2 102 C In the northern valleys of the Indus river, a region of small farming villages, unusual and distinctive graves appeared in the 2nd and early 1st millennia BC. Horses and horse trappings, grey pottery and other objects link these to sites in Iran, suggesting Indo-Aryan nomads may have settled here.
#Gandhara graves, A Gandhara grave
3 102 D Finds of water-worn ochre-coloured pottery (OCP) and hoards of distinctive copper objects, such as antenna-hilted swords and anthropomorphic (in the shape of a person) axes, indicate the presence in the Ganges region of 2nd millennium BC settlers, probably from the Indus region originally, whose settlements are only now being found.
#OCP/Copper Hoards, composite of an antenna hilted sword and an anthropomorphic axe or one of them
4 101 X Cairn burials, cemeteries like Sibri near Mehrgarh and isolated finds of metal objects, especially weapons, have been interpreted as traces of the Indo-Aryans. A number of settlements in the region show signs of violent destruction, which points the same way.
#Indo-Iranian Borderlands
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#Pirak IW
6 102 A The uppermost levels at the great Indus city of Harappa contain flimsy structures built of reused materials. They contained distinctive pottery also found in a cemetery here (Cemetery H); painted designs on this pottery have been convincingly interpreted as depicting Indo-Aryan religious themes familiar from the 'Rigveda'.
#Harappa, Cemetery H pottery depicting religious scene related to death
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#Indo-Aryans IW
8 13 20 3
#Inamgaon CM
9 102 B A farming settlement of 3rd and 2nd millennium BC, Daimabad is famous as the find spot of a hoard of four unique bronze sculptures of uncertain date. Some scholars compare them to Indus workmanship and claim they indicate settlement here by people who fled the Indus decline, but this is controversial.
#Daimabad, Daimabad elephant or buffalo
10 101 X A 2nd millennium BC farming village. Horse bones found here must indicate contacts with the north as horses are not native to India. In the late levels iron tools appear, among the earliest found. The development of iron-working was achieved independently in India, where iron ores are abundant and ubiquitous.
#Hallur
11 101 X Chirand, a village of fishers and rice farmers making ground stone axes and simple pottery, was inhabited well before 2000 BC. After 1500 BC, a few copper objects were also present, along with bone and ivory arrowheads. By 500 BC, the presence of fine wheel-made black pottery shows that the area had been penetrated by immigrant farmers from further north.
#Chirand
12 101 X By 1400 BC, some village communities in western India, such as Inamgaon, could be regarded as small towns. Their inhabitants included some specialized craftsmen and women, poorer and wealthier farmers and a leader whose authority was recognized by a number of smaller farming settlements in the area.
#PW West Indians farmers
13 101 X Rice farmers, living in small villages like Chirand, occupied the heavily wooded Ganges valley during the 2nd millennium BC. Their early cultural links were with South-East Asia but they became absorbed in the late centuries BC by the progressive expansion of colonists from the north-west.
