Editing Mehrgarh (section)

==Periods of occupation==
Archaeologists divide the occupation at the site into eight periods.

=== Mehrgarh Period I (pre-7000–5500 BCE) ===
The Mehrgarh Period I (pre-7000–5500 BCE){{refn|group=note|Jarrige: "Though it is difficult to date precisely
the beginning of Period I, it can be rather securely assessed that the first occupation of Mehrgarh has to be put in a context probably earlier than 7000 BC."<ref>Jean-Francois Jarrige (2006), [https://www.academia.edu/4648302/Mehrgarh_Neolithic_Mehrgarh_Neolithic_Mehrgarh_Neolithic_Mehrgarh_Neolithic_Mehrgarh_Neolithic ''Mehrgarh Neolithic''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215153746/http://www.academia.edu/4648302/Mehrgarh_Neolithic_Mehrgarh_Neolithic_Mehrgarh_Neolithic_Mehrgarh_Neolithic_Mehrgarh_Neolithic |date=15 December 2018 }}; paper presented in the International Seminar on the "First Farmers in the Global Perspective", Lucknow India 18–20 January 2006. Published in 2008 as ''Mehrgarh Neolithic'', Pragdhara 18:136-154; see page 151.</ref>}} was [[Neolithic]] and [[aceramic]] (without the use of pottery). The earliest [[farming]] in the area was developed by semi-nomadic people using plants such as [[wheat]] and [[barley]] and animals such as [[sheep]], [[goat]]s and [[cattle]]. The settlement was established with unbaked mud-brick buildings and most of them had four internal subdivisions. Numerous burials have been found, many with elaborate goods such as baskets, stone and bone tools, beads, bangles, pendants, and occasionally animal sacrifices, with more goods left with burials of males. Ornaments of [[sea shell]], [[limestone]], [[turquoise]], [[lapis lazuli]] and [[sandstone]] have been found, along with simple [[figurine]]s of women and animals. Seashells from far seashores, and lapis lazuli from as far away as present-day [[Badakshan]], show good contact with those areas. One ground [[stone axe]] was discovered in a [[burial]], and several more were obtained from the surface. These ground stone axes are the earliest to come from a stratified context in [[South Asia]].

Periods I, II, and III are considered contemporaneous with another site called Kili Gul Mohammad.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/sites/silkroad/files/knowledge-bank-article/vol_I%20silk%20road_pre%20indus%20and%20early%20indus%20cultures%20of%20pakistan%20and%20india.pdf |first=J.G. |last=Shaffer|first2=B.K. |last2=Thapar|title=Pre-Indus and Early Indus Cultures of Pakistan and India |publisher=UNESCO |access-date=11 April 2020 |archive-date=28 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028131200/http://en.unesco.org/silkroad/sites/silkroad/files/knowledge-bank-article/vol_I%20silk%20road_pre%20indus%20and%20early%20indus%20cultures%20of%20pakistan%20and%20india.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> The aceramic Neolithic phase in the region had originally been called the ''Kili Gul Muhammad phase''. While the Kili Gul Muhammad site itself probably started {{Circa|5500 BCE}}, subsequent discoveries allowed the date range of 7000–5000 BCE to be defined for this aceramic Neolithic phase.<ref>Mukhtar Ahmed, [https://books.google.com/books?id=HbvTBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA387 ''Ancient Pakistan - An Archaeological History.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709130217/https://books.google.ca/books?id=HbvTBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA387 |date=9 July 2022 }} Volume II: A Prelude to Civilization. Amazon, 2014 {{ISBN|1495941302}} p.&nbsp;387</ref>

