Paper presented by F.E.

Jarrige on behalf of the author in the International seminar on the "First Farmers in Global Perspective', Lucknow, India,
18-20 January, 2006

The First Farmers in Western Pakistan : The Evidence of the

Neolithic Agro-pastoral Settlement of Mehrgarh

Lorenzo Costantini

Introduction their livelihood. The initial development of an

agricultural way of life was probably a consequence
The transition from mobile hunting and gathering to
or the result (adaptation) of a significant change in
neolithic agricultural societies living in permanent
the environment.
villages took place about the time of the change
from Pleistocene to Holocene. During this transition The Kachi Plain was one region in the Northwestern
major climatic and environmental changes happened South Asia where those changes in economy and
and temperature began to rise worldwide. It is social organization began, and Mehrgarh is the
generally accepted, mainly for the Southwest Asia, principal, but at present, the only settlement with the
that the two events were related and the progressive earliest evidence of agriculture.
change of the environment determined conditions in
well definite piedmont zone or alluvial lowlands. In The Neolithic Area of MR.3
the early Holocene human communities of several
The site of Mehrgarh is located south of the Bolan
parts of the Southwest Asia become more confident
Pass, in the region of Baluchistan, to the west of the
in the exploitation of those plants (wild cereals and
Indus River valley. It is generally considered the
legumes), which were the basic fodder for the animals
earliest neolithic settlements in that region, excavated
that were their main source of food.
by the French Archaeological Mission over eleven
The traditional version for the beginning of the seasons of a large-scale and multi-disciplinary
agricultural economy, for many nuclear areas of the project.1 The complexity of the archaeological area
world, is based on the domestication of plants and has demanded many efforts to the French mission
animals. In general, the adoption of farming was to explain the stratigraphy of the site and the
accompanied by the emergence of more complex sequence of a great number of human occupations
organization, new forms of settlements and crafts. on a huge area of about 200 hectares, from the 8 th
During the Neolithic Period sedentary societies were millennium BC onward. The Neolithic deposit of
formed and their members lived in permanent villages Mehrgarh, aceramic and ceramic, was found in the
and depended upon agriculture and pastoralism for MR.3 area, at the northern corner of the site, where

Received: 14 November 2006; Revised: 24 January 2007

izkX/kkjk] vad & 18

a natural water-drainage channel reach the Bolan other macro remains were collected from
river. archaeological soil samples using a simple dry sieving
method, mainly from those contexts where the
The excavations in the neolithic deposit revealed the
presence of ash layers was evident, because the
presence of two different events of human occupation:
negative results obtained from the water sieving
the first, Period I, represented by superimposed
tests. The archaeobotanical record of charred plant
levels of aceramic Neolithic with typical stone industry;
remains for the aceramic Neolithic Period I (end of
the second, Period IIA and B, characterized by
the 8th and beginning of the 7th millennium BC)
chaff-tempered/coarse pottery, unbaked clay figurines
includes few barley grains (Hordeum sp.), some fruit
and flint tools. Multi-rooms houses (compartmented
stones of Ziziphus sp., a limited number of naked
buildings) made of mud bricks, excavated in the
barley internodes (Hordeum vulgare nudum/
Neolithic MR.3, were considered as storage units.
sphaerococcum), and einkorn/emmer spikelet forks
According to Jarrige 2 the Mehrgarh Neolithic
(Triticum monococcum/dicoccum) from the deepest
sequence can be included in a span of time of
levels of the sounding carried out in the area of
about two thousand years, from the eighth to the
MR3T. Barley and einkorn/emmer remains were
end of the sixth millennium BC.
recovered in soil samples or into mud brick fragments
Archaeo-zoological investigations suggest that the from the first architectural levels 1 and 2, in which
earliest human communities exploited a faunal evidence of multi rooms houses were found.7
assemblage of at least 12 species (elephant, gazelle,
The charred plant remains for the ceramic neolithic
swamp deer, nilgai, blackbuck, onager, chital, water
sequence were recovered in the soil samples from
buffalo, wild pig), with evidence of proto-domestication
three main areas assigned to Period II A and B:
and domestication of local wild goat, sheep, and
MR3 (various buildings), MR3S (excavations carried
cattle.3
out in the years 1983-84), MR 3/4 (sectors
The Neolithic deposit in MR.3 gave a great amount excavated mainly during the season 1983, and
of plant remains, in the form of charred seeds and subsequently assigned to MR3), and MR 4 AG area
impressions in mud bricks that represent the bulk of and square A (sectors excavated from 1980 to
the most ancient agro-biodiversity of the Kachi Plain, 1982 and then included in the MR3 location).
on which the agricultural economy was based.4 Grains of naked barley (Hordeum vulgare nudum
Evidences of the early-middle Holocene (between and Hordeum sphaerococcum) and emmer (Triticum
8000 and 5000 years BP) vegetation were obtained dicoccum) were found in the samples from Period
from three archaeological sediment columns, for a IIA (6th millennium BC) associated with seeds of
total of 29 examined samples.5 Acacia, fruit stones of Ziziphus and Phoenix
dactylifera, and few seeds of Gossypium sp. The
The Early Agricultural Economy evidence of the last species originated perplexities
Excavations in the Neolithic MR3 area were assisted and comments because no other documentation
by an archaeobotanical investigation to ensure the was available for such plant in a so early period.
recovery of the plant remains.6 Charred seeds and Finally, the recovery of mineralized fibers in a copper

