Page "Mehrgarh" Paragraph 9

Mehrgarh Period I 7000 BCE – 5500 BCE, was Neolithic and aceramic ( i. e., 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, goats and cattle.

The settlement was established with simple mud 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, sandstone have been found, along with simple figurines of women and animals.

Sea shells from far sea shore and lapis lazuli found far in Badakshan, Afghanistan shows good contact with those areas.

A single 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 the South Asia.

Periods I, II and III are contemporaneous with another site called Kili Gul Mohammed.