Prehistory[edit]

Paleolithic period[edit]
Riwat is a Paleolithic site in upper Punjab. Riwat
Site 55, shows a later occupation dated to around
45,000 years ago. The Soanian is archaeological
culture of the Lower Paleolithic, Acheulean. It is
named after the Soan Valley in the Sivalik Hills,
near modern-day Islamabad/Rawalpindi.
In Adiyala and Khasala, about 16 kilometres
(9.9 mi) from Rawalpindi, on the bend of the Soan
River hundreds of edged pebble tools were
discovered. No human skeletons of this age have
yet been found.
Neolithic period[edit]
Main article: Mehrgarh
Mehrgarh is an important neolithic site discovered
in 1974, which shows early evidence of farming
and herding,[18] and dentistry.[19] The site dates
back to 7000–5500 BCE and is located on the
Kachi Plain of Balochistan. The residents of
Mehrgarh lived in mud brick houses, stored grain
in granaries, fashioned tools with copper ore,
cultivated barley, wheat, jujubes and dates, and
herded sheep, goats and cattle. As the civilization
progressed (5500–2600 BCE) residents began to
engage in crafts, including flint knapping, tanning,
bead production, and metalworking. The site was
occupied continuously until 2600 BCE,[20] when
climatic changes began to occur. Between 2600
and 2000 BCE, region became more arid and
Mehrgarh was abandoned in favor of the Indus
Valley,[21] where a new civilization was in the early
stages of development.[22]
Indus Valley Civilisation[edit]
Main article: Indus Valley Civilisation
Indus Valley Civilization

The "Indus Priest King" sculpture is carved from steatite.

The Pashupati seal.
The Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-daro.

Excavated ruins of the Great Bath at Mohenjo-

daro in Sindh.
The Bronze Age in the Indus Valley began around
3300 BCE with the Indus Valley Civilization.
[23]
 Along with Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, it
was one of three early civilizations of the Old
World, and of the three the most widespread,
[24]
 covering an area of 1.25 million km2.[25] It
flourished in the basins of the Indus River, in what
is today the Pakistani provinces
of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan, and along a
system of perennial, mostly monsoon-fed, rivers
that once coursed in the vicinity of the
seasonal Ghaggar-Hakra River in parts of north-
west India.[26] At its peak, the civilization hosted a
population of approximately 5 million spread
across hundreds of settlements extending as far
as the Arabian Sea to present-day southern and
eastern Afghanistan, and the Himalayas.
[27]
 Inhabitants of the ancient Indus river valley, the
Harappans, developed new techniques in
metallurgy and handicraft (carneol products, seal
carving), and produced copper, bronze, lead, and
tin.
The Mature Indus civilisation flourished from
about 2600 to 1900 BCE, marking the beginning
of urban civilisation in the Indus Valley. The
civilisation included urban centres such
as Harappa, Ganeriwala and Mohenjo-daro as
well as an offshoot called the Kulli culture (2500–
2000 BCE) in southern Balochistan and was
noted for its cities built of brick, roadside drainage
system, and multi-storeyed houses. It is thought
to have had some kind of municipal organisation
as well.
During the late period of this civilisation, signs of
a gradual decline began to emerge, and by
around 1700 BCE, most of the cities were
abandoned. However, the Indus Valley Civilisation
did not disappear suddenly, and some elements
of the Indus Civilisation may have
survived. Aridification of this region during the 3rd
millennium BCE may have been the initial spur for
the urbanisation associated with the civilisation,
but eventually also reduced the water supply
enough to cause the civilisation's demise, and to
scatter its population eastward. The civilization
collapsed around 1700 BCE, though the reasons
behind its fall are still unknown. Through the
excavation of the Indus cities and analysis of town
planning and seals, it has been inferred that the
Civilization had high level of sophistication in its
town planning, arts, crafts, and trade.