168
 Pr¢gdh¢r¢, No. 18

bead, from a Neolithic burial,8 confirmed what was impressions was noticed as an event of remarkable
formerly proposed as the most ancient finds of importance, and as a clear indication that the raw
Gossypium related with human activity and material used in the manufacturing process of the
agriculture.9 The archaeobotanical documentation for mud bricks was the by-product of crops threshing
Neolithic Period IIB was more limited, including only and cleaning activity.
few charred grains of two-row barley, (Hordeum
The bulk of the impressions from MR3T were
distichum), hulled six-row barley (Hordeum vulgare),
identified as naked six-row barley (Hordeum vulgare
naked six-row barley (Hordeum vulgare nudum and
nudum and Hordeum sphaerococcum), while less
Hordeum sphaerococcum) and emmer (Triticum
dicoccum). The presence of single fruit stone of than the 10% of the total were imprints of two-row
jujube and one of date palm was also recorded. barley (Hordeum spontaneum and/or distichum), six-
row barley (Hordeum vulgare), einkorn/emmer
Another valuable source of information, for the early (Triticum monococcum/dicoccum), emmer (Triticum
agricultural economy at Mehrgarh, was represented dicoccum), and free-threshing wheat (Triticum durum/
by the plant impressions found on and into the mud aestivum). A quite similar result was obtained from
bricks. Chaff of the main cereal crops was used in the analysis of the material of MR3 A1A location.
preparing the blending of the two components, clay
None of the two-row barley imprints was definitely
and straw, for the preparation of the mud bricks.
identified as from wild barley and the lack of any
Archaeologists easily recognized the presence of
other wild species does not help to understand the
chaff impressions in the mud bricks during the
relevance of the local biodiversity in the adoption/
excavations and many of them were collected for
adaptation of agriculture by the Neolithic communities
plant imprints examination. Some 50 brick and daub
settled at Mehrgarh.
fragments from the aceramic deposit in MR3T and
MR3 square A1A (MR.3S) were investigated and a According to the archaeobotanical documentation
total of about six thousand plant impressions were the agricultural economy at Mehrgarh was mainly
classified. based on the cultivation of the naked six-row barley,
The study of the plant impressions was undertaken since the early beginning of the aceramic Neolithic
following the same method used to investigate the period. The contemporary presence of others species
inclusions in potsherds, using a low-power light of barley (six-row barley and two-row barley), glume
stereomicroscope to distinguish the predominant forms wheats (einkorn and emmer) and free-threshing wheat
of the plant impressions on the surface of the bricks can be interpreted as an archaic phase of an
as well as in the inner structure, by means fresh agricultural economy in which the selection of the
break surfaces. Imprints of empty isolated glumes, single/specialized crop was not yet reached.
spikelets and rachis internodes were the most frequent Unfortunately, it has been possible to investigate
impression along with some almost complete ears only a limited part of the neolithic deposit and we
were also found. Many imprints were very well can not yet state what the presence of wild plants
preserved and some of them still contained grains was during the early beginning of human occupation
or rachis internodes. The absence of stalk and leaf of the site.

