Editing Mehrgarh (section)

==Artifacts==
[[File:Seated Mother Goddess ,3000–2500 B.C. Pakistan (Baluchistan) Mehrgarh style.jpg|thumb|Seated Mother Goddess, 3000–2500 BCE. Mehrgarh<ref>{{cite web|title=MET|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/60602|website=www.metmuseum.org|access-date=21 April 2019|archive-date=18 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018235102/https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/60602|url-status=live}}</ref>]]

===Human figurines===
The oldest ceramic figurines in South Asia were also found at Mehrgarh. They occur in all phases of the settlement and were prevalent even before pottery appears. The earliest figurines are quite simple and do not show intricate features. However, they grow in sophistication with time, and by 4000&nbsp;BCE begins to show their characteristic hairstyles and typical prominent [[breasts]]. All the figurines up to this period were female. Male figurines appear only from period VII and gradually become more numerous. Many of the female figurines are holding babies, and were interpreted as depictions of a [[mother goddess]]. However, due to some difficulties in conclusively identifying these figurines with a mother goddess, some scholars prefer using the term "female figurines with likely cultic significance".<ref>{{cite book|author=Upinder Singh|title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&pg=PA130|access-date=10 September 2011|pages=130–|isbn=9788131711200|year=2008|archive-date=9 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709143420/https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&pg=PA130|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Nelson1">{{cite book|author=Sarah M. Nelson|title=Worlds of gender: the archaeology of women's lives around the globe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ab1rF6tznkoC&pg=PA77|access-date=10 September 2011|date=February 2007|publisher=Rowman Altamira|isbn=978-0-7591-1084-7|pages=77–|archive-date=9 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709143420/https://books.google.com/books?id=ab1rF6tznkoC&pg=PA77|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Sharif|first1=M|last2=Thapar|first2=B. K.|title=History of civilizations of Central Asia|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GXzycd3dT9kC&pg=PA254|access-date=7 September 2011|pages=254–256|chapter=Food-producing Communities in Pakistan and Northern India|isbn=9788120814073|date=January 1999|archive-date=9 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709143234/https://books.google.com/books?id=GXzycd3dT9kC&pg=PA254|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Pottery===
[[File:MET 2003 592 2 O.jpg|thumb|left|Mehrgarh painted pottery, 3000–2500 BCE<ref>{{cite web |title=Metropolitan Museum of Art |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/72342 |website=www.metmuseum.org |access-date=21 April 2019 |archive-date=16 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316093101/https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/72342 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
Evidence of pottery begins from Period II. In Period III, the finds become much more abundant as the [[potter's wheel]] is introduced, and they show more intricate designs and also animal motifs.<ref name="sharifthapar1"/> The characteristic female figurines appear beginning in Period IV and the finds show more intricate designs and sophistication. [[Sacred fig|Pipal]] leaf designs are used in decoration from Period VI.<ref name=" Singh1"/> Some sophisticated firing techniques were used from Periods VI and VII and an area reserved for the pottery industry has been found at mound MR1. However, by Period VIII, the quality and intricacy of designs seem to have suffered due to mass production, and a growing interest in bronze and copper vessels.<ref name="maisels1"/>

===Burials===
There are two types of burials in the Mehrgarh site. There were individual burials where a single individual was enclosed in narrow mud walls and collective burials with thin mud-brick walls within which skeletons of six different individuals were discovered. The bodies in the collective burials were kept in a flexed position and were laid east to west. Child bones were found in large jars or urn burials (4000–3300 BCE).<ref name="dibyopama_etal">{{cite journal|last1=Dibyopama|first1=Astha|last2=Kim|first2=Yong Jun|display-authors=1|date=2015|title=Human Skeletal Remains from Ancient Burial Sites in India: With Special Reference to Harappan Civilization|journal=Korean J Phys Anthropol|volume=28|issue=1|pages=1–9|doi=10.11637/kjpa.2015.28.1.1|doi-access=}}</ref>

===Metallurgy===
Metal findings have been dated as early as Period IIB, with a few [[copper]] items.<ref name="sharifthapar1"/><ref name="Singh1">{{cite book|author=Upinder Singh|title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&pg=PA103|access-date=8 September 2011|date=1 September 2008|publisher=Pearson Education India|isbn=978-81-317-1120-0|pages=103–105|archive-date=28 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220728234400/https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&pg=PA103|url-status=live}}</ref>