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History
Isolated remains of Homo Erectus in has
been found indicating that Pakistan
might have been inhabited since
atleast the Middle Pleistocene
era. The precise date of these
remains is unclear, and archaeologists
put it anywhere between 200,000
to 500,000 BCE. The fossils
are the earliest human remains
found in South Asia. Modern
humans arrived from Africa after
their evolution
about 70,000 to 31,000 years
ago and settled in South Asia.
The evidence from the excavations at
Mehrgarh, Balochistan, has demonstrated
that the north-western part
of the Pakistan had reached
a neolithic, i.e. settled agricultural
stage, by the 9,000 BCE. Here
it may also be emphasized that
the Mehrgarh neolithic complex
stands in marked contrast to
that of western Asia. For example,
whereas in the West Asian neolithic
there is the domination of sheep
and goat amongst the domesticated
animals and of wheat amongst
the cultivated cereals, in the
Mehrgarh context the cattle
dominated over other animals
and barley over other cereals.
Thus, the Mehrgarh neolithic
has its own identity, having
no generic relationship with
its West Asian counterpart.
In other words, the Mehrgarh
people were the “the sons of
the soil”.
The Mehrgarh declined about the same
time as the Indus
Valley Civilization only
200 Kilometers south east was
developing. It has been surmised
that the Mehrgarh residents
migrated to the fertile Indus
River valley as Balochistan
became arid over time. The Elamo-Dravidians
invaded from the Iranian plateau
and settled in the Indus valley
around 4000 BCE. The main site
of the Indus Valley Civilization
in Punjab was the city of Harappa
and Moen and Moenjo
Daro in Sindh.
Page last updated:
Saturday, February 11, 2006 12:22:50 -0500
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