The Kachi Plain, in modern-day Pakistan, is hemmed in on two of its three sides by the mountains of Baluchistan, while its southeastern side opens up to the Indus Valley.
[1]
The earliest evidence for agriculture here was found in Mehrgarh and dates to 7000 BCE. The occupation of the settlement continued throughout the period under consideration here, between the 4th and the 2nd millennia BCE. In the region generally, the number of sites increased, the sites themselves became larger, and they expanded into the Indus Basin; notable sites include Periano Ghundai, Mundigak, Faiz Mohammad, Togau, and Sheri Khan Tarakai. Mehrgarh itself became an important centre for craft production, and excavations suggest increased diversity in burial rites. Agriculture remained the main economic activity in the region and oats, a new variety of barley and two new varieties of bread wheat became new staple cultivars.
[2]
Population and political organization
It is not possible to give an accurate estimate of the region’s population at this time,
[3]
and the size of occupied Mehrgarh is uncertain, as the population shifted over time and part of the site has been cut away by the Bolan River.
[4]
Similarly, the literature does not provide many clues as to the political organization of Mehrgarh or any other site in the region during this period.
[1]: (Jarrige & Enault 1976, 29) Jarrige, Jean-François, and Jean-François Enault. 1976. “Fouilles de Pirak - Baluchistan.” Arts Asiatiques 32 (1): 29-70. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/Q32UJUPX.
[2]: (McIntosh 2008, 57-61) McIntosh, Jane. 2008. The Ancient Indus Valley. Santa Barbara; Denver; Oxford: ABC-CLIO. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5P92SHE8.
[3]: (Possehl 1999, 472) Possehl, Gregory L. 1999. Indus Age: The Beginnings. New Delhi: Oxford & IBH Publishing. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/IWNUD7IH.
[4]: (Jarrige 2013, 135-154) Jarrige, J.-F. 2013. Mehrgarh Neolithic. Paris: Éditions de Boccard. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/4MKZA34B.
| 42 R |
| Kachi Plain - Chalcolithic |
| not applicable |
| Kili Gul Mohammad Period III | |
| Kili Gul Mohammad Period IV | |
| Quetta Valley Period H | |
| Anjira I | |
| Mehrgarh III |
| none |
| not applicable |
| not applicable |
| Succeeding: Kachi Plain - Pre-Urban Period (pk_kachi_pre_urban) [continuity] |
| quasi-polity |
| Year Range | Kachi Plain - Chalcolithic (pk_kachi_ca) was in: |
|---|---|
| (4000 BCE 3201 BCE) | Kachi Plain |
As Mehrgarh I is not a polity, but a quasi-polity, Mehrgarh is not a capital. It is however both the best studied and archaeologically richest site.
Mehrgarh III and Kili Gul Mohammad period III and IV ; also known as Period H of the Quetta Valley; Anjira I
Mehrgarh III and Kili Gul Mohammad period III and IV ; also known as Period H of the Quetta Valley; Anjira I
Mehrgarh III and Kili Gul Mohammad period III and IV ; also known as Period H of the Quetta Valley; Anjira I
Mehrgarh III and Kili Gul Mohammad period III and IV ; also known as Period H of the Quetta Valley; Anjira I
Mehrgarh III and Kili Gul Mohammad period III and IV ; also known as Period H of the Quetta Valley; Anjira I
