Human occupation of northern India spans the Toba super-eruption ∼74,000 years ago

India is located at a critical geographic crossroads for understanding the dispersal of Homo sapiens out of Africa and into Asia and Oceania. Here we report evidence for long-term human occupation, spanning the last similar to 80 thousand years, at the site of Dhaba in the Middle Son River Valley of Central India. An unchanging stone tool industry is found at Dhaba spanning the Toba eruption of similar to 74 ka (i.e., the Youngest Toba Tuff, YTT) bracketed between ages of 79.6 +/- 3.2 and 65.2 +/- 3.1 ka, with the introduction of microlithic technology similar to 48 ka. The lithic industry from Dhaba strongly resembles stone tool assemblages from the African Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Arabia, and the earliest artefacts from Australia, suggesting that it is likely the product of Homo sapiens as they dispersed eastward out of Africa.