Heritage of Balochistan

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Hafza jamshaid
 Archaeological site of Mehrgrah
• Location : Dhadar
• Kachhi District
• Nasirabad Division, Balochistan,
Pakistan
• Heritage designation: unique to a
cultural tradition, object illustrates
significant stage in human history)
• Inception: 7000 BC (statement with
Gregorian date earlier than 1584)
• Dissolved, abolished or demolished:
2600 BC (statement with Gregorian
date earlier than 1584)
• The Mehrgarh site in the 1970s, during excavations by the French
archaeological mission. Photo from Jean-Francois Jarrige’s Mehrgarh
Reports.
• Mehrgarh is a large Neolithic and
Chalcolithic site located at the foot of the
Bolan pass on the Kachi plain of Baluchistan
(also spelled Balochistan), in modern day
Pakistan.
• Continuously occupied between about 7000
to 2600 BC, Mehrgarh is the earliest known
Neolithic site in the northwest Indian
subcontinent, with early evidence of
farming (wheat and barley), herding (cattle,
sheep, and goats) and metallurgy.
• The site is located on the principal route
between what is now Afghanistan and the
Indus Valley: this route was also
undoubtedly part of a trading connection
established quite early between the Near
East and the Indian subcontinent.
• MEHRGARH CIVILIZATION:
• Major Language: Unknown
• Major population: Native Indians (25,000)

1. Stone age: Earliest era of human existence, people used artifacts made of stones.Its
the period before 10,200 B.C.E
2. Neolithic Age: Known as the New Stone Age, it was the last part of the Stone age and
dated between the years 10200 BCE- 4500 BCE.
3. Chalcolithic Age: Known as the Copper Age which is said to be the first metal age,
which is also included in the Bronze Age. Mostly found artifacts date it back to the
period 5000-4000 BCE till 700 BCE.
4.Bronze Age : Bronze is an alloy made from Copper and Zinc/Tin. Mostly the time
period between 3000 BCE - 1000 BCE which include the Rig Vedic period.
5.Iron Age: The last part of the Indus Valley civilization which includes the era 1200 BCE
- 26 BCE as far as India is considered.
• The earliest settlement at Mehrgarh, in the northeast corner of the
495-acre (2.00 km2) site, was a small farming village that has been
dated to between 7000 BCE to 5500 BCE. 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.
• 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.
Ornaments of sea shell, limestone,
turquoise, lapis lazuli and sandstone have
been found, along with simple figurines of
women and animals. Sea shells from far
sea shore and lapis lazuli found as far away
as present-day Badakshan, Afghanistan
shows good contact with those areas. A
single ground stone axe 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
Some iconic figures period 1
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.
• Mehrgarh Period II and Period 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, once again 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
• A figurine from Mehrgarh, c. 3000 BCE. (Musée Guimet, Paris)
• Period IV was 3500 to 3250 BCE. Period V from 3250 to 3000 BCE and
period VI was around 3000 BCE.[7] The site containing Periods IV to VII is
designated as MR1.
• Mehrgarh Period VII
• Somewhere between 2600 BCE and 2000 BCE,[citation needed] 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 Period VIII
• The last period is found at the Sibri cemetery, about 8 kilometers from
Mehrgarh.
• Archaeological significance
• Neolithic site:
Mehrgarh is considered to be one of the most
important Neolithic sites in archaeology.
It is now considered to be a precursor to the
Indus Valley Civilisation.
• Discovery :
Its discovery shed new light on the development
of agricultural technologies and agrarian
lifestyles of the ancient Stone Age people of South
Asia.
• First settled village:
Many historians regard Mehrgarh to be the first
settled village settlement in the world. and
certainly the first within Pakistan.
 People
• Nearly all the miniature figurines discovered at Mehrgarh
depict women with elaborate hairstyles and protuberant
breasts. These may or may not be depiction of a fertility
goddess. It is only later in time that male figurines make an
appearance.
• The ancient Neolithic settlers at Mehrgarh were nomads. They
had come from the mountainous regions in the north to settle
in the open pastures in the south. Being away from the
mountains meant that they had to develop ingenious
technologies to replace stone tools. They slowly moved away
from a life of hunting-and-gathering and started preferring
cattle-herding. They raised sheep, goats and cattle.
• The inhabitants of Mehrgarh became agriculturists and began
cultivating crops like wheat and barley. It is because of these
agricultural pursuits that this period of the South Asian Stone
Age is known as the Early Food-Processing Stage (ca. 7000–
5500 BCE).
 Lifestyle
• Houses : The people of Mehrgarh initially
built small circular or rectangular houses
with mud and reed.
• Mud brick: Living close to the Indus River
meant that when the river flooded, the
water would wash away the mud houses.
Thus, the people ingeniously devised a way
to fashion their houses out of mud brick.
The Mehrgarh residents were avid
agriculturists and valued their produce.

