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 km 2 ) 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.