Prehistory and Protohistory in India and Pakistan c3.8

c3.8

A few implications of these new developments may be pointed out here. C-14 dates for Lothal and Kalibangan indicate that the Indus Civilization was on the decline, both in the present Bikaner region as well as in Saurashtra by 1800 B.C. Thus the view that the Aryans had brought its end by 1500 B.C.—1200 B.C. needs to be revised. The end had come at least 300 years earlier. Now it is at this very moment that we have Chalcolithic or Copper Age Cultures not only in Sind, (for which no C-14 dates are at present available, like Jhukar and Jhangar), but also in South-East Rajasthan, Central India and Saurashtra as well as in the Deccan. The earliest phases of Eran, Navdatoli and Ahar go back to a period between 2100—1800 B.C. The presumption is not unwarranted that these extra-Indus cultures had some share in bringing about the down-fall of and/or alteration in the Indus Civilization at home as well as in the outlying provinces.