Ahar Culture (Ahar-Banas) culture, India
The Ahar culture, also known (Banas culture) is a Chalcolithic archaeological culture southeastern Rajasthan state in India.
Gilund is the largest. The archaeological site was named after the present-day village, Gilund, and is locally known as Modiya Magari which means "bald habitation mound".
Gilund is the largest. The archaeological site was named after the present-day village, Gilund, and is locally known as Modiya Magari which means "bald habitation mound".
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| Image taken from HT |
Ahar culture lasting from c. 3000 to 1500 BCE, contemporary and adjacent to the Indus Valley Civilization. The Ahar–Banas people were exploiting the copper ores of the Aravalli Range to make axes and other artifacts. They were sustained on a number of crops, including wheat and barley.
Their name comes from a mid-1950s excavation led by R.C. Aggarwal, former director of archaeology, Rajasthan, at Ahar near Udaipur. A few years later, one excavation was carried out at Gilund in Rajsamand and then the focus shifted to the Harappans.
A research paper by Amrita Sarkar (2012) indicates Chalcolithic village farming community developed in southeast Rajasthan dates back to late 4th millennium BCE to late 2nd millennium BCE. The paper provides a comprehensive sight on two sites; Balathal and Gilund. Individual chronologies for both the sites of Gilund and Balathal had been established before by respective excavators of the sites.
It is interesting to note that an ASI archeology report of 2015 has proved that the oldest sites of the Sapta Sindhu civilization is Bhirana (7570-6200 BC) and the largest site is Rakhigarhi.
The pottery had a black top and reddish bottom, with paintings in white on the black surface. Because of these distinctive features, Ahar, when it was first noticed by R C Agrawal, was called the "black and red ware culture".
Primarily the pottery used by the inhabitants of Ahar for drinking and eating. They used fine and deluxe table-ware like the china-ware or stainless steel we use today. However, a subsequent and more extensive excavation showed that the Ahar people produced other kinds of fine and distinctive pottery as well.
More than 111 sites of the Ahar-Banas Complex have been identified to date. The main distribution seems to be concentrated in the river valleys of Banas and its tributaries. A number of sites with Ahar culture level are also found from Jawad, Mandsaur, Kayatha and Dangwada in Madhya Pradesh state. In Rajasthan, most of the sites are located in Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Dungarpur, Banswara, Ajmer, Tonk and Bhilwara districts, Few important site Ahar, Gilund,Ojiyana, Balathal and others (Bansen, Keli, Nangauli, Champakheri, Joera, Darauli, Gadriwas, Purani Marmi and Aguncha).
archaeologists led by teams from the University of Pennsylvania Museum and Deccan College, Pune, India, have discovered a bin filled with more than 100 seal impressions dating to 2100-1700 B.C.
Gregory Possehl and Vasant Shinde led the excavations:-
The impression designs, according to Dr. Possehl, offer additional evidence for a more worldly-wise culture than was formerly assumed to exist at Gilund. The impressions found in the bin were made from seals both round and rectilinear. The design motifs are generally quite simple, with wide-ranging parallels from Indus Civilization sites such as Chanhu-daro, Pirak, Kot Diji and Nindowari, 400 to 500 miles away. There are also distinct parallels with seals from another cultural group archaeologists call the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), from as far away as Central Asia and northern Afghanistan, 1,000 miles to the northwest.
Primarily the pottery used by the inhabitants of Ahar for drinking and eating. They used fine and deluxe table-ware like the china-ware or stainless steel we use today. However, a subsequent and more extensive excavation showed that the Ahar people produced other kinds of fine and distinctive pottery as well.
More than 111 sites of the Ahar-Banas Complex have been identified to date. The main distribution seems to be concentrated in the river valleys of Banas and its tributaries. A number of sites with Ahar culture level are also found from Jawad, Mandsaur, Kayatha and Dangwada in Madhya Pradesh state. In Rajasthan, most of the sites are located in Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Dungarpur, Banswara, Ajmer, Tonk and Bhilwara districts, Few important site Ahar, Gilund,Ojiyana, Balathal and others (Bansen, Keli, Nangauli, Champakheri, Joera, Darauli, Gadriwas, Purani Marmi and Aguncha).
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archaeologists led by teams from the University of Pennsylvania Museum and Deccan College, Pune, India, have discovered a bin filled with more than 100 seal impressions dating to 2100-1700 B.C.
Gregory Possehl and Vasant Shinde led the excavations:-
The impression designs, according to Dr. Possehl, offer additional evidence for a more worldly-wise culture than was formerly assumed to exist at Gilund. The impressions found in the bin were made from seals both round and rectilinear. The design motifs are generally quite simple, with wide-ranging parallels from Indus Civilization sites such as Chanhu-daro, Pirak, Kot Diji and Nindowari, 400 to 500 miles away. There are also distinct parallels with seals from another cultural group archaeologists call the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), from as far away as Central Asia and northern Afghanistan, 1,000 miles to the northwest.
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