169
izkX/kkjk] vad & 18

More considerations could be proposed comparing others indicate that agriculture was founded on
the evidence of Mehrgarh with those of some other domesticated species. This could means that the first
Neolithic site but Mehrgarh is the unique settlement, agriculturists reached the plain south of the Bolan
in the whole Indus region, in which a Neolithic river when the evolution of their main crops (mainly
sequence was documented and investigated. barley) already had happened, or that the evidence
Nevertheless, early agro-pastoralism of Mehrgarh of a previous step in the selection of food plants
should not be perceived as an isolated phenomenon, from wild stands is still buried in the plain or in
being documented events of early agriculture in some other place in the region.
territories bordering the northeastern Iranian Plateau.
This is the case of Jeitun where archaeobotanical The Environment of the Kachi Plain in the
investigations documented the exploitation of einkorn, Early-middle Holocene
and six-row barley (both naked-grain and hulled- The Kachi Plain is a flat alluvial area which is part
grain varieties) since the 6th millennium BC.10 Several of a more extensive territory situated between the
consideration were adopted by Harris11 to reach the eastern edge of the Iranian Plateau and the Indus
conclusion that crops and domestic animals were Valley, while to the south the great desert of
introduced to the Kopet Dag from west, existing Baluchistan separates it from the Makran region. To
strong similarities between the already developed the north the mountains of Quetta represent a natural
Neolithic (c. 5000 BC) agropastoral system at Jeitun boundary with crossed by the Bolan River, a natural
with the village-based grain-caprine economy of the communication route since the earliest time. The
PPNB in the Fertile Crescent. As conclusive remarks geographical pattern of the Kachi Plain could have
Harris12 pointed out that ""The evidence presently been the most important condition to establish a
available decisively supports the hypothesis that it local/regional event of neolithization of the territory,
(agropastoralism) spread mainly by colonization well connected with various ecosystems in which
during the 6th millennium BC across northern Iran the natural resources could be exploited over the
within the belt of mediterranean climate that extends different seasons. Thus, Mehrgarh formed a
eastward past the Caspian Sea.'' geographical and cultural unit throughout the Neolithic
and indeed for some time before, making it a region
Harris' considerations on Neolithic Jeitun can not be
of particular interest in which to study the emergence
so useful in searching the origin of aceramic Neolithic
of the new way of life. The discovery of Mehrgarh
agro-pastoral system at Mehrgarh because
Neolithic area changed the consideration of the Indus
chronological diversity, but the question from where
valley as marginal territory in the early development
it arose ""...from where agriculture and pastoralism
of agriculture, opening a large debate on the
later spread to secondary or non center'' is similar.
possibility that the Kachi plain could have been an
If we consider the earliest plant evidences from
early agricultural centre.
Mehrgarh we may assume that only a set of
information (imprints of Hordeum spontaneum), still The transition to farming can be considered as a
uncertain, can be interpreted as indicator of a possible mere economical process but being involved ""local/
exploitation of a wild local resources, while all the regional'' biological resources (from wild to

