Dr Parth Chauhan

Name: Parth R. Chauhan

Designation: Associate Professor & Head of the Department

Email: parthrc@iisermohali.ac.in

Office : 2F2, Academic Block 2

Education
Ph.D. (Archaeology), University of Sheffield, UK, 2005.
M.A. (Archaeology & Ancient History), Deccan College Postgraduate & Research Institute, Pune, 1998.
B.A. (Anthropology with Minor in History), Rutgers University, USA.

Curriculum Vitae

Employment
Assistant Professor , IISER Mohali 2014-2022

Areas of Research
Indian prehistory; stone tools; vertebrate palaeontology; rock art studies; palaeoanthropology

Research Focus
My main areas of interest are stone tools, vertebrate fossils and rock art of South Asia. Currently, I am heading the Narmada Basin Paleoanthropology Project, the goal of which is to understand (from a multidisciplinary perspective) patterns of human occupation and adaptations in the region over the span of at least one million years and also search for additional hominin fossils. During my doctoral work, I have also carried out research in the Siwalik Hills, work which is ongoing and involves targeting different types of paleoanthropological datasets to investigate a possible hominin presence in South Asia older than the Acheulean (i.e., older than 1.5 million years). In addition, I am also analyzing microlithic stone tools from a cave in Konkan Maharashtra in collaboration with the Government of Maharastra and collaborating with CHARUSAT and other colleagues to understand the co-evolution of humans and ostriches in the Tapi Basin. I am also interested in flintknapping and utilizing the resulting stone tools to understand the roles of culture, function, technology and raw material selection, and the associated impacts on such materials as stone, wood and bone.

Teaching
HSS615 Archaeology of the world: A cultural quest into our global past.
HSS616 Bones, Stones & Chromosomes: The Story of Our Evolution (Co-taught with Rhit ban Ray Choudhury).
HSS618 India from Prehistory to Early History (co-taught with V. Rajesh)
HSS624 Understanding Cultures: Using Past and Present using field, laboratory and archives (co-taught with Anu Sabhlok).
EES636 The Quaternary Period: Environments, Animals and Adaptations during the last 2.5 million years. (occasionally co-taught with EES faculty)
HSS625 The Archaeology of Ancient Technologies (hands-on lab course)
HSS639 Advanced theory & method in Paleoanthropology (for PhD students only)
HSS643 Field course in palaeoanthropology and allied disciplines
IDC623 Field and lab-based methods in geology, ecology, and archaeology (co-taught with Manjari Jain and Anoop Ambili)

Selected Publications
 Saleem, S. and P.R. Chauhan. 2020. A rare depiction of a butchering scene in the rock paintings of Maser in the Raisen District of Madhya Pradesh, India. Antiquity Online Project Gallery
 Jukar, A.M., Patnaik, R., Chauhan, P.R., Li, H.-C. and J.-P. Lin. 2019. The youngest occurrence of Hexaprotodon Falconer and Cautley, 1836 (Hippopotamidae, Mammalia) from South Asia with a discussion on its extinction. Quaternary International 528: 130-137.
 Chauhan, P.R. 2019. Interpretative shifts in understanding the prehistoric settlement of the Indian Subcontinent, In Interrogating Human Origins: Decolonisation and the Deep Human Past. Martin Porr, Jacqueline Matthews (Eds.). Routledge, London, pp. 239-256.
 Beyin, A., Chauhan, P.R. and A. Nassr. 2019. Reconnaissance of prehistoric sites in the Red Sea coastal region of the Sudan (NE Africa): Results and implications. Journal of Field Archaeology 44(3): 147-164.
 Chauhan, P.R., David R. Bridgland, Marie-Hélène Moncel, Pierre Antoine, Jean-Jacques Bahain, Rebecca Briant, Pedro P. Cunha, Jackie Despriée, Nicole Limondin-Lozoue, Jean-Luc Locht, Antonio A. Martins, Danielle C. Schreve, Andrew D. Shaw, Pierre Voinchet, Rob Westaway, Mark J. White, Tom S. White. 2017. Fluvial deposits as an archive of early human activity: Progress during the 20 years of the Fluvial Archives Group. Quaternary Science Reviews 166: 114-149.
 Lycett, S.J., Chauhan, P.R., Eds. 2010. New Perspectives on Old Stones: Analytical Approaches to Palaeolithic Technologies. Netherlands, Springer Press.
 Camps, M., Chauhan, P.R., Eds. 2009. Sourcebook of Paleolithic Transitions: Methods, Theories, and Interpretations. Netherlands, Springer Press.
 Chauhan, P.R. (2010). The Indian subcontinent and ‘Out of Africa I’. In: Out of Africa I: The First Hominins of Eurasia. J. Fleagle, J. Shea and R. Leakey (Eds.). Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series. Springer Press, pp. 145-164.
 Chauhan, P.R. (2009). The Lower Paleolithic of the Indian Subcontinent. Evolutionary Anthropology 18:62-78.
 Chauhan, P.R. (2008). Large mammal fossil occurrences and associated archaeological evidence in Pleistocene contexts of peninsular India and Sri Lanka. Quaternary International 192(1):21-42.

Research Projects
1. Subsistence and symbolism in prehistoric India: Understanding environmental contexts in relation to Homo sapiens dispersals and adaptations. MHRD-STARS. Ongoing.
2. The First Global Culture: Lower Paleolithic Acheulean Adaptations at the Two Ends of Asia. UGC (India-Israel Joint Research Programme, 3rd Cycle). Completed.
3. Documentation, Study and Scientific Analysis of Rock Art in Raisen District, Madhya Pradesh. P.R. Chauhan and Saleem Shaik. ICHR, New Delhi. Completed.
4. The impact of rock variability on hominin technological adaptations in India.  Royal Society Commonwealth Science Conference Follow-On Grant. In collaboration with Prof. Bruce Bradley, Exeter University (UK). Completed.

Position outside IISER Mohali
Research Associate (Stone Age Institute, USA)