In 2001, archaeologists studying the remains of nine men from Mehrgarh discovered that the people of this civilization knew proto-[[dentistry]]. In April 2006, it was announced in the scientific journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' that the oldest (and first ''early Neolithic'') evidence for the drilling of human teeth ''in vivo'' (''i.e.'' in a living person) was found in Mehrgarh. According to the authors, their discoveries point to a tradition of proto-dentistry in the early farming cultures of that region. "Here we describe eleven drilled molar crowns from nine adults discovered in a Neolithic graveyard in Pakistan that dates from 7,500 to 9,000 years ago. These findings provide evidence for a long tradition of a type of proto-dentistry in early farming culture."<ref name="Coppa">Coppa, A. et al. 2006. [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7085/pdf/440755a.pdf "Early Neolithic tradition of dentistry: Flint tips were surprisingly effective for drilling tooth enamel in a prehistoric population."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071127160643/http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7085/pdf/440755a.pdf |date=27 November 2007 }} ''Nature''. Volume 440. 6 April 2006.</ref>

===Mehrgarh Period II (5500–4800 BCE) and Period III (4800–3500 BCE)===
The Mehrgarh Period II (5500 BCE–4800 BCE) and Merhgarh Period III (4800 BCE–3500 BCE) were ceramic Neolithic, using [[pottery]], and later [[chalcolithic]]. Period II is at site MR4 and Period III is at MR2.<ref name="sharifthapar1"/> Much evidence of manufacturing activity has been found and more advanced techniques were used. Glazed [[faience]] beads were produced and [[terracotta]] figurines became more detailed. Figurines of females were decorated with paint and had diverse hairstyles and ornaments. Two flexed [[burial]]s were found in Period II with a [[red ochre]] cover on the body. The number of burial goods decreased over time, becoming limited to ornaments and with more goods left with burials of females. The first button [[Seal (emblem)|seals]] were produced from terracotta and bone and had geometric designs. Technologies included stone and copper drills, updraft [[kiln]]s, large pit kilns, and copper melting [[crucibles]]. There is further evidence of long-distance trade in Period II: important as an indication of this is the discovery of several [[beads]] of lapis lazuli, once again from [[Badakshan]]. Mehrgarh Periods II and III are also contemporaneous with an expansion of the settled populations of the borderlands at the western edge of South Asia, including the establishment of settlements like Rana Ghundai, [[Sheri Khan Tarakai]], Sarai Kala, Jalilpur, and Ghaligai.<ref name="sharifthapar1"/>

Period III was not much explored, but it was found that Togau phase ({{Circa|4000}}–3500 BCE) was part of this level, covering around 100 hectares in the areas MR.2, MR.4, MR.5 and MR.6, encompassing ruins, burial and dumping grounds, but archaeologist Jean-François Jarrige concluded that "such wide extension was not due to contemporaneous occupation, but rather due to the shift and partial superimposition in time of several villages or settlement clusters across a span of several centuries."<ref>Vidale, Massimo, et al., (2017). [https://www.academia.edu/38492223/Early_Evidence_of_Bead_Making_at_Mehrgarh_Pakistan_A_Tribute_to_the_Scientific_Curiosity_of_Catherine_and_Jean_Fran%C3%A7ois_Jarrige "Early Evidence of Bead-Making at Mehrgarh, Pakistan: A Tribute to the Scientific Curiosity of Catherine and Jean-François Jarrige"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922015231/https://www.academia.edu/38492223/Early_Evidence_of_Bead_Making_at_Mehrgarh_Pakistan_A_Tribute_to_the_Scientific_Curiosity_of_Catherine_and_Jean_Fran%C3%A7ois_Jarrige |date=22 September 2022 }}, in Alok Kumar Kanungo (ed.), Stone Beads of South and Southeast Asia: Archaeology, Ethnography and Global Connections, Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, p.&nbsp;234.</ref>

==== Togau phase ====
At the beginning of Mehrgarh III, Togau ceramics appeared at the site. Togau ware was first defined by [[Beatrice de Cardi]] in 1948. Togau is a large mound in the Chhappar Valley of [[Sarawan]], 12 kilometers northwest of [[Kalat, Pakistan|Kalat]] in Balochistan. This type of pottery is found widely in Balochistan and eastern Afghanistan, at sites such as [[Mundigak]], [[Sheri Khan Tarakai]], and [[Periano Ghundai]]. According to Possehl it is attested at 84 sites up to date.{{when|date=February 2023}} [[Anjira]] is a contemporary ancient site near Togau.<ref>Mukhtar Ahmed, [https://books.google.com/books?id=HbvTBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA392 ''Ancient Pakistan - An Archaeological History.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220325173618/https://books.google.ca/books?id=HbvTBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA392 |date=25 March 2022 }} Volume II: A Prelude to Civilization. 2014 {{ISBN|1495941302}} p392</ref>

Togau ceramics are decorated with geometric designs and were already being made with a [[potter's wheel]].