170
 Pr¢gdh¢r¢, No. 18

domesticated, plants and animals) it should be time.16 The last opinion was supported by a
appropriate to take into consideration what was the palynological investigation carried out at Balakot, in
prevailing environment in the area of interest and Las Bela region, but only for the Harappan period.17
how did it condition changing human resource use.
Starting from 1988, a five-years palynological project
Plant and animal biodiversity played an important
at Mehrgarh began with the main purpose to
role in the dynamic interaction between human
investigate the deepest level of the neolithic sequence,
communities and the territory, being they at the
to study the evolution of the vegetation in central
base of the carrying capacity of the area.
Baluchistan during the Holocene period.18 Three
Climate and vegetation were different at the beginning continuous series of soil samples were collected
of the Holocene and, generally speaking, they varied from the natural cliff along the Bolan River, in a
considerably from region to region.13 During the section where the beginning of the Neolithic sequence
beginning-mid Holocene, climate played a fundamental was just above the natural soil. Columns 1 and 2
role in the modification of the land surface, were arranged in a stratigraphical sequence, with a
determining favorable conditions for human zone of overlapping, while column 3 both summarizes
occupation in those regions where vegetation, lakes and extents them. Chemical features and the result
and wetlands were positive modified by the increasing of the soil texture analysis demonstrate that in the
of temperature and humidity. According to Gupta et three columns there were equal depositional events
al.,14 human occupation and migrations have been with a precise correlation between the samples of
closely related to climate changes and, in particular, columns 2 and 3, while column 1 was mostly
the evolution of human civilization rapidly evolved included in a compacted pre-occupational (natural)
along perennial river systems. The Bolan River and deposit.
the Kachi Plain, as part of the more extensive
Conventional radiocarbon dates were obtained from
system of the Indus River, represented a suitable
two samples of column 3: sample n. 4, collected
region of rapid adaptation for the first human
near the top of the column, gave a result of 6146
communities during the early Neolithic.
± 60 yrs BP (R-2289), sample n. 11, from bottom
For several time that part of the Indian subcontinent of the series, was dated to 7928 ±126 yrs BP (R-
was believed too hot and dried to host the early 2290). A third sample submitted for radiocarbon
agriculture, until the Harappan civilization. This idea dating (n. 4 of column 2 from the same
was mainly due to limited information on Holocene archaeological layer of sample n. 4 of column 3)
climate fluctuations and their importance for the produced a radiocarbon date of 6085 ± 69 yrs BP
human population in the region. The knowledge on (R-2288). The bulk of the investigated Neolithic
climate and vegetation of that part of Baluchistan deposit is closed in a space of time of about two
was founded mainly on archaeological consideration. thousand years, between the beginnings of the VIth
Various authors adopted two different opinions: the millennium BC and the end of the Vth millennium BC,
first was oriented on more humid conditions;15 the considering uncalibrates values, or between the first
second proposed that the climate in Sind and half of the VIIth millennium BC and the end of the VIth
Baluchistan was characterized by aridity as at present millennium BC, using calibrated values.

