Prehistoric India to 1000 B.C. c11.s1.39

c11.s1.39

When we look to the other prehistoric sites in Western Asia, in Persia and Mesopotamia, we can see that the Rana Ghundai sequence is by no means without parallel. The presumed camping sites in RG I may be compared in type to the first settlement at Tell Hassuna in Mesopotamia, though it must be stressed that the resemblance is no more than one of general similarity, since the Hassuna settlement is immensely older than even the most adventurous chronology could make that of RG I. But, with the newcomers implied by the appearance of the fine painted pottery in RG II, we can make rather more precise comparisons, for the pottery of this phase has very close affinities, in the shape of the vessels and in the style and content of the vase-painting, with that of Hissar I - the first settlement on the Hissar site near Damghan in Northern Persia. Hissar I is a typical site within the Red-ware province, and as we have seen there is a large proportion of black-on-red ware in RG II, and the red background becomes constant in RG III. The animals depicted on the pots in the two regions - North Persia and North Baluchistan - differ, presumably in response to the natural fauna and the differing types of domesticated beast in the two cultures, but apart from this the similarities are so striking that we can claim Hissar I and RG II as parallel developments within the Red-ware area. Whether we can also equate the dates of the two phases is not so certain, but the Baluchistan evidence does show that RG II must have a fair degree of priority over the Harappā Culture, and its date should therefore be well back in the fourth millennium B.C., perhaps contemporary with Jemdet Nasr. RG III would begin in Early Dynastic times and continue to overlap with the Harappā Culture in Akkadian times, or even later.