Look Book - Mehrgarh Indus Valley Civilization

Mehrgarh
By:Reshma, Aagney, Anu Sree, Aparna, Bhagyasree,

Bharath, Jeeva, Joe, wafa
CLIMATE
On close examination of the wood charcoal found in the mehrgarh area, it was
found that rainfall wasnt abundant
Where is Mehrgarh and what
is it known for?
-Mehrgarh is a Neolithic site located near the Bolan Pass on the Kacchi Plain of Balochistan, Pakistan,
to the west of the Indus River valley.
-Mehrgarh is now seen as a precursor to the indus valley civilization displaying the whole sequence
from earliest settlement and the start of agriculture, to the mature Harappan Civilisation.
-Archaeological digs have unearthed some of the earliest evidence of farming and husbandry in that
region.
-Evidence gleaned from the dig at Mehrgarh provides a rare insight to life before and during the first
stages of the Indus Valley civilization, one of the earliest sites of human civilization. Archaeologists have
been piecing together a picture of life in the pre-Indus Valley civilization from pottery, mud-brick ruins,
tools, as well as human and animal bones.
How did
they lead
their
lives?
The ancient people that settled at Mehrgarh were nomads and preferred cattle-herding over hunting. They
soon developed agricultural technologies that let them cultivate crops like wheat, barley and cotton.
It is situated near the Bolan Pass, to the west of the Indus River at the banks of the Bolan River and between
the Pakistani cities of Quetta, Kalat and Sibi.
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.
The inhabitants of Mehrgarh became agriculturists and began cultivating crops like wheat and barley.
The people of Mehrgarh initially built small circular or rectangular houses with mud and reed. 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.
Much of the success of their agrarian lifestyle comes down to the fact that they stored their grains in granaries
for later consumption. 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.
The Mehrgarh people were ingenious craftsmen who fashioned their tools from the local copper ore and also
used the ore as pigment. At a nearby archaeological site at Nausharo, a pottery workshop was discovered
dating back to 4500 years ago.
The presence of turquoise and Lapis Luzili at Mehrgarh indicate that the region had long distance contact
with western and central Asia.
Periods of
occupation
Mehrgarh
period 1
-The Mehrgarh Period I (7000 BCE-5500 BCE) was Neolithic and aceramic, 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.
-Ornaments of sea shell, limestone, turquoise, lapis lazuli and sandstone have been found, along with
simple figurines of women and animals.
-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 South Asia. Periods I, II and III
are contemporaneous with another site called Kili Gul Mohammed.
-The aceramic Neolithic phase in the region is now called 'Kili Gul Muhammad phase', and it is dated
7000-5000 BC.
-In 2001, archaeologists studying the remains of two men from Mehrgarh made the discovery that the
people of the Indus Valley Civilization had knowledge of proto-dentistry from the early Harappan periods.
- In April 2006, 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.
Mehrgarh
period 2 and 3
-The Mehrgarh Period II (5500 BCE–4800 BCE) and Mehrgarh Period III (4800 BCE–3500 BCE) were ceramic
Neolithic, using pottery, and later chalcolithic.
-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 red ochre cover 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
4,5,6,7,8
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.
Somewhere between 2600 BCE and 2000 BCE, the city seems to have been largely abandoned in
favor of the larger and fortified town Nausharo five miles away when the Indus Valley Civilization
was in its middle stages of development. Historian Michael Wood suggests this took place around
2500 BCE.
The last period is found at the Sibri cemetery, about 8 kilometers from Mehrgarh.
What was
found at
mehrgarh
?
Human figurines
-The oldest ceramic figurines in South Asia were

found at Mehrgarh. T
-The earliest figurines are quite simple and do not
show intricate features.
-by 4000 BC they had begun to show their
characteristic hairstyles and typical prominent
breasts.
-All the figurines up to this period were female.
-Many of the female figurines are holding babies,
and were interpreted as depictions of the "mother
goddess".
-This figure's abundant breasts and hips suggest
links to fertility and procreation. Her hair was
probably painted black.
-brown ochre would have covered the body, and
her necklace was probably yellow.
-Her seated posture, with arms crossed under the
breasts, is common throughout the region, as is her
extravagant hairstyle
Pottery
Evidence of pottery begins from Period II. In
period III, the finds become much more abundant
as the potter's wheel is introduced, and they show
more intricate designs and also animal motifs.
Pipal leaf designs are used in decoration from

Period VI.
Some sophisticated firing techniques were used

from Period VI and VII.
However, by Period VIII, the quality and intricacy

of designs seem to have suffered due to mass
production, and due to a growing interest in
bronze and copper vessels.
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).
Thank
You!
Source: Wikipedia,
JARRIGE, JEAN-FRANÇOIS. “The Early Architectural Traditions of Greater Indus as Seen
from Mehrgarh, Baluchistan.” Studies in the History of Art, vol. 31, 1993, pp. 25–33.

Look Book - Mehrgarh Indus Valley Civilization

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Look Book - Mehrgarh Indus Valley Civilization

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Mehrgarh

By:Reshma, Aagney, Anu Sree, Aparna, Bhagyasree,

-The oldest ceramic figurines in South Asia were

Pipal leaf designs are used in decoration from

Some sophisticated firing techniques were used

However, by Period VIII, the quality and intricacy

-There are two types of burials in the Mehrgarh

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