4000-3500 BCE: Mehrgar III (Kili Gul Muhammad periods II and III; Togau phase?) Fragments of metal (copper) artefacts; Local copper production, as well as crucible fragments? Beginning of a Chalcolithic period at the site? [1] Earliest occupation at Mehrgarh was identified in the so-called area MR 3 (7 m of stratified deposits). These levels seem to not yield ceramic materials; however, fired ceramic figurines and asphalt-covered baskets are found. [2] Mehrgarh I seems to be contemporaneous with the earliest pre-pottery levels at the site of Kili Gul Muhammad (KGM), Quetta valley, Bolan Pass, Balochistan. The latter site, along with the excavation at Damb Sadaat, currently defines the archaeological sequence of the Quetta Valley. [3] Kili Gul Mohammad III (Site Q24): (1) KGM III was contemporaneous with Anjira II and Mehrgarh Period III (Fairservis 1956: 330-332). [4] . Early village life in the north-western borderlands, in Sheri Khan Tarakai. page 19); (2) Kili Ghul Mohammad IV includes the irregular clay and charcoal layers of Phase 3, pottery of Kechi Beg type, exclusive of the polychrome and red-paint wares. Kili Ghul Mohammad III includes Phases 5-13, Section I, and pottery is Kili Ghul Mohammad Black-on-Red slip, with wheelmade wares predominating. (Fairservis, 1956. Quetta Valley); (3) Kili Ghul Mohammad IV and Damb Sadaat I correlate “on the basis of the presence of the Kechi Beg Wares: Kechi Beg White-on-Dark Slip, Kechi Beg Black-on-Buff slip, SPezand Black-and-Red Rim, Sultan Purple, Khojak Parallel Striated and the plainwares such as Nazim Hard-Clay Temper, Adam Sandy and others. Nevertheless, the absence of Kechi Beg Polychrome and Kechi Beg Red Pain, plus the general configuration of all the wates present in both assemblages, indicates that KIli Ghul Mohammad IV is probabily somewhat earlier than Damb Sadaat I.” (Fairservis, 1956. Quetta Valley). Other relevant Sites (De Cardi 1983, Archaeological Surveys in Baluchistan): Baleli, Pishin. The site known as Tor-Ghundai (Stein A. 1929. An archaeological tour in Waziristan, p.89) had been damaged by army lorries but a small sample of sherds confirmed Stein’s ascription of occupation in both chalcolithic and historical times. A number of chert flakes were noted and other finds included part of a shell bangle and a fragment of copper. In addition to KGM and basket-marked wares the sample included Togau A animal frizzes and one unusual sherd with an almost white surface decorated with reversed hook/horn frieze in brown. A comparable oddity was noted at Saiyed Maurez and Togau hooks occurred on a cream slip at Zari in the Surab valley.
[1]: Jarrige, J.-F. (1991) Mehrgarh: its place in the development of ancient cultures in Pakisan. In, Jansen, M., et al (eds.) Forgotten cities on the Indus: early civilization in Pakistan from the 8th-2nd millennium BC.p. 142
[2]: Jarrige et al. (eds.), Mehrgarh: Field Reports, 57; Jarrige et al., ‘Mehrgarh Neolithic: the updated sequence’, 131, fig. 2; Jarrige et al., Mehrgarh: Neolithic Period; Jarrige, ‘Mehrgarh Neolithic: new excavations’; Jarrige, ‘Human figurines’; also Shaffer, ‘Indus valley’, vol. I, 454; G.L. Possehl, Indus Age: The Beginnings (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), 464.
[3]: Shaffer, ‘Indus valley’, vol. I, 453; Jarrige et al., ‘Mehrgarh Neolithic: the updated sequence’, 64
[4]: Petrie C., Khan F., Knox R, Thomas K. & Morris J., 2010
"The mapping of the site that was conducted by J.-F. Enault and the study of the surface remains show that the typical pottery of Period III extends well beyond the limits of MR.2 to the north and to the south. In fact, this pottery covers about 75 hectares (about 180 acres). Even if we admit the existence of several phases and possible shifts of the settlement, such an area continuously covered by a characterisfic ware decorated with caprids, birds, and geometric motifs indicates that a large number of people occupied the site in the fourth millennium B.C." [1] Assuming 50 inhabitants per hectare, and that between 25 and 75 hectares were occupied at any given time, this site might have been inhabited by about 1,200-3,700 people. A previous, much larger estimate, of 3,000-12,000, and based on 50-200 inhabitants per hectare, and about 60 hectares, was deemed excessive [2] .