•.
• Grains: Much of the success of their
agrarian lifestyle comes down to the
fact that they stored their grains in
granaries for later consumption.
• Two storey homes: In fact, they
progressed so quickly that by 4000
BCE, the people of Mehrgarh were
living in two-storey homes. The people
of Mehrgarh also used pottery wheels
to create elaborate vases and vessels.
Mehrgarh house type
Mehrgarh :Model of world first house
7000 BCE Old Well in Mehrgarh
Remains:
The mud-brick houses
where the French
archaeological mission
lived during their
excavations. Photo by
Zulqarnain Haider
Mengal
Entrance to mehrgarh :

A sign marks the

entrance to Mehrgarh
village. The nearby
archaeological site of
the same name has no
signage. Photo by
Zulqarnain Haider
Mengal.
Archaeological Site of Mehrgarh
 Tools and technology
• copper ore :The Mehrgarh people were ingenious
craftsmen who fashioned their tools from the local copper
ore and also used the ore as pigment.
• pottery workshop : At a nearby archaeological site at
Nausharo, a pottery workshop was discovered dating back
to 4500 years ago.
• potter's tools: Unearthed here were 12 blades or blade
fragments that were made with copper indentors and
functioned as potter's tool to trim and shape unfired
pottery. The residents also lined their large baskets with
bitumen.
• Names of tools : Amongst its most characteristic tools are
borers and geometric microliths such as lunates, triangles,
trapezes, etc. The presence of turquoise and Lapis Luzili at
Mehrgarh indicate that the region had long distance
contact with western and central Asia. Mehargarh Chert Blades.
• Neolithic polished stone axes from Brahmagiri
burial of young women with
6 baby goats mehrgarh
Pottery
• The people of Mehrgarh were good at making fine, wheel-made
pottery (usually 20–25 cm in diameter), with a knife-edge rim,
slipped in red and painted in black.
• Archaeologists classify the Mehrgarh pottery as ‘Togau Ware’ and
see continuum in its various designs from Togau A to Togau D. The
Togau A were early pottery which had intricate designs of animals
on their inner rims; however as time progressed, these intricate
designs became more and more simplistic.
• It was a clear indication that the people of Mehrgarh started
producing pottery in small numbers but, as demand grew for their
wares, they indulged in a mass-production effort.
Pottery
Description
Pakistan (Baluchistan); Vessel;
Ceramics
Date: circa 3000 –2500 B.C.
Medium : Pottery
Dimensions: H. 3 1/8 in. (8 cm);
Diam. 7 7/8 in. (20 cm)
Collection : Metropolitan
Museum of Art Blue pencil.svg
wikidata:Q160236
Current location : Asian Art
Accession number:2003.592.2
Burials