171
izkX/kkjk] vad & 18

The pollen analysis carried out on the soil samples this class as the present-day juniper forest still
of the three columns provided a unique picture of grows at an altitude ranging from 1800 mt. to
the past vegetation, being them perfectly comparable 3000 mt. The juniper forest is actually confined to
and the total amount of the pollen grains quite a very limited area in the Ziarat valley (north of
significant, despite the nature of the deposit. The Kachi plain) where the existing trees are thousands
pollen of arboreal plants (AP) is present in relevant years old. The trees are growing in poor soil under
percentages with a range of variation between 62 extremely harsh conditions, with an average annual
and 70 %, with a minimum of about 51% in the rainfall of 200, 250 mm. The juniper forest at Ziarat
deepest sample. Non-arboreal plants (NAP) include is a relict of past vegetations, which probably covered
all herbaceous pollen types, summing together also a more extensive area.
the cerealia-type pollen grains.19
A second group of arboreal vegetation is represented
A limited number of taxa, between 20 and 30, were by the oak forest or oak stands with a few species
represented in the three pollen diagrams with a low of deciduous trees included in this group. It is
percentage of long-distance transport elements like, possible to assume that this class of vegetation
Abies, Picea, Tsuga, Pinus, Juniperus, Quercus, Tilia might grow in the interior plains and hills as well as
and Corylus. An important group of arboreal plants in the mountainous slopes.
was represented by Populus, Salix, Fraxinus and
Four of the eight proposed classes are of hydrophitic
Ulmus, whose pollen sum reaches about the 50%
vegetation with a present-day diffusion in warm-
of the total of the pollen grains. The presence of
temperate and sub-tropical regions. These four
Vitis is well documented in the pollen diagrams with
classes are documented by the pollen of leading
a constant value between 4 and 7%. The taxa of
plants of this type of vegetation, which inhabits
NAP included Cyperaceae, Phragmites, Typha, Alisma,
banks of permanent or ephemerous water courses,
Myriophyllum, and Nymphea, typical species of humid
inland lakes and swamps.
and aquatic environments, and gramineae,
leguminosae and cerealia-type classified as plants of The riverine vegetation is documented by its most
dry or not wet environments. important elements, like Populus, Salix, Fraxinus and
Ulmus often arranged in dense concentric or parallel
The species identified from the aceramic Neolithic
belts forming thick forest stands or gallery forest
Period I, grouped in conventional classes according
along the rivers. The presence of Vitis has been
to Zohary,20 reflect the great physiographic, climatic
recorded since the deepest level of the Neolithic
and edaphic contrasts in the territory, not excluding
pollen sequence, can be considered a floristic element
a relevant contribution, in terms of pollen grains,
associated with the riverine forest, as in many natural
from mountainous environments of the Himalayan
environment of the Near and Middle East. The
belt.
presence of ponds and marshy areas was also
Mountain vegetation includes all the coniferous trees documented by the pollen grains of waterlogged
as components of various plant communities, limited and aquatic plants. In such of environmental
to the high mountains. Juniper has been listed in complexity, evidence of cerealia-type pollen grains

172
 Pr¢gdh¢r¢, No. 18

were found from the early beginning of the aceramic The archaeobotanical data from the early Neolithic
settlement but also in the soil samples immediately contexts provides substantial evidence for a Neolithic
below of the first level of human occupation. farming economy in the Kachi Plain between the
end of the 8th and beginning of the 7th millennium
Similar results were obtained from pollen analysis
BC. This does not preclude earliest attempts at
carried out on mud bricks fragments from MR3T agriculture in this transitional region where the Bolan
and MR3S square A1A, on which a lot of barley river might have represented an important lane of
and wheat impressions were present. According to connection, but also the major element of the plain
Robinson and Hubbard,21 the cereal spikes may landscape modification caused by its flooding events.
represent potential traps for pollen grains and, when
The main crops of the inhabitants of the Neolithic
chaff and straw were blended with clay to produce
settlement of Mehrgarh were naked six-row barley
the Neolithic mud bricks, pollen grains of cereals
(Hordeum vulgare nudum and Hordeum
and other plant species were incorporated. The
sphaerococcum), six-row barley (Hordeum vulgare,
pollen grains were well preserved like those found emmer (Triticum dicoccum), and a free-threshing
in the soil samples, being the examined Neolithic wheat species (Triticum durum/aestivum), all cultivated
mud bricks unbaked. species of wheat and barley of south-west Asia
The presence of Tamarix and Palmae, among the origins, while the presence of wild barley, although
still uncertain, is the only element that led us to think
arboreal plants, and Smilax, Fumaria and
to an exploitation of local resources. On the contrary,
Chenopodiaceae, in the group of non arboreal plants,
the study of animal bones strongly support the
within a general of picture of humid environment,
hypothesis of local domestication of sheep and cattle.22
was documented by the pollen grains found in a
fourth column sampled in the Neolithic sequence of The results of the pollen analysis show that, from
MR3, between the end of Period I and the beginning about 8000 yrs BP to about 6000 yrs BP, the
of Period IIA. region was dominated by a semi-lacustrine or humid
environment with a riverine vegetation, with Populus,
Conclusions Salix, Tamarix, Fraxinus, Ulmus and Vitis, associated
in a typical hydrophitic complex, along the Bolan
By synthesizing archaeological, archaeobotanical and River or the streams crossing the plain. Remnants of
palynological data for the early-middle Holocene at a similar riverine forest were still present along the
Mehrgarh, and considering the effects of general lower course of the Hilmand river, in Iranian Sistan-
climatic changes on local scale, it is possible to Baluchistan, during the third-second millennium BC,
draw up a possible perspective on the Neolithic as proved by the great number of wood remains
adaptation at the environmental conditions of the and charcoals of poplar, tamarisk, ash, elm and
Kachi Plain. The interdisciplinary approach has grapevine found at the Bronze age site of Shahr-i
provided a climatic and ecological picture for the Sokhta.23 Part of the Kachi plain was covered by
timing of the spread of farming across the Indus annual herbaceous vegetation (mainly Gramineae
Valley, south of the Chiltan and Koh-i-Murdar and Leguminosae) forming large open zones, while
mountains. stands of oak forest probably grew in the upper levels.

