An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s8.5

v1.c9.s8.5

Excavations at Kili Gul Mohammed in Dt Quetta have revealed four Pds of occupation. The earliest settlement is revealed by the cultural equipment of Pd I, when the settlers lived in a small village having first mud and later mud-brick houses and used parallel-sided blades of chert for harvesting and peeling fruit. They domesticated the sheep, goat and ox. The use of pottery was known at this stage. A ^14C date for this Pd has suggested that this community lived as early as *c.* 3500 to 3100 B.C., thereby giving the earliest evidence of a village settlement in this subcontinent. In the succeeding Pd II people lived in the same fashion as earlier but handmade pottery with basket impressions came into vogue—itself a great advancement. Further progress is noticed in Pd III when the inhabitants started the use of wheel-made pottery with a red surface having black-painted designs. At this stage the use of copper is also evidenced. In Pd IV the people started producing a polychrome pottery known as Kechi Beg polychrome ware. An identical cultural sequence is also available at Rana Ghundai where in Pd II were found the remains of the domesticated horse. The Kechi Beg polychrome ware of Kili Gul Mohammed Pd IV is available at Damb Sadaat, another site in the Quetta valley, in Pd I which shows a cultural link between the two sites. The Togau pottery of the same region known for its painted antler motif is also associated with the Kechi Beg wares of Kili Gul Mohammed IV. Fairservis has seen the feasibility of relating the ‘horned buck’ design to the ‘horned bucks’ found at Sur Jangal and Rana Ghundai Pds II and III (a). In Damb Sadaat Pd II Zhob figurines in black on buff or grey ware are available. In Damb Sadaat Pd III the ‘stair design’ on pottery disappears. It seems that at this stage Harappa contacts were established and all the cultures which flourished prior to Damb Sadaat III were pre-Harappa.