-1 101 Z The early village of Mehrgarh was buried by a huge accumulation of later alluvium. Its existence was only discovered when archaeologists investigating the low mound of the later settlement, to the south-west, noticed the remains of houses and ancient objects visible in the high banks created when the river Bolan cut down through the alluvial deposits. This is the only farming settlement known in the north-west before the 5th millennium, but many others may also lie hidden beneath similar later deposits.
# early settlement zoom - opening PW
1 101 x Mehrgarh is situated on the Bolan river in a zone transitional between the uplands and the Indus plains. River down-cutting revealed 37 feet (11 m) of occupation deposits running from the 7th to the 3rd millennium BC, making this the only farming settlement known in South Asia before the 5th millennium BC.
# River Bolan
2 101 X The earliest excavated site here, occupied before 6500 BC, was a camp of hunters and herders who lived here during the mild winter months, migrating in the hot summer to the cooler uplands, a pattern which still continues.
#Earliest settlement
3 101 X During period I, around 6500-5100 BC, Mehrgarh was a seasonally occupied village of mudbrick houses, with larger granaries to store cultivated wheat and barley. Domestic cattle and goats were kept and other animals were hunted.
#Period I settlement, House: Past Worlds p88
4 102 A Burials of the earliest farmers were placed on their sides in a crouched position, alongside a small wall. Grave goods included baskets lined with bitumen to make them watertight, beads including one of copper and several of turquoise from Central Asia, ground stone axes and stone blades, bone points and awls (tools for piercing).
#Period I burial, A typical burial
XX 102 C By 5000 BC, pottery was in use and the settlement expanding. Cattle were increasing in importance and fewer animals were hunted. Cotton was now cultivated. Far flung links are shown by lapis lazuli from Badakshan and conch shells from the Indian Ocean. Many other agricultural settlements were now emerging in the Indo-Iranian borderlands.
#Period II-III, Sickles of flint hafted in bitumen
XX 102 D Pottery, which appeared around 5000 BC, was at first hand made but later was turned on a foot-operated wheel. Often the pottery was fired in a bonfire clamp: abandoned warped and broken vessels remain from one such firing that failed disastrously.
#Pottery Making, broken pottery strewn over wide area
XX 102 E The settlement shifted around 3500 BC but was abandoned in the Indus period, around 2500 BC. Specialized workshops making beads and bronze objects have been uncovered. Among the most striking finds are figurines with elaborate head-dresses. A huge mudbrick platform survives from some monumental building.
#Period IV-VI, Figurines
XX 101 X A cemetery found near Mehrgarh, dated to early in the 2nd millennium BC, contained grey pottery and metal objects similar to those from contemporary Iran and Central Asia.
