals, and diversity and adaptations in Asia, more specifically South and Eastern Asia. The book would serve as A Good reference as wel...

Ancient surgical practices included trepanation (also called trephination or trephining), the craniotomy or drilling and cutting through the skull vault. It was practiced either on the living person (antemortem) or just after death (postmortem). Squier (1863–1865) and Broca (1876, 1867) were probably among the first to draw attention to the antiqui...

National Conference proceedings- papers presented at a national conference held at New Delhi during 22-24 March, 2004 on the same title. Subjects covered: Indian Paleoanthropology, Archaeology, Human genome , Fossil hominids -- India - from tertiary hominoids to Quaternary hominins, Holocene to Harappan people, Andaman pygmies

The article describes a neolithic skeleton with multiple-trepanated skull found in Kashmir, the archaeological circumstances of the find, the dating, the background, the skeletal evidence, the details of the trepanation and possible affiliations of the Indus civilization. It speculates briefly about possible medical grounds for the surgery. Copyrig...

Reported here is a clavicle fossil finding of the early stone Age man from central Narmada basin in its bio-cultural context that sheds light on the evolution of Homo sapiens in South Asia

The discovery of a Middle Pleistocene hominid clavicle is reported here. This discovery is particularly important because clavicles are hitherto unrepresented in the fossil record of Asia. The Narmada clavicle comes from the Boulder Conglomerate horizon at Hathnora near Hoshangabad in the Central Narmada Valley. This is the same deposit that previo...

It is a reference book which describes the bio-cultural profile of Himachal Pradesh in three eco-cultural zones. It provides latest ethnographic description of all 124 communities identified in H.P. It also provides glossary of local terms, images and maps.

Sexual dimporphism among extant great apes presents considerable morphological variation, but such variability among their Miocene ancestors has not been fully explored yet. An attempt is made here to assess the extent of morphological variation among Ramapithecus and Sivapithecus accountable to sexual dimorphism in the light of extant great ape pa...

The “Upper Alternations” of Siwaliks in the east of Haritalyangar, India for the first time have yielded the fossil remains of Sivapithecus, referable to the species S. sivalensis (=Ramapithecus punjabicus). This new fossil locality is palaeomagnetically dated to 5·5 million years age. This date is also supported by new bio-stratigraphic evidence,...

Chasing the 1979 discovery of the bifacial chopping tool, the author looked for and discovered many Palaeolithic implements from various places of Ghumarwin Tehsil, namely Taraauntara, Kasohal, Bhapral and Lehri Sarail. They were found from the terraces the small stream-lets of the Sir Khad- one of the six major tributaries of the River Satluj. The...

Reported here is the discovery of bifacial chopping Lower Palaeolithic tool for the first time from the area found on the Siwalik slope, otherwise famous for the hominoid remains. It indicates the penitence of the prehistoric man into the area and provides occurrences of similar findings and southward movement of the Soanian man.

The paper discusses the reproductive life of 111 ever-married Bhoksa women. The mean age at marriage for women of all ages among Bhoksas, like other tribal populations, is high, unlike the caste populations. The mean ages at first birth of the pooled sample and of the completed fertility cases suggest late and early marriages of the older and young...

ABO blood groups, subgroups, M, N and Rh blood types were studied among Bhoksas of Dehra Dun district in Uttar Pradesh. Bhoksas are characterized by high A (33.33%), MN (58.16%), Rz (8.85%), R" (7.86%) and moderately low R1 (43.77%). The present sample does not show differences from the Bhoksas of Nainital but remains differentiated from Majumdar's...

Inbreeding coefficients and effective migrants for the immigrant Punjabi Khattri and Arora of Delhi were estimated from isonymous marriages by five methods: sigma qm2, sigma qf2, sigma qm qf, sigma qm2+f and sigma Ie (pair). It was found that the method sigma qmqf gives better estimates as expected by the isonymy method -- sigma Ie (Pair). A higher...