Explore the ancient Mehrgarh culture, known for agrarian settlements, agricultural technologies, and its significance in the transition to the Bronze Age. Detailed insights into its Neolithic and Chalcolithic phases.

Archaeological Significance of Mehrgarh: A Gateway to the Indus Valley Civilization

• Mehrgarh: Site of the earliest known agrarian settlements in the South Asian subcontinent, located west of the Indus River.
• Dubbed the Mehrgarh culture, considered a precursor to the Indus Valley civilization.
• Ancient people at Mehrgarh were nomads who preferred cattle-herding over hunting.
• Developed agricultural technologies allowing cultivation of crops like wheat, barley, and cotton.

Mehrgarh's Role as a Precursor to the Indus Valley Civilization

• Nearly all miniature figurines discovered at Mehrgarh depict women with elaborate hairstyles and protuberant breasts, possibly representing a fertility goddess.
• Male figurines appear later in time.
• Ancient Neolithic settlers at Mehrgarh were nomads who migrated from mountainous regions to settle in open pastures.
• They developed innovative technologies to replace stone tools as they moved away from hunting-and-gathering towards cattle-herding.
• They raised sheep, goats, and cattle.
• Inhabitants of Mehrgarh became agriculturists, cultivating crops like wheat and barley.
• This period of the South Asian Stone Age is known as the Early Food-Processing Stage (ca. 7000–5500 BCE) due to agricultural pursuits.

Technological and Cultural Developments in Mehrgarh

• Initially, people of Mehrgarh built small circular or rectangular houses with mud and reed.
• Living close to the Indus River resulted in floods washing away mud houses, prompting residents to fashion houses out of mud brick.
• Mehrgarh residents were avid agriculturists and valued their produce.
• Success of their agrarian lifestyle attributed to storing grains in granaries for later consumption.
• By 4000 BCE, people of Mehrgarh were living in two-storey homes.
• They used pottery wheels to create elaborate vases and vessels.

Architectural and Craftsmanship Advancements of Mehrgarh

• Mehrgarh people were ingenious craftsmen who fashioned tools from local copper ore and used it as pigment.
• Characteristic tools include borers and geometric microliths like lunates, triangles, trapezes, etc.
• Presence of turquoise and Lapis Luzili suggests long-distance contact with western and central Asia.
• Skilled in making fine, wheel-made pottery with a knife-edge rim, slipped in red, and painted in black.
• Archaeologists classify Mehrgarh pottery as ‘Togau Ware’, with designs ranging from Togau A to Togau D.
• Togau A pottery had intricate animal designs on inner rims, which became simpler over time.

The Transition from Neolithic to Chalcolithic in Mehrgarh

The small settlement of people at Mehrgarh were the first to witness the transition from the Neolithic to the Chalcolithic phase by the fifth millennium BC.