[1]: (Jarrige 1995: 366) Catherine Jarrige, Jean-Francois Jarrige, Richard H. Meadow, and Gonzague Quivron. 1995. Mehrgarh. Karachi: Dept. of Culture and Tourism, Govt. of Sindh ; in collaboration with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
[2]: A. Ceccarelli, pers. comm. to E. Cioni, Mar 2017
1. Ritual specialist
Clay figurines have been found but there is no evidence for a professional priesthood at Mehrgarh.
[1]
In the broader Early Harappan tradition there is evidence that there were priests, and Kenoyer refers to "ritual specialist". Howeverm Possehl says there is no evidence for a state religion.
[2]
[3]
[1]: Petrie, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
[2]: Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark, ‘The Indus Valley Tradition of Pakistan and Western India’, Journal of World Prehistory, 5 (1991), 370
[3]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 6.
levels.
An urban community of thousands suggests Mehrgarh likely had some degree of hierarchy for dispute resolution, perhaps a chief or collective decision making body. Evidence of dispute exists in the changing use of communal storage. In the previous periods Mehrgarh residents had organized communal food storage facilities. In this period food storage was located in individual houses.
[1]
Why was this change necessary? The growth in size and population of Mehrgarh does not imply that communal organization decreased - which is what is immediately suggested by loss of communal granaries. Possibly a greater degree of communal organization now existed, that replaced communal granaries, in form of cooperation with a chief or collective decision making body. However we have no evidence of state organisation at Mehrgarh.
[2]
[3]
At this stage such a formal organization, if it existed, might best be classed as emergent.
[1]: Wright, R. P. (2010) The Ancient Indus: urbanism, economy and society. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. p53
[2]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 6
[3]: Petrie, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
Clay figurines have been found at Mehrgarh but there is no evidence for a professional priesthood.
[1]
However, in the broader Harappan tradition there is evidence for priests, and Kenoyer refers to "ritual specialist".
[2]
[1]: Petrie, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
[2]: Avari, Burjor, India: The Ancient Past: A History of the Indian Sub-Continent from C. 7000 BC to AD 1200 (London: Routledge, 2007), p.48; Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark, ‘The Indus Valley Tradition of Pakistan and Western India’, Journal of World Prehistory, 5 (1991), 370
No evidence has been found of state organisation at Mehrgarh.
[1]
[2]
An urban community of thousands suggests Mehrgarh likely had some degree of hierarchy for dispute resolution, perhaps a chief or collective decision making body. Evidence of dispute exists in the changing use of communal storage. In the previous periods Mehrgarh residents had organized communal food storage facilities. In this period food storage was located in individual houses.
[3]
Why was this change necessary? The growth in size and population of Mehrgarh does not imply that communal organization decreased - which is what is immediately suggested by loss of communal granaries. Possibly a greater degree of communal organization now existed, that replaced communal granaries, in form of cooperation with a chief or collective decision making body. However we have no evidence of state organisation at Mehrgarh.
[1]
[2]
At this stage such a formal organization, if it existed, might best be classed as emergent and without institutional architecture.
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 6
[2]: Petrie, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
[3]: Wright, R. P. (2010) The Ancient Indus: urbanism, economy and society. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. p53
No evidence has been found of state organisation at Mehrgarh. [1] [2] An urban community of thousands suggests Mehrgarh likely had some degree of hierarchy for dispute resolution, perhaps a chief or collective decision making body but there is no evidence for any institutions of government.
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 6
[2]: Petrie, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
No evidence has been found of state organisation at Mehrgarh.
[1]
[2]
An urban community of thousands suggests Mehrgarh likely had some degree of hierarchy for dispute resolution, perhaps a chief or collective decision making body. Evidence of dispute exists in the changing use of communal storage. In the previous periods Mehrgarh residents had organized communal food storage facilities. In this period food storage was located in individual houses.
[3]
Why was this change necessary? The growth in size and population of Mehrgarh does not imply that communal organization decreased - which is what is immediately suggested by loss of communal granaries. Possibly a greater degree of communal organization now existed, that replaced communal granaries, in form of cooperation with a chief or collective decision making body. However we have no evidence of state organisation at Mehrgarh.
