One of the most important Neolithic (7000
BCE to c. 2500 BCE) sites in archaeology,
lies on the "Kachi plain" of now Balochistan, Pakistan. It is one of the
earliest sites with evidence of farming (wheat and barley) and herding (cattle,
sheep and goats) in South Asia."
Mehrgarh
is located near the Bolan Pass,
to the west of the Indus River valley
and between the now Pakistani cities of Quetta, Kalat and Sibi. The site was
discovered in 1974 by an archaeological team directed by French archaeologist Jean-François Jarrige, and was excavated
continuously between 1974 and 1986, and again from 1997 to 2000. The earliest
settlement at Mehrgarh—in the northeast corner of the 495-acre (2.00 km2)
site—was a small farming village dated between 7000 BCE to 5500 BCE and the whole area
covers a number of successive settlements. Archaeological material has been
found in six mounds, and about 32,000 artifacts have been collected.
Lifestyle and Technology
Early
Mehrgarh residents lived in mud brick houses, stored their grain in granaries,
fashioned tools with local copper ore, and lined their large basket
containers with bitumen.
They cultivated six row barley, einkorn and emmer wheat, jujubes and dates, and herded sheep, goats and cattle. Residents of the later period (5500 BCE to 2600 BCE) put much effort into crafts, including flint knapping, tanning, bead production, and metal working. The site was occupied continuously until about 2600 BCE. Mehrgarh is probably the earliest known center of agriculture in South Asia.
In April 2006, it was announced in the scientific journal Nature that the oldest (and first early Neolithic) evidence in human history for the drilling of teeth in vivo (i.e. in a living person) was found in Mehrgarh.
Archaeological Significance
Mehrgarh
is now seen as a precursor to the Indus Valley
Civilization. "Discoveries at Mehrgarh changed the entire
concept of the Indus civilization,"
according to Ahmad Hasan Dani, professor emeritus of
archaeology at Quaid-e-Azam
University, Islamabad, "There we
have the whole sequence, right from the beginning of settled village
life." According to Catherine Jarrige of the Centre for Archaeological
Research Indus Baluchistan at the Musée Guimet in Paris:
"…the Kachi plain and in the Bolan basin
(are) situated at the Bolan peak pass, one of the main routes connecting
southern Afghanistan, eastern Iran, the Balochistan hills and the Indus
River valley. This area of rolling hills is thus located on the western edge of
the Indus valley, where, around 2500 BCE, a large urban civilization emerged at
the same time as those of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Egypt. For the first time in the Indian Subcontinent, a
continuous sequence of dwelling-sites has been established from 7000 BCE to 500
BCE, (as a result of the) explorations in Pirak from 1968 to 1974; in Mehrgarh from 1975 to
1985; and of Nausharo from 1985 to 1996."
The chalcolithic people of Mehrgarh also had contacts with
contemporaneous cultures in northern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran and southern central Asia.
Periods of Occupation
Archaeologists
divide the occupation at the site into several periods.
Mehrgarh Period I
Mehrgarh
Period I 7000 BCE–5500 BCE, was Neolithic and aceramic (i.e., without the use
of pottery). The earliest farming in the area was developed by
semi-nomadic people using plants such as wheat and barley and animals such as sheep, goats and cattle. The settlement was
established with simple mud buildings and most of them had four internal
subdivisions. Numerous burials have been found, many with elaborate goods such
as baskets, stone and bone tools, beads, bangles, pendants and occasionally
animal sacrifices, with more goods left with burials of males. Ornaments of sea shell, limestone, turquoise, lapis lazuli, sandstone have been found, along with simple figurines of women and animals.
Sea shells from
far sea shore and lapis lazuli found far in Badakshan, Afghanistan shows good contact with those areas. A
single ground stone ae was discovered in a burial, and several more
were obtained from the surface. These ground stone axes are the earliest to
come from a stratified context in the South Asia.
Periods I, II and III are contemporaneous with another site called Kili Gul
Mohammed.
