Bowl with painted decoration MET DP370819

Damb Sadat (also ''Damb Sadaat'', ''Damb Saadat'') is an archaeological

mound A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically highe ...

and ancient settlement in the

Baluchistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western Asia, Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian S ...

region of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. It is related to the early phases of the

Indus Valley civilisation The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form 2600 BCE to 1900& ...

, and dates to 3500 BCE.The Harappan Civilisation: Its Sub-cultures
Daily Pioneer, 10 May 2018. Damb Sadat is located in Quetta Valley, which is a rich agricultural environment, and was home to several earlier Neolithic cultures.

Damb Sadat culture

Based on the

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...

found here, Damb Sadat culture is classified as a separate archaeological culture / subculture. Quetta pottery (black-on-buff type) is the general term for the ceramic tradition in the valley. Damb Sadat pottery comes as a part of this tradition. It dates to the middle and last half of the third millennium B.C. This pottery is also found at Said Qala Tepe, Deh Morasi Ghundai,

Mundigak Mundigak ( ps, منډیګک) is an archaeological site in Kandahar province in Afghanistan. During the Bronze Age, it was a center of the Helmand culture. It is situated approximately northwest of Kandahar near Shāh Maqsūd, on the upper draina ...

periods III–IV, and Shahr-i Sokhta periods I–III, all of which date to the last half of the third millennium B.C.

Cultural sites

There are multiple settlements of this culture in Pakistan and in Iran.

Gregory Possehl Gregory Louis Possehl (July 21, 1941 – October 8, 2011) was a professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania and curator of the Asian Collections at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. ...

sees

, in the

Helmand River The Helmand River (also spelled Helmend, or Helmund, Hirmand; Pashto/ Persian: ; Greek: ' (''Etýmandros''); Latin: ') is the longest river in Afghanistan and the primary watershed for the endorheic Sistan Basin. It emerges in the Sanglak ...

basin of Afghanistan, as part of the Damb Sadat Phase of Central Baluchistan, dated to 4500-2000 BCE. : "Contemporary with the

Kot Diji The ancient site at Kot Diji ( sd, ڪوٽ ڏیجي; ur, کوٹ ڈیجی) was the forerunner of the Indus Civilization. The occupation of this site is attested already at 3300 BCE. The remains consist of two parts; the citadel area on high ground ...

and Amri-Nal Phases is a smaller, more localized cultural phase of the early Harappan, centered on the Quetta Valley. ... This valley is also the center of a natural corridor linking southern Afghanistan to the Indus Valley via the Bolan and Khojak Passes.Gregory Possehl, The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. 2002, p. 44 According to him, there are thirty-seven Dumb Sadat sites averaging 2.64 hectares. The largest of them is the Quetta Miri (23 hectares).

Periodisation

The first habitation period of Damb Sadat (Damb Sadat I) coincided with the last of Kili Ghul Mohammad.Mukhtar Ahmed · 2014 �
Ancient Pakistan - An Archaeological History: Volume II: A Prelude to Civilization.
p417 Kechi Beg pottery has been found in both sites. This earliest phase of Damb Sadat lasted from 3500 to 2600 BC, with settlements remaining small but growing in number. It was related also to

culture and

Sothi Sotha is a village in Haryana, India. Demography In 2011, it had 334 families with a population of 1716. Location The neolithic Sothi (archaeology) site is located near Nohar in Rajasthan, about 120 km west-south-west of Sothi. The imp ...

Siswal Siswal is a village in Hisar district, Haryana, India. It located 28 km from Hisar city. It is a site of Chalcolithic age. It is a typesite for ''Siswal culture'', dating from around 3800 BC, also known as Sothi–Siswal culture. Location The ...

culture. During Damb Sadat II period, multi-room dwellings were built of

mudbrick A mudbrick or mud-brick is an air-dried brick, made of a mixture of loam, mud, sand and water mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. Mudbricks are known from 9000 BCE, though since 4000 BCE, bricks have also been ...

with limestone foundations. The radiocarbon dates for this period is about 3000 BC. Faiz Mohammed gray pottery comes after Damb Sadat pottery.

References

{{Indus Valley Civilization Archaeological sites in Balochistan, Pakistan History of Balochistan History of Sistan and Baluchestan Province Pre-Indus Valley civilisation sites Helmand culture

Damb Sadat culture

Cultural sites

Periodisation

See also

References