Nausharo is an archaeological site dating back to the
Harappan period, located in
Balochistan
Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
. The excavations were carried out between 1985 and 1996 by a French team of archaeologists, under the direction of
Jean-François Jarrige. The other sites belonging to the same cluster are
Mehrgarh
Mehrgarh is a Neolithic archaeological site situated on the Kacchi Plain of Balochistan, Pakistan, 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.
Nausharo excavation
Excavations at Nausharo, 6 km from Mehrgarh, revealed a dwelling-site contemporaneous and identical to the later periods of
Mehrgarh
Mehrgarh is a Neolithic archaeological site situated on the Kacchi Plain of Balochistan, Pakistan, 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, ...
. 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
See also
*
Indus Valley civilization
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 from 2600 BCE ...
*
List of Indus Valley Civilization sites
*
List of inventions and discoveries of the Indus Valley Civilization
*
Hydraulic engineering of the Indus Valley Civilization
*
Mehrgarh
Mehrgarh is a Neolithic archaeological site situated on the Kacchi Plain of Balochistan, Pakistan, 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, ...
*
Pirak
Further reading
Jarrige, Catherine
''Une tête d'éléphant en terre cuite de Nausharo (Pakistan)'' 'An elephant's head in terracotta:Nausharo (Pakistan)''(French).
References
External links
Cooking pots, Nausharo
{{Pakistan-geo-stub
Archaeological sites in Balochistan, Pakistan
Indus Valley Civilisation sites
History of Balochistan
Former populated places in Pakistan
Pre-Indus Valley civilisation sites