What is Soanian?
{{History of Pakistan}} The '''Soanian''' '''culture''' ({{Lang-ur|سوانی ثقافت}}) is a [[Prehistory|prehistoric]] technological culture from the [[Sivalik Hills|Siwalik Hills]] in the [[South Asia]]. It is named after the [[Soan River|Soan River Valley]] in [[Pakistan]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Paracha|first=Nadeem F.|date=2017-02-02|title=Pakistan: The lesser-known histories of an ancient land|url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1312059|access-date=2024-03-31|website=DAWN.COM|language=en}}</ref> Soanian sites are found all along the [[Sivalik Hills|Siwalik region]] but the major sites are in the [[Soan River|Soan region]] of [[Pakistan]]. The Soanian culture has been dated back to the [[Middle Pleistocene|Middle Pleistocene period]] (774,000 to 129,000 years ago) or the mid-[[Holocene epoch]] (Northgrippian).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lycett|first=Stephen J.|date=2007|title=Is the Soanian techno-complex a Mode 1 or Mode 3 phenomenon? A morphometric assessment|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0305440306002378|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|language=en|volume=34|issue=9|pages=1434–1440|doi=10.1016/j.jas.2006.11.001}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Chauhan|first=Parth R.|date=2008|title=Soanian lithic occurrences and raw material exploitation in the Siwalik Frontal Zone, northern India: a geoarchaeological perspective|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0047248407002047|journal=Journal of Human Evolution|language=en|volume=54|issue=5|pages=591–614|doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2007.09.017}}</ref> This culture was first discovered and named by the [[anthropology]] and [[archaeology]] team led by Helmut De Terra and Thomas Thomson Paterson. Soanian artifacts were made of [[quartzite]] pebbles, cobbles, and boulders, all from the [[Sivalik Hills|Siwalik region]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Soni|first=Vidwan Singh|last2=Soni|first2=Anujot Singh|date=2013-12-08|title=NEW OBSERVATIONS ON THE AGE AND CONTEXT OF SOANIAN TOOLS FOUND IN POST-URBAN HARAPPAN SITES AND ALONG WTH SE ASIAN TYPE TOOLS ON THE MID-