Mehrgarh Period III, during the second half of the 4th millennium BCE, is characterized by important new developments. There is a big increase in the number of settlements in the Quetta Valley, the Surab Region, the Kachhi Plain and elsewhere in the area. Kili Ghul Mohammad (II−III) pottery is similar to Togau Ware.<ref>Ute Franke (2015), [https://ancient-herat.de/uploads/attachments/ckvfk2p0c01nbnhcpcq8n2xba-07a-central-baluchistan-4-mill.pdf Central Baluchistan in the 4th Millennium BCE.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709171451/https://ancient-herat.de/uploads/attachments/ckvfk2p0c01nbnhcpcq8n2xba-07a-central-baluchistan-4-mill.pdf |date=9 July 2022 }} ancient-herat.de</ref>

=== Mehrgarh Periods IV, V and VI (3500–3000 BCE) ===
Period IV was 3500–3250&nbsp;BCE, Period V from 3250–3000&nbsp;BCE, and Period VI was around 3000&nbsp;BCE.<ref name="maisels1">{{cite book | last1 = Maisels | first1 = Charles Keith | title = Early Civilizations of the Old World | publisher = Routledge | pages = 190–193}}</ref> The site containing Periods IV to VII is designated as MR1.<ref name="sharifthapar1"/>

=== Mehrgarh Period VII (2600–2000 BCE) ===
Sometime between 2600&nbsp;BCE and 2000&nbsp;BCE, the city seems to have been largely abandoned in favor of the larger fortified town [[Nausharo]] five miles away, when the [[Indus Valley civilisation]] was in its middle stages of development. Historian [[Michael Wood (historian)|Michael Wood]] suggests this took place around 2500&nbsp;BCE.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wood|first1=Michael|title=In Search of the First Civilizations|date=2005|publisher=BBC Books|isbn=978-0563522669|page=257|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jTCezHSfbwMC&q=mehrgarh+abandoned+Naushahro&pg=PA55|access-date=20 May 2016|archive-date=31 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331174858/https://books.google.com/books?id=jTCezHSfbwMC&q=mehrgarh+abandoned+Naushahro&pg=PA55|url-status=live}}</ref>

Archaeologist Massimo Vidale considers a series of semi-columns found in a structure at Mehrgarh, dated around 2500 BCE by the French mission there, to be very similar to semi-columns found in Period IV at [[Shahr-e Sukhteh]].<ref>Vidale, Massimo, (15 March 2021). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAJHf1w3H4 "A Warehouse in 3rd Millennium B.C. Sistan and Its Accounting Technology"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922120433/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAJHf1w3H4 |date=22 September 2022 }}, in Seminar "Early Urbanization in Iran".</ref>{{rp|min.12:10}}

===Mehrgarh Period VIII===
The last period is found at the Sibri cemetery, about 8&nbsp;kilometers from Mehrgarh.<ref name="sharifthapar1">{{cite book|last1=Sharif|first1=M|last2=Thapar|first2=B. K.|editor=Vadim Mikhaĭlovich Masson|title=History of civilizations of Central Asia|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GXzycd3dT9kC&pg=PA128|access-date=7 September 2011|year=1999|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1407-3|pages=128–137|chapter=Food-producing Communities in Pakistan and Northern India|archive-date=9 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709132813/https://books.google.com/books?id=GXzycd3dT9kC&pg=PA128|url-status=live}}</ref>