• There are two types of burials in the Mehrgarh site. There were
individual burials where a single individual was enclosed in narrow
mud walls and collective burials with thin mud brick walls within which
skeletons of six different individuals were discovered. The bodies in the
collective burials were kept in a flexed position and were laid east to
west. Child bones were found in large jars or urn burials (4000~3300
BCE).
 Stylistic depictions of the
Togau ware found at
Mehrgarh shows how the
Mehrgarh people moved
towards a mass-
production model for
their pottery ware.
Date 26 August 2015
Female figurine:
A female terracotta
figurine holding a child.
This figurine was
discovered at the
Mehrgarh site. Photo
from Jean-Francois
Jarrige’s Mehrgarh
Reports.
Seated Mother Goddess ,3000–
2500 B.C. Pakistan (Baluchistan)
Mehrgarh style
Source : Metropolitan Museum of
Art
• Description
• Pakistan (Baluchistan); Figure;
Sculpture
• Date circa 3000 –2500 B.C.
• Medium: Terracotta
• Dimension: H. 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm); W.
1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm)
• Collection : Metropolitan Museum of
Art Blue pencil.svg wikidata:Q160236
• Current location : Asian Art
• Accession number :2001.305
 • A figurine from Mehrgarh, 3000 BCE. (Musée Guimet, Paris)
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!
No other civilization in any other part of the world
existed then; what to speak of a level of perfection
in the art and craft elsewhere.
Mostly figurines of terracotta and clay have been
found along with those of stone mostly consisting
of females which points to deities related to
fertility rites and male figurines were also found
with turbans on the heads!
People in this part of Pakistan still wear turbans
and the total amount of figurines unearthed were
over 32,000!
 Importance:
• There would have been no Indus
Valley civilization if there was no
Mehrgarh culture.
• Although the Indus Valley
civilization (exemplified by the
site of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan’s
Sindh province) was discovered
before Mehrgarh was excavated
and studied, the culture that lived
at Mehrgarh predates the Indus The Mehrgarh site in the 1970s, during
Valley civilization. excavations by the French archaeological
• The Mehrgarh culture is believed mission. Photo from Jean-Francois Jarrige’s
to have been the cradle of the Mehrgarh Reports.
Indus civilization.
 Importance
• Jarrige’s study revealed that Mehrgarh is
the earliest known farming settlement in
South Asia.
• The excavations made some major
contributions; the cultural sequence
evident at Mehrgarh provides a fairly
clear picture of the process of humans
setting down and establishing domestic
plants and animals as their major source
of survival.
• That means the transition to food
production can be seen as an indigenous
event.
• The site is located on the principal route
between what is now Afghanistan and
the Indus Valley.
Stolen Artifacts, Looted Antiquities, and
Neglected History
• Clearly Balochistan province is very rich when it comes to ancient sites.
But there is no university in Balochistan that offers archaeology as a
course of study. “Archaeology as a subject is neglected in Pakistan and
Balochistan particularly,” said Rind. No locals, whether as participant,
researchers or trainers, took part in the French mission during their
excavation in Mehrgarh.
• In the province there is a dearth of information when it comes to
archaeology and ancient sites. Journalists rarely report on these topics
and when they do there are often basic errors. A local journalist
published a report in the daily Dawn erroneously identifying the ruined
houses where Jarrige and his team stayed as the Mehrgarh site itself.
 Stolen antiques from mehargarh
• Back in 2014, Italian police recovered antiques from Rome that were
stolen from Mehrgarh. The Balochistan government also acknowledged
the case. The antiques were said to be thousands of years old and worth
of hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to a statement from the
Balochistan government.
• Many locals in the town told The Diplomat that they did not even know
that selling these artifacts to antiquity hunters is illegal. They think that
what they find on the ground belongs to them. They don’t know that
what they are selling can be worth so much, or that it is part of the
national heritage. The government – both state and local – has failed to
even raise awareness of the issue, much less put an end to the business
of antiquity smuggling.
 origins of agriculture
At the ancient site of Mehrgarh,
where the earliest evidence has
been found, barley was the
dominant crop and was
apparently supplemented with
some wheat. The barley found
there is the well-developed
domesticate, six-row barley. A
small amount of wild barley and
two-row domesticated barley
have also been recovered.
Need of protection wall:
• “Mehrgah is one of the many ancient sites in Balochistan,” said Rind,
“But Mehrgarh has been excavated, studied, and published. Mehrgarh
needs to be preserved by making a protective wall on the site, but
more important is the conservation, preservation, and study of other
sites that are in ruin in Balochistan.”
• Balochistan government should invest in archaeology by building
museums, introducing archaeology as a subject in universities, and
appointing archaeologists to the province’s Culture, Tourism, and
Archives Department (currently there are none on staff at the
department).
Discovering – and preserving – Mehrgarh
• support of the government :
• With the cooperation and support of the government of Sindh, a large number of
centuries-old valuable antiquities of Balochistan kept in the exploration branch of
the National Museum of Karachi for the past many decades have been brought back
to Quetta, and will be put on display in the newly constructed museum.
• Artifacts : These artifacts include seals, coins, stone tools, beads, figurine and
refined and stylish pottery. For the promotion of research and development in the
field of archaeology, the government of Balochistan has initiated a ‘Jarrige Heritage
Award’ in recognition of the services of Dr Francois Jarrige, the discoverer of the
Mehrgarh site.
• financially support :This award will financially support young archaeologists to carry
out research. These initiatives will also go a long way towards presenting a soft
image of the province of Balochistan.
Discovering – and preserving – Mehrgarh
• Heritage is a key social and economic asset. It enriches the culture of
societies and nations and brings social and economic benefits that are
essential for the quality of life.
• The year 2015 witnessed significant milestones in connection with a new
sustainable future.
• The 2030 Agenda was adopted with seventeen Sustainable Development
Goals (SDG), in which safeguarding culture has been added.
• conservation and development :The inclusion of conservation and
development of heritage as a main element of the SDGs reflects the
importance and significance of heritage.
Discovering – and preserving – Mehrgarh
• The management : The management of heritage is as important as
the environment. Mehrgarh is an important asset of Pakistan, and we
should cherish it as a national treasure and take all possible steps to
protect it.
• Department : The writer is the secretary of the Department of
Culture, Tourism & Archaeology, Balochistan.