Mehrgarh is an ancient archaeological site located in the Kacchi Plain area of Balochistan, Pakistan. It is near the Bolan Pass, west of the Indus River, and between the modern cities of Quetta, Kalat, and Sibi. The site was discovered in 1974 by a French team studying the Indus Basin, led by archaeologists Jean-François Jarrige and Catherine Jarrige. Excavations at Mehrgarh took place from 1974 to 1986 and again from 1997 to 2000. Archaeologists found artifacts in six mounds, and about 32,000 items were collected from the site. The oldest settlement at Mehrgarh, located in the northeast corner of the 495-acre (2.00 square kilometer) site, was a small farming village that existed around 7000 BCE or 5250 BCE.
History
Mehrgarh is one of the oldest known places in the Indian subcontinent where people farmed and raised animals. It was influenced by the Neolithic culture of the Near East, with shared features such as wheat plants that were grown by people, early farming practices, pottery, other archaeological items, some plants that were cultivated, and animals that were raised. According to Asko Parpola, the culture from Mehrgarh moved into the Indus Valley and became the Indus Valley Civilization of the Bronze Age.
Jean-Francois Jarrige believes that Mehrgarh developed independently. He points out the idea that farming was fully brought from the Near East to South Asia, and the similarities between Neolithic sites in eastern Mesopotamia and the western Indus Valley show a continuous connection between those areas. However, Jarrige argues that Mehrgarh has a unique local background and is not simply a less important part of the Neolithic culture from the Near East.
Lukacs and Hemphill suggest that Mehrgarh began as a local development, with cultural traditions continuing over time but with changes in the population. They note that while there is a strong connection between the Neolithic and Chalcolithic cultures of Mehrgarh, dental evidence shows that the Chalcolithic people were not direct descendants of the Neolithic people of Mehrgarh, which suggests some exchange of genes between groups. They wrote that the direct descendants of the Neolithic people of Mehrgarh are found to the south and east of Mehrgarh, in northwestern India and the western edge of the Deccan Plateau. Neolithic Mehrgarh is more similar to the Chalcolithic site of Inamgaon, which is located south of Mehrgarh, than to the Chalcolithic site of Mehrgarh itself.
Gallego Romero et al. (2011) explain that their research on lactose tolerance in India shows that the genetic influence from west Eurasia, as identified by Reich et al. (2009), mainly comes from Iran and the Middle East. They note that people in India who can digest lactose have a genetic pattern related to a common mutation found in Europe. This suggests that the most common lactose tolerance mutation moved out of the Middle East in two directions more than 10,000 years ago. While the mutation spread across Europe, another group likely carried it eastward to India, possibly traveling along the coast of the Persian Gulf, where similar mutations have also been found. They also mention that the earliest evidence of cattle herding in South Asia comes from the Indus River Valley site of Mehrgarh, dating back to 7,000 years before the present.
Periods of occupation
Archaeologists divide the time people lived at the site into eight different periods.
Recent carbon dating of teeth by Mutin and Zazzo placed Mehrgarh Period I between 5250 and 4650 BCE, which is different from Jarrige’s earlier estimate of pre-7000 to 5500 BCE. This period was part of the Neolithic era and aceramic, meaning no pottery was used. The earliest farming in the area was done by semi-nomadic people who grew wheat, barley and raised sheep, goats, and cattle. The settlement had buildings made of unbaked mud bricks, and most had four internal sections. Many burials were found, often with items like baskets, stone and bone tools, beads, bangles, pendants, and sometimes animal sacrifices. Burials of males often had more goods. Ornaments made of seashells, limestone, turquoise, lapis lazuli, and sandstone were found, along with simple figurines of women and animals. Seashells from distant coasts and lapis lazuli from present-day Badakshan show trade connections. One ground stone axe was found in a burial, and others were found on the surface. These axes are the earliest known from a layered archaeological site in South Asia.
Periods I, II, and III happened at the same time as another site called Kili Gul Mohammad. The aceramic Neolithic phase in the region was originally named the Kili Gul Muhammad phase.
In 2001, archaeologists studying the remains of nine men from Mehrgarh discovered that people in this civilization practiced proto-dentistry. In April 2006, a scientific journal called Nature reported that the oldest evidence of drilling human teeth in a living person was found at Mehrgarh. The researchers said this shows a tradition of proto-dentistry in early farming cultures. They described eleven drilled molar crowns from nine adults in a Neolithic graveyard in Pakistan, dating back 7,500 to 9,000 years. These findings show a long tradition of proto-dentistry in early farming societies.