Date
Phase Era
s

7000
Mehrgarh
– Early Food
I (aceramic
5500 Producing Era
Neolithic)
BCE
Pre-
Harappan
5500 Regionalisatio
Mehrgarh II-
– n Era
VI (ceramic c.4000-2500/2300
3300
Neolithic) BCE (Shaffer) [28]
BCE
c.5000–3200 BCE
(Coningham &
3300 Early Harappan 1 Young)[29]
– Harappan (Ravi
2800 Phase; Hakr
BCE a Ware)
 Harappan 2
2800 (Kot Diji
– Phase,
2600 Nausharo I,
BCE Mehrgarh
VII)

2600 Harappan
– 3A
2450 (Nausharo
BCE II)
Mature
2450 Harappan
– (Indus Harappan
Integration Era
2200 Valley 3B
BCE Civilisation
)
2200
– Harappan
1900 3C
BCE

1900 Late Harappan 4 Localisation

– Harappan
 1700
BCE
(Cemetery
H);Ochre
1700 Coloured Era
– Pottery Harappan 5
1300
BCE

Early history – Iron Age[edit]

Vedic period[edit]
Main article: Vedic period
See also: Indo-Aryan Migration, Indo-Aryans,
and Vedas

Archaeological cultures. The GGC, Cemetery H, Copper

Hoard and PGW cultures are candidates for cultures
associated with Indo-Aryans.
Indus Valley[edit]
The Vedic Period (c. 1500 – c. 500 BCE) is
postulated to have formed during the 1500 BCE to
800 BCE. As Indo-Aryans migrated and settled
into the Indus Valley, along with them came their
distinctive religious traditions and practices which
fused with local culture.[30] The Indo-Aryans
religious beliefs and practices from the Bactria–
Margiana Culture and the native Harappan Indus
beliefs of the former Indus Valley Civilisation
eventually gave rise to Vedic culture and tribes.[31]
[note 1]
 The initial early Vedic culture was a
tribal, pastoral society centred in the Indus Valley,
of what is today Pakistan. During this period
the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism,
were composed.[note 2]
Several early tribes and kingdoms arose during
this period and internecine military conflicts
between these various tribes was common; as
described in the Rig Veda, which was being
composed at this time, the most notable of such
conflicts was the Battle of Ten Kings. This battle
took place on the banks of the River Ravi in the
14th century BC (1300 BCE). The battle was
fought between the Bharatas tribe and a
confederation of ten tribes:
 Abhira Kingdom, centred in the Cholistan-
Thar region.[citation needed]
 Bahlika Kingdom, centred in Punjab.
 Gandhara grave culture, also called Swat
culture and centred in the Swat Valley of
present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
 Kamboja Kingdom, centred in the Hindu
Kush region.
 Kasmira Kingdom, centred in present-
day Kashmir Valley.
 Madra Kingdom, centred in upper Punjab,
with its capital at Sialkot
 Pauravas, a sub-clan of Kambojas
 Sindhu Kingdom, centred in present-
day Sindh.
 Sudra Kingdom, centred in the Cholistan-
Thar region.[citation needed]
Achaemenid Empire[edit]
Main article: Achaemenid invasion of the Indus
Valley

