Neolithic
Mehrgarh is a 9,000 years old site of settlement of Katchi
district at the foot of Bolan Pass near Sibi. Supported by Pakistan's
Department of Archaeology, French archaeologists are carrying out
extensive excavations here for some years. The excavations, studies and
research have led to pushing back these settlements to some 9,000 years.
Thus the chronology of civilization in Pakistan established through the
study of Meonjodaro and Harappa has been pushed back by over 4,000
years.
Research shows that the people here had lived in
houses and were involved in hunting, domestication of animals and
farming cereals like barley and wheat and later cotton too. This
hunting-farming society developed gradually and their pursuits were
creative. During the early period these people used stone and bone tools
i.e. polished stone-axes, flint blades and bone-pointers. By the 6,000
BC, the hand-made pottery appeared and in 5th millennium BC, metallurgy
and potter-wheel were introduced and they produced some fine terra-cotta
figurine and pottery with geometric designs.
Subsequently they produced and wore ornaments of
beads, seashells and semi-precious stones like Lapis Lazuli. A museum
has been set up at Sibi where a wide range of rare finds from the site
of Mehrgarh is on display.
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