Soan

A Lower Palaeolithic pebble tool and chopper industry of the Punjab (Pakistan) and northwest India. After a pre-Soan phase, the Soan proper begins during the second Himalayan interglacial, and its final stage, with an increase in flake tools (including some made by the Levallois technique), is probably contemporary with the early part of the Würm glaciation of Alpine Europe. There were handaxes and chopper / chopping tools. Some of the material has been redated to the Middle Palaeolithic and has questionable archaeological validity.

The Soan River area in the upper Punjab in India has revealed a larged number of Palaeolithic stone tools. Some series (Pre-Soan) lack hand axes, others have hand axes or Levallois flakes (Late Soan). Their age is poorly fixed, but is probably over half a million years for some of the material.