Mehrgarh Period II was the ceramic Neolithic, using pottery, and Period III was the Chalcolithic. Period II is at site MR4, and Period III is at MR2. Evidence of manufacturing activity was found, with more advanced techniques. Glazed faience beads were made, and terracotta figurines became more detailed. Female figurines were painted and had varied hairstyles and ornaments. Two burials with bodies curled and covered in red ochre were found in Period II. Over time, burial goods became simpler, with fewer items left with burials of males. The first button seals were made from terracotta and bone with geometric designs. Technologies included stone and copper drills, updraft kilns, large pit kilns, and copper melting crucibles. Evidence of long-distance trade includes lapis lazuli beads from Badakshan. Mehrgarh Periods II and III happened at the same time as the growth of settled populations in the borderlands of South Asia, including settlements like Rana Ghundai, Sheri Khan Tarakai, Sarai Kala, Jalilpur, and Ghaligai.
Period III was not fully explored, but it included the Togau phase (around 4000–3500 BCE), covering about 100 hectares in areas MR2, MR4, MR5, and MR6, which included ruins, burial sites, and dumping grounds. Archaeologist Jean-François Jarrige said the large area was not due to simultaneous occupation but because different villages or settlements were built over time.
At the start of Mehrgarh Period III, Togau ceramics appeared. Togau ware was first described by Beatrice de Cardi in 1948. Togau is a large mound in the Chhappar Valley of Sarawan, 12 kilometers northwest of Kalat in Balochistan. This type of pottery is found widely in Balochistan and eastern Afghanistan at sites like Mundigak, Sheri Khan Tarakai, and Periano Ghundai. According to Possehl, it has been found at 84 sites. Anjira is a nearby ancient site.
Togau ceramics have geometric designs and were made using a potter’s wheel.
The time of Mehrgarh Period III and later saw major changes. In the second half of the 4th millennium BCE, the number of settlements in the Quetta Valley, Surab Region, Kachhi Plain, and other areas increased. Kili Ghul Mohammad (II–III) pottery is similar to Togau Ware.
Period IV was 3500–3250 BCE, Period V from 3250–3000 BCE, and Period VI was around 3000 BCE. The site with Periods IV to VII is called MR1.
Between 2600 BCE and 2000 BCE, the city was largely abandoned in favor of the larger fortified town Nausharo, five miles away, during the middle stages of the Indus Valley Civilization. Historian Michael Wood suggests this happened around 2500 BCE.
Archaeologist Massimo Vidale notes that semi-columns found in a structure at Mehrgarh, dated around 2500 BCE by the French mission there, are similar to those found in Period IV at Shahr-e Sukhteh.
The final period is found at the Sibri cemetery, about 8 kilometers from Mehrgarh.
Lifestyle and technology
Early Mehrgarh residents lived in houses made of mud bricks, stored grain in special storage buildings, made tools using copper from nearby areas, and coated large baskets with bitumen. They grew six-row barley, einkorn and emmer wheat, jujubes, and dates, and raised sheep, goats, and cattle. People who lived there later (from 5500 BCE to 2600 BCE) focused on crafts such as shaping flint, tanning leather, making beads, and working with metal. Mehrgarh is likely the first known place in South Asia where agriculture began.
The oldest known example of a method called the lost-wax technique comes from a copper amulet shaped like a wheel, found at Mehrgarh and dated to about 6,000 years ago. The amulet was made from pure copper, a rare innovation that was not used again later.
Artefacts
The oldest ceramic figurines in South Asia were discovered at Mehrgarh. These figurines were present in all stages of the settlement and were common even before pottery was made. The earliest figurines are simple and do not have detailed features. Over time, they became more complex, and by 4000 BCE, they showed typical hairstyles and prominent breasts. All figurines up to this time were female. Male figurines appeared only in Period VII and became more common later. Many female figurines are shown holding babies, which some people believe represents a mother goddess. However, because it is hard to be certain about this connection, some scholars use the term "female figurines with likely cultic significance" instead.
Evidence of pottery appears starting in Period II. In Period III, pottery became more common after the introduction of the potter's wheel, and designs became more detailed, including animal shapes. Characteristic female figurines first appear in Period IV, and pottery from this time shows more complex designs. Decorations with pipal leaf patterns began in Period VI. Advanced firing techniques were used in Periods VI and VII, and a special area for pottery making was found at mound MR1. However, by Period VIII, the quality and detail of pottery designs declined, likely due to mass production and a growing interest in bronze and copper items.
There are two types of burials at the Mehrgarh site. Individual burials involved placing a single person inside narrow mud walls. Collective burials included multiple skeletons, up to six people, inside thin mud-brick walls. In these burials, bodies were placed in a flexed position, facing east to west. Child bones were found in large jars or urns between 4000 and 3300 BCE.
Metal items, such as copper objects, have been found dating back to Period IIB.