[1]
[2]
At this stage such a formal organization, if it existed, might best be classed as emergent and without institutional architecture.
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 6
[2]: Petrie, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
[3]: Wright, R. P. (2010) The Ancient Indus: urbanism, economy and society. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. p53
No evidence has been found of state organisation at Mehrgarh. [1] [2] An urban community of thousands suggests Mehrgarh likely had some degree of hierarchy for dispute resolution, perhaps a chief or collective decision making body but there is no evidence for any institutions of government.
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 6
[2]: Petrie, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
No evidence has been found of state organisation at Mehrgarh. [1] [2] An urban community of thousands suggests Mehrgarh likely had some degree of hierarchy for dispute resolution, perhaps a chief or collective decision making body but there is no evidence for any formal institutions or significant occupational specialization.
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 6
[2]: Petrie, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
No evidence has been found of state organisation at Mehrgarh. [1] [2] An urban community of thousands suggests Mehrgarh likely had some degree of hierarchy for dispute resolution, perhaps a chief or collective decision making body but there is no evidence for any formal institutions or significant occupational specialization.
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 6
[2]: Petrie, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
No evidence has been found of state organisation at Mehrgarh. [1] [2] Likewise in the context of the broader Harappan tradition there are no deciphered textual records from this period, or the Mature Harappan period, which suggest the presence of a legal code. [3]
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 6
[2]: Petrie, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
[3]: Burjor Avari. India: The Ancient Past. A History of the Indian sub-continent from c.7000 BC to AD 1200. Oxon, 2007, p.51
No evidence has been found of state organisation at Mehrgarh. [1] [2] An urban community of thousands suggests Mehrgarh likely had some degree of hierarchy for dispute resolution, perhaps a chief or collective decision making body but there is no evidence for any formal institutions or significant occupational specialization.
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 6
[2]: Petrie, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
Period II: variety of barley used "could be grown only in the irrigated fields, it implies and improved method of farming in the Kachi plains." [1] In the broader Harappan context, water control technology began during the Amri-Nal period. This included the use of small shallow ditches to guide water onto a flat area, and investment in some kind of bunding - a low earthen wall or a gabarband. [2]
[1]: (Ahmed 2014, 321)
[2]: Gregory L. Possehl. Indus Age: The Beginnings. New Delhi, 1999, p.619
Possehl states that there was no writing before the urban phase in the Indus valley. [1] While seals have been found in Mehrgarh III layers, these show no evidence of script or writing. [2]
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 51.
[2]: , C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Possehl states that there was no writing before the urban phase in the Indus valley. [1] While seals have been found in Mehrgarh III layers, these show no evidence of script or writing. [2]
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 51.
[2]: , C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Possehl states that there was no writing before the urban phase in the Indus valley. [1] While seals have been found in Mehrgarh III layers, these show no evidence of script or writing. [2]
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 51.
[2]: , C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Possehl states that there was no writing before the urban phase in the Indus valley. [1] While seals have been found in Mehrgarh III layers, these show no evidence of script or writing. [2]
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 51.
[2]: , C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Possehl states that there was no writing before the urban phase in the Indus valley. [1] While seals have been found in Mehrgarh III layers, these show no evidence of script or writing. [2]
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 51.
[2]: , C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Possehl states that there was no writing before the urban phase in the Indus valley. [1] While seals have been found in Mehrgarh III layers, these show no evidence of script or writing. [2]
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 51.
[2]: , C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Possehl states that there was no writing before the urban phase in the Indus valley. [1] While seals have been found in Mehrgarh III layers, these show no evidence of script or writing. [2]
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 51.
[2]: , C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Possehl states that there was no writing before the urban phase in the Indus valley. [1] While seals have been found in Mehrgarh III layers, these show no evidence of script or writing. [2]
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 51.
[2]: , C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Possehl states that there was no writing before the urban phase in the Indus valley. [1] While seals have been found in Mehrgarh III layers, these show no evidence of script or writing. [2]
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 51.
