Archaeological Surveys in Lower Sindh: Preliminary Results of the 2009 Season

Location of the sites of Aji Abdul Reim (1), Jhirak (2), Lakho Pir (3) and Kot Raja Manjera (4)

Results from new discoveries of flint sites dating back to the 7th millennium (7000-6000 BCE) suggestive of sea-faring in the Arabian Sea thousands of years before the Indus Civilization.

The Author's Abstract

In January-February 2009 archaeological surveys were conducted in three different regions of Lower Sindh, from Ranikot, in the north, to the Makli Hills, in the south. They resulted in the discovery of many sites and flint spots within a territory the archaeology of which was previously poorly known. This paper is aimed at the description of these finds, their cultural attribution and, whenever possible, absolute chronology. Particular attention has been paid to the radiocarbon chronology of the sites located on the rocky outcrops that rise from the alluvial plain of the Indus delta, a few of which indicate that seafaring along the northern shores of the Arabian Sea was already active at least since the very beginning of the seventh millennium uncal BP.