173
izkX/kkjk] vad & 18

As final result of the interpretation of the pollen others cold picks (Sahara Aridity) can be dated near
sequence from the Neolithic deposit of Mehrgarh it 7000 yrs BP and at 5500 yrs BP. The cold events
is possible to point out that three major wet events were short periods in a more general warm-up
were registered from the first half of the VIIth climate tendency initiated at the beginning of the
millennium BC and the end of the VIth millennium Holocene period with a rapid warming dated at
BC, with a tendency to less humid conditions. 7600 yrs BP.30 More rain, longer growing seasons,
more land to settle on and more crops characterized
The proposed climatic conditions of the Kachi Plain
the warmer climate. As result of the solar heating in
during the early-middle Holocene reflect a more
the boreal hemisphere, between 9000 and 6000
general trend of an increasing of humidity widespread
yrs BP (10500-6500 cal. yrs BP), the monsoon
not only in southwest Asia but founded on integrated
rains increased over North Africa, Arabian Peninsula
studies of pollen and lake-level records, suggest
and northwestern south Asia, causing a major
wetter conditions that at present in the Indo-Arabian
lacustrine phase.31 In the framework of the Holocene
sector for both 9000 and 6000 yrs BP.24 Also in
climate variability, a close relationship between
east Africa a humid period had been established in
monsoon precipitation and historical changes along
the east Sahara during the early and middle
the Indus valley has been proved mainly for the
Holocene.25 More recent investigations approached
mid-late Holocene.32
the question of the Holocene climate variability and
related evolution of natural vegetation in south Asia The evidence of Mehrgarh is coherent with the
from different point of view. A great deal of scientific general and regional proposed evolution of climate,
work has been done for the western Rajasthan26 and a deepest investigation in all the archaeological
but also several general overviews included the sequence of Mehrgarh could provide a detailed
Indus valley in the framework of Saharo-Arabian information on how climate and related landscape
climate and vegetations dynamics.27 According to modification impacted on human settlement and use
Staubwasser et al.,28 a most prominent event of the of riverine environments. More emphasis would have
early-mid Holocene monsoon occurred after 8400 to be given to the study of the dynamic relation
yrs BP and a solar-output model, for the period between human behavior and river environments in a
14000-2000 yrs BP, shows that a global chill place, the Indus valley, where the river(s) have played
event can be dated near 8200 yrs BP,29 while two an important role as stimulus of cultural evolution.

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Lorenzo Costantini
Lab. di Bioarchaeologia
Museo Nazionale d'Arte Orientale
Via Merulana 248
00185 Roma, Italy
Email: [email protected]

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