Palaeolithic Sites in the Plains of Sind and Their Geographical Implications

Abstract

This paper presents part of the results of the first season's work of the Cambridge Archaeological Expedition to Pakistan. The first season was necessarily a preliminary survey, partly in Sind and partly in other regions of Pakistan. In the lower Indus valley, following the work of Lambrick, Holmes and others on Sind, and our own earlier researches in the Thar desert to the east, we were able to make a number of observations on the environment which the plains must have provided for the hunters, pastoralists and earliest farmers of the Early Holocene, and for the Palaeolithic inhabitants of the later Pleistocene. Previous studies had shown sequences of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic industries in association with geomorphic features indicative of past climates in regions to the east, west and south of the lower Indus plains. The Rohri Hills, outcropping from the plains in upper Sind, were known as a source of chert for the manufacture of parallel-sided blades used by the Harappans (c. 2300-1750 bc). Our explorations show that the chert was also used in earlier times by Middle and Upper Palaeolithic craftsmen, and those of other pre-Harappan cultures. This and other factors combine to indicate that for a period during the Late Pleistocene the climate of upper Sind must have been considerably less arid than at present. Further Palaeolithic material was found on a hill similarly situated in lower Sind; Lower Palaeolithic and later working floors were found, but there were no indications of use by the Harappans. This, too, has geographical implications that are briefly discussed. The cambridge University Archaeological Expedition to Pakistan, during the season 1975-76, had as its more immediate objectives in Sind (a) to make a survey of Harappan and pre-Harappan settlements and consider them in relation to their geographical settmg; and (b) to look for earlier archaeological sites in the plains and on their margins, and for evidence of past climates in the region. Some

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