Nausharo is located in

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

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 well known as an archaeological site for the Harappan period. The excavations were carried out between 1985 and 1996 by a French team of archaeologists, under the direction of

Jean-François Jarrige Jean-François Jarrige (5 August 1940, Lourdes – 18 November 2014, Paris) was a French archaeologist specializing in South Asian archaeology and Sindhology. He held a doctorate from the University of Paris in oriental archaeology. He carried ...

. The other sites belonging to the same cluster are

Mehrgarh Mehrgarh (; ur, ) is a Neolithic archaeological site (dated ) situated on the Kacchi Plain of Balochistan in Pakistan. It is located near the Bolan Pass, to the west of the Indus River and between the modern-day Pakistani cities of Quetta ...

and

Pirak Pirak ( ur, ) is an archaeological site belonging to the Indus Valley civilization located in Balochistan, Pakistan. It is 20 km south of Sibi east of the Nari River. The mound is 8m high and covers approximately . The site of Pirak was fi ...

Nausharo excavation

Excavations at Nausharo, 6 km from Mehrgarh, revealed a dwelling-site contemporaneous and identical to the later periods of

. It was occupied between 3000 and 2550 BC and again between 2550 and 1900 BC.

Pottery workshop

The discovery of a pottery workshop at Nausharo revealed fired and unfired pottery pieces and unworked clay, as well as 12 flint blades or blade fragments. The blades showed use-wear traces that indicates their usage in shaving clay while shaping pottery on a potter's wheel. The excavated blades were compared to experimentally produced replica blades used for a variety of other activities such as harvesting and processing of silica-rich plants, hide processing, and hand-held use for shaping clay; however, the use-wear traces were almost identical to the excavated blades when used with a mechanical potter's wheel in the shaping of clay pots. Also significant was the discovery of copper traces found on the platforms of two blades examined with a scanning electron microscope and X ray analysis.

Chronology

Mature Indus Valley Civilisation is believed to begin around 2600–2450 BC, during Mehrgarh VII period (2600 BC–2000 BC). This time period also corresponds to Nausharo I (Kot Diji Phase), and Nausharo II periods. Somewhere between 2600 BC and 2000 BC (Mehrgarh Period VII), Mehrgarh seems to have been largely abandoned in favor of Nausharo, which became fortified and quite large. Historian Michael Wood suggests this abandonment took place around 2500 BCE. According to Jarrige, period I of Nausharo corresponds to Mehrgarth VII, while periods II and III were during the mature Harappan civilization.JEAN-FRANÇOIS JARRIGE (1993), The Early Architectural Traditions of Greater Indus as Seen from Mehrgarh, Baluchistan. Studies in the History of Art, Vol. 31, Symposium Papers XV: Urban Form and Meaning in South Asia: The Shaping of Cities from Prehistoric to Precolonial Times (1993), pp. 25-33. p.33 The more detailed chronology of Nausharo is usually given as follows, * Period IA c. 2900-2800 BC * Period IB c. 2800-2700 BC * Period IC c. 2700-2600 BC * Period ID c. 2600-2550 BC (transition period) * Period IIA c. 2550-2300 BC * Period IIB c. 2300-1900 BC * Period III c. 1900-1800 BC

References

External links

Cooking pots, Nausharo

{{coord, 29.365, 67.588, display=title Archaeological sites in Balochistan, Pakistan Indus Valley civilisation sites History of Balochistan Former populated places in Pakistan Pre-Indus Valley civilisation sites

Nausharo excavation

Pottery workshop

Chronology

See also

Further reading

References

External links