In 2001,
archaeologists studying the remains of two men from Mehrgarh made the discovery
that the people of the Indus Valley Civilization, from the early
Harappan periods, had knowledge of proto-dentistry. Later, in April
2006, it was announced in the scientific journal Nature that the oldest (and first early Neolithic) evidence for
the drilling of human teeth in
vivo (i.e. in a living person) was found in
Mehrgarh. According to the authors, their discoveries point to a tradition of
proto-dentistry in the early farming cultures of that region. "Here we
describe eleven drilled molar crowns from nine adults discovered in a Neolithic
graveyard in Pakistan that dates from 7,500 to 9,000 years ago. These findings
provide evidence for a long tradition of a type of proto-dentistry in an early
farming culture."
Mehrgarh Period II & III
Mehrgarh
Period II 5500 BCE–4800 BCE and Merhgarh Period III 4800 BCE–3500 BCE were ceramic Neolithic (i.e., pottery was now in use) and later chalcolithic.
Period II is at site MR4 and period III is at MR2 Much evidence of manufacturing
activity has been found and more advanced techniques were used. Glazed faience beads were produced and terracotta figurines became more detailed.
Figurines of females were decorated with paint and had diverse hairstyles and
ornaments. Two flexed burials were found in period II with a
covering of red ochre on the body. The amount of burial
goods decreased over time, becoming limited to ornaments and with more goods
left with burials of females. The first button seals were produced from terracotta and bone
and had geometric designs. Technologies included stone and copper drills,
updraft kilns, large pit kilns and
copper melting crucibles. There is further evidence of long-distance trade in
period II: important as an indication of this is the discovery of several beads of lapis lazuli—originally
from Badakshan.
Mehrgarh Periods II and III are also contemporaneous with an expansion of the
settled populations of the borderlands at the western edge of South Asia,
including the establishment of settlements like Rana Ghundai, Sheri Khan Tarakai, Sarai Kala, Jalilpur,
and Ghaligai.
Mehrgarh Periods IV, V and VI
Period IV was 3500 to 3250 BCE. Period V from 3250 to 3000 BCE and period VI was around 3000 BCE. The site containing Periods IV to VII is designated as MR1.
Mehrgarh Periods VII
Somewhere between 2600 BCE and 2000 BCE, the city seems to have been largely abandoned in favor of the new nearby settlement of Nausharo when the Indus Valley Civilisation was in its middle stages of development.
Mehrgarh Periods VIII
The last period is
found at the Sibri cemetery, about 8 KM from Mehrgarh.
Human Figurines
The oldest ceramic figurines in South Asia were
found at Mehrgarh. They occur in all phases of the settlement and were
prevalent even before pottery appears. The earliest figurines are quite simple
and do not show intricate features. However, they grow in sophistication with
time, and by 4000 B.C., begin to show the characteristic hairstyles and
prominent breasts. All the figurines up to this period were female. Male
figurines appear only from period VII and gradually become more numerous. Many
of the female figurines are holding babies, and were interpreted as depictions
of "mother goddess". However, due to some difficulties in
conclusively identifying these figurines with "mother goddess", some
scholars prefer using the term "female figurines with likely cultic
significance".
The last
period is found at the Sibri cemetery, about 8 KM from Mehrgarh.The
oldest ceramic figurines in South Asia were found at Mehrgarh. They occur in
all phases of the settlement and were prevalent even before pottery appears.
The earliest figurines are quite simple and do not show intricate features.
However, they grow in sophistication with time, and by 4000 B.C., begin to show
the characteristic hairstyles and prominent breasts. All the figurines up to
this period were female. Male figurines appear only from period VII and
gradually become more numerous. Many of the female figurines are holding
babies, and were interpreted as depictions of "mother goddess". However,
due to some difficulties in conclusively identifying these figurines with
"mother goddess", some scholars prefer using the term "female
figurines with likely cultic significance".
Pottery
Evidence
of pottery begins from Period II. In period III, the finds becomes much more
abundant as the potter's
wheel is introduced,
and they show more intricate designs and also animal motifs. The characteristic
female figurines appear from Period IV and the finds show more intricate
designs and sophistication. Pipal leaf designs are used in decoration
from Period VI. Some
sophisticated firing techniques were used from Period VI and VII and an area
reserved for the pottery industry has been found at mound MRI. However, by
Period VIII, the quality and intricacy of designs seems to have suffered due to
mass production, and due to a growing interest in bronze and copper vessels.
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