Much of the area corresponding to modern-day Pakistan

was subordinated to the Achaemenid Empire and forced
to pay tributes to Persia
The main Vedic tribes remaining in the Indus
Valley by 550 BC were
the Kamboja, Sindhu, Taksas of Gandhara,
the Madras and Kathas of the River
Chenab, Mallas of the River Ravi and Tugras of
the River Sutlej. These several tribes and
principalities fought against one another to such
an extent that the Indus Valley no longer had one
powerful Vedic tribal kingdom to defend against
outsiders and to wield the warring tribes into one
organized kingdom. The area was wealthy and
fertile, yet infighting led to misery and despair.
King Pushkarasakti of Gandhara was engaged in
power struggles against his local rivals and as
such the Khyber Pass remained poorly
defended. King Darius I of the Achaemenid
Empire took advantage of the opportunity and
planned for an invasion. The Indus Valley was
fabled in Persia for its gold and fertile soil and
conquering it had been a major objective of his
predecessor Cyrus The Great.[34] In 542 BC, Cyrus
had led his army and conquered the Makran coast
in southern Balochistan. However, he is known to
have campaigned beyond Makran (in the regions
of Kalat, Khuzdar and Panjgur) and lost most of
his army in the Gedrosian Desert (speculated
today as the Kharan Desert).
In 518 BC, Darius led his army through the
Khyber Pass and southwards in stages,
eventually reaching the Arabian Sea coast in
Sindh by 516 BC. Under Persian rule, a system of
centralized administration, with a bureaucratic
system, was introduced into the Indus Valley for
the first time. Provinces or "satrapy" were
established with provincial capitals:
 Gandhara satrapy, established 518 BC with
its capital at Pushkalavati (Charsadda).
Gandhara Satrapy was established in the
general region of the old Gandhara grave
culture, in what is today Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
During Achaemenid rule,
the Kharosthi alphabet, derived from the one
used for Aramaic (the official language of
Achaemenids), developed here and remained
the national script of Gandhara until 200 AD.
 Hindush satrapy, established in 518 BC with
its capital at Taxila. The satrapy was
established in upper Punjab (presumably in
the Potohar plateau region).
 Arachosia satrapy, established in 517 BC
with its capital at Kandahar in southern
Afghanistan, extended as far as Indus river in
the east; encompassing parts of present-
day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
and Balochistan provinces of Pakistan.[35]
 Sattagydia satrapy, established in 516 BC in
what is today Sindh. Sattagydia is mentioned for
the first time in the Behistun inscription of
Darius the Great as one of the provinces in
revolt while the king was in Babylon. The revolt
was presumably suppressed in 515 BC. The
satrapy disappears from sources after 480 BC,
possibly being mentioned by another name or
included with other regions.[36]
 Gedrosia satrapy, established in 542 BC,
covered much of the Makran region of
southern Balochistan. It had been conquered
much earlier by Cyrus The Great.[37]
Despite all this, there is no archaeological
evidence of Achaemenid control over these region
as not a single archaeological site that can be
positively identified with the Achaemenid Empire
has been found anywhere in Pakistan, including
at Taxila. What is known about the easternmost
satraps and borderlands of the Achaemenid
Empire is alluded to in the Darius inscriptions and
from Greek sources such as
the Histories of Herodotus and the later Alexander
Chronicles (Arrian, Strabo et al.). These sources
list three Indus Valley tributaries or conquered
territories that were subordinated to the Persian
Empire and made to pay tributes to the Persian
Kings: Gandhara, Sattagydia and Hindush.[36]
Ror dynasty[edit]
Main article: Ror Dynasty
The Ror dynasty (Sindhi: ‫ )روهڙا راڄ‬was
a Sindhi dynasty which ruled much of what is
today Sindh, Punjab and north-west India in 450
BC.[38] The Rors ruled from Rori and was built
by Raja Dhaj, a Ror
Kshatriya. Buddhist Jataka stories talk about
exchanges of gifts between King Rudrayan of
Roruka and King Bimbisara of Magadha.
[39]
 Divyavadana, the Buddhist chronicle has said
that Rori historically competed with Pataliputra in
terms of political influence.[40] Rori was wiped out
in a major sand storm,[41] which was recorded in
both the Buddhist Bhallatiya Jataka
and Jain annals.
Macedonian Empire[edit]
Main articles: Indian campaign of Alexander the
Great and Macedonian Empire
1854 Spruner Map of the Empire of Alexander the Great
– Geographicus – AlexandriMagni-spruner-1854
In 328 BC, Alexander The
Great of Macedonia and now the king of Persia,
had conquered much of the former Satraps of
the Achaemenid Empire up to Bactria. The
remaining satraps lay in the Indus Valley, but
Alexander ruled off invading the Indus until his
forces were in complete control of the newly
acquired satraps. In 327 BC, Alexander
married Roxana (a princess of the former Bactria
satrapy) to cement his relations with his new
territories. Now firmly under Macedonian rule,
Alexander was free to turn his attention to the
