Archaeological culture · c. 7000–4500 BCE (excavators); 2025 dates put the start near 5200 BCE

Neolithic of Baluchistan (Mehrgarh)

The first farming villages of South Asia, on the Kachi plain and in the valleys of Baluchistan, Pakistan, best known from Mehrgarh. People grew wheat and barley, herded sheep, goats and zebu cattle, and built mudbrick houses and granaries; pottery came later.

They traded shell and lapis lazuli over long distances. This way of life grew into the Chalcolithic cultures that led to the Indus civilisation.

See Neolithic of Baluchistan (Mehrgarh) on the map in 7000 BCE →

On the map

7000–4500 BCE