ON December 5 this year, it will be two decades since Geological Survey of India (GSI) has been crying itself hoarse that the presence of pre-historic man has been found in India — a human skull approximately six lakh years old. This is the oldest human fossil to be discovered in South Asia.
But no agency, least of all the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has taken notice. NCERT textbooks continue to name Africa, China and Indonesia as sites where oldest evidence has been discovered. The GSI discovery finds no mention anywhere, except in certain zoology books in post-graduate courses.
‘‘We must have written scores of letters to various organisations including NCERT to tell them about this monumental find - the skull of a 30-year old woman in the western Narmada region of Madhya Pradesh. But NCERT textbooks don’t talk about this discovery. They only mention the finds of South-East Asia, Africa and Europe,’’ said Dr Arun Sonakia, director, Nagpur Circle, GSI.
Sonakia was the one who discovered the skull along with other mammalian fossils in late 1982.
Explaining with a plaster cast of the skull, Sonakia pointed out the differences that evolution had wrought.
‘‘This skull has a gently sloping forehead with massive eyebrow ridges and a cranial capacity of 1,100cc. Prehistoric man had better visual faculties and less grey matter. The skull of modern man has a more vertical forehead and not such deep-set ridges. Other sensory faculties are more developed and the cranial capacity is 1,400-1,500cc, indicating the presence of more grey matter,’’ Sonakia remarked.
Radio carbon dating could not be done on the skull because the process can’t be used on any fossil that is more than 40,000 years old. Sonakia and his team managed to date the antiquity of the skull through faunal dating - by analysing animal fossils found with the skull. These fossils are of animals that flourished between a certain period all across the world in Europe, Africa and Asia. They all belong to the Quartenary period. Fauna of this period is 18 lakh years old and younger.
‘‘We also used changes in the earth’s magnetic field to date the skull. These changes in the magnetic field take place over a long time and affect these fossils,’’ Sonakia explained.
The cast of the skull along with other discoveries of GSI are on display at the India Habitat Centre as part of the GEOSAS Congress taking place in the city.