Indus Valley. The rationale for the Indus
campaign is usually said to be Alexander's desire
to conquer the entire known world, which the
Greeks thought ended around the vicinity of the
River Indus.
In the winter of 327 BC, Alexander invited all the
chieftains in the remaining five Achaemenid
satraps to submit to his authority. Ambhi, then
ruler of Taxila in the former Hindush satrapy
complied, but the remaining tribes and clans in
the former satraps of Gandhara, Arachosia,
Sattagydia and Gedrosia rejected Alexander's
offer. By spring of 326 BC, Alexander began on
his Indus expedition from Bactria, leaving behind
3500 horses and 10,000 soldiers. He divided his
army into two groups. The larger force would
enter the Indus Valley through the Khyber pass,
just as Darius had done 200 years earlier, while a
smaller force under the personal command of
Alexander entered through a northern route,
possibly through Broghol or Dorah
Pass near Chitral. Alexander was commanding a
group of shield-bearing guards, foot-companions,
archers, Agrianians, and horse-javelin-men and
led them against the tribes of the former
Gandhara satrapy.
The first tribe they encountered were
the Aspasioi tribe of the Kunar Valley, who
initiated a fierce battle against Alexander, in which
he himself was wounded in the shoulder by a dart.
However, the Aspasioi eventually lost and 40,000
people were enslaved. Alexander then continued
in a southwestern direction where he encountered
the Assakenoi tribe of the Swat & Buner valleys in
April 326 BC. The Assakenoi fought bravely and
offered stubborn resistance to Alexander and his
army in the cities of Ora, Bazira (Barikot) and
Massaga. So enraged was Alexander about the
resistance put up by the Assakenoi that he killed
the entire population of Massaga and reduced its
buildings to rubble – similar slaughters followed in
Ora.[42] A similar slaughter then followed at Ora,
another stronghold of the Assakenoi. The stories
of these slaughters reached numerous
Assakenians, who began fleeing to Aornos, a hill-
fort located between Shangla and Kohistan.
Alexander followed close behind their heels and
besieged the strategic hill-fort, eventually
capturing and destroying the fort and killing
everyone inside. The remaining smaller tribes
either surrendered or like the Astanenoi tribe
of Pushkalavati (Charsadda) were quickly
neutralized where 38,000 soldiers and 230,000
oxen were captured by Alexander.[43] Eventually
Alexander's smaller force would meet with the
larger force which had come through the Khyber
Pass met at Attock. With the conquest of
Gandhara complete, Alexander switched to
strengthening his military supply line, which by
now stretched dangerously vulnerable over
the Hindu Kush back to Balkh in Bactria.
After conquering Gandhara and solidifying his
supply line back to Bactria, Alexander combined
his forces with the King Ambhi of Taxila and
crossed the River Indus in July 326 BC to begin
the Archosia (Punjab) campaign. His first
resistance would come at the River
Jhelum near Bhera against King Porus of
the Paurava tribe. The famous Battle of the
Hydaspes (Jhelum) between Alexander (with
Ambhi) and Porus would be the last major battle
fought by him. After defeating King Porus, his
battle weary troops refused to advance into
India[44] to engage the army of Nanda Dynasty and
its vanguard of trampling elephants. Alexander,
therefore proceeded south-west along the Indus
Valley.[45] Along the way, he engaged in several
battles with smaller kingdoms
in Multan and Sindh, before marching his army
westward across the Makran desert towards what
is now Iran. In crossing the desert, Alexander's
army took enormous casualties from hunger and
thirst, but fought no human enemy. They
encountered the "Fish Eaters", or Ichthyophagi,
primitive people who lived on the Makran coast,
who had matted hair, no fire, no metal, no clothes,
lived in huts made of whale bones, and ate raw
seafood.
Alexander founded several new settlements
in Gandhara, Punjab and Sindh.[46] and nominated
officers as Satraps of the new provinces:
 In Gandhara, Oxyartes was nominated to the
position of Satrap by Alexander in 326 BC.
 In Sindh, Alexander nominated his
officer Peithon as Satrap in 325 BC, a position
he would hold for the next ten years.
 In Punjab, Alexander initially
nominated Philip as Satrap from 327 BC to 326
BC. In 326 BC, he nominated Eudemus and
Taxiles as joint-Satraps until 323 BC
when Eudemus resigned leaving Taxiles as
Satrap until 321 BC. Porus of Jhelum then
became Satrap of Punjab.
 In Gedrosia, Sibyrtius was nominated as
Satrap in 323 BC and remained so until 303 BC.

Alexander the Great at its greatest extent included

territory that is now part of modern-day Pakistan
When Alexander died in 323 BCE, he left behind
an expansive empire stretching from Greece to
the Indus River. The empire was put under the
authority of Perdiccas, and the territories were
divided among Alexander's generals
(the Diadochi), who thereby became satraps of
the new provinces. However, the Satraps of the
Indus Valley largely remained under the same
leaders while conflicts were brewing
in Egypt and Mesopotamia.