[2]: , C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Possehl states that there was no writing before the urban phase in the Indus valley. [1] While seals have been found in Mehrgarh III layers, these show no evidence of script or writing. [2]
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 51.
[2]: , C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Possehl states that there was no writing before the urban phase in the Indus valley. [1] While seals have been found in Mehrgarh III layers, these show no evidence of script or writing. [2]
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 51.
[2]: , C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Possehl states that there was no writing before the urban phase in the Indus valley. [1] While seals have been found in Mehrgarh III layers, these show no evidence of script or writing. [2]
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 51.
[2]: , C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Possehl states that there was no writing before the urban phase in the Indus valley. [1] While seals have been found in Mehrgarh III layers, these show no evidence of script or writing. [2]
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 51.
[2]: , C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Possehl states that there was no writing before the urban phase in the Indus valley.
[1]
While seals have been found in Mehrgarh III layers, these show no evidence of script or writing.
[2]
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 51.
[2]: , C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Possehl states that there was no writing before the urban phase in the Indus valley. [1] While seals have been found in Mehrgarh III layers, these show no evidence of script or writing. [2]
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 51.
[2]: , C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Copper was present from Mehrgarh III [1] , but may not have been used as ’money’.
[1]: Petrie, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
There are no archaeological remains which can be interpreted as postal stations at Mehrgarh, and are therefore presumed absent. [1] No evidence for social structure that could have organized a postal system nor one what would have required one.
[1]: Jarrige, J. F. (2008). Mehrgarh neolithic. Pragdhara, 18, 135-154.
There are no archaeological remains which can be interpreted as postal stations at Mehrgarh, and are therefore presumed absent. [1] No evidence for social structure that could have organized a postal system nor one what would have required one.
[1]: Jarrige, J. F. (2008). Mehrgarh neolithic. Pragdhara, 18, 135-154.
Inferred lack of substantial circumvallation. [1] The data for fortifications is inferred. Possehl states that before the Urban phase (i.e. 2600 BCE) for only 3 sites out of 463 Pre-Urban sites the archaeological evidence could potentially be interpreted as having some sort of substantial circumvallation. [1]
[1]: (Gregory L. Possehl. ’Revolution in the Urban Revolution: The Emergence of Indus Urbanization’, Annual Review of Anthropology, vol. 19. (1990), p. 271)
Inferred absent from lack of evidence of significant warfare.
Not mentioned in detailed descriptions/lists of finds from Mehrgarh. "War technology is not well represented". [1] Only flint, bone and copper tools tools have been found at Mehrgarh [2]
[1]: (Kenoyer 1991: 347) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/A7DS8UKX/q/kenoyer.
[2]: Petrie, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
Not mentioned in detailed descriptions/lists of finds from Mehrgarh. "War technology is not well represented". [1] Only flint, bone and copper tools tools have been found at Mehrgarh [2]
[1]: (Kenoyer 1991: 347) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/A7DS8UKX/q/kenoyer.
[2]: Petrie, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
Not mentioned in detailed descriptions/lists of finds from Mehrgarh. "War technology is not well represented". [1] Only flint, bone and copper tools tools have been found at Mehrgarh [2]
[1]: (Kenoyer 1991: 347) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/A7DS8UKX/q/kenoyer.
[2]: Petrie, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
New World weapon. Only flint, bone and copper tools tools have been found at Mehrgarh [1]
[1]: Petrie, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
Not mentioned in detailed descriptions/lists of finds from Mehrgarh. "War technology is not well represented". [1] Ground stone axe found in burial [2] - was this a battle axe? In one exceptional burial, a polished stone axe and three flint cores were placed in a basket and lay near the skull of the deceased. Sixteen blades from the same core were set in parallel rows along the spinal column [3]
[1]: (Kenoyer 1991: 347) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/A7DS8UKX/q/kenoyer.
[2]: (Ahmed 2014, p. 316)
[3]: (Jarrige et al. 1995: 246)
Evidence of armor made from organic materials has not been recovered from Mehrgarh.
Evidence of armor made from organic materials has not been recovered from Mehrgarh.