An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c10.s1.18

v1.c10.s1.18

'Although we may be able to construct a reasonable sequence into which the Indian cultures may be fitted in their mutual relationship, it is essential to remember the peripheral position of western India with regard to the more ancient settlements of Iraq and Iran from which its cultures are derived, and to realize that correlations with these cultures to the west may only show the earliest date at which a given feature could have appeared in India. The time-lag may be considerable before a specific Iranian or Sumerian pottery style was manifested in Baluchistan or on the Indus, and we must constantly bear in mind the "zoning" of cultures beyond the primary centres, as Childe has emphasized in his discussion of the application of oriental chronology to the European prehistoric sequence. (*Amer. Jour. Arch.* 44, 1939, pp. 12-26). In this connection the peasant cultures of Baluchistan may be subject to the same scaling-down in chronology as for instance the similar communities on the Lower Danube.' (Piggott, 1946, p. 9).