Mysteries Of Prehistoric Balochistan Unravelled

KARACHI: ‘Ancient Balochistan - Unfolding the Past', a lecture by the Director of the joint German-Pakistani Archaeological Mission to Kalat, Dr Ute Franke, was held on Monday at the Goethe-Institute, Karachi.

Dr Franke, a German archaeologist, has been following the prehistoric sites in Balochistan since 1981. In 1925, the first excavations took place at the site, bringing to light the ceramic techniques from the third millennium BC, while unravelling a kaleidoscope of culture from that area that has long been buried.

As in the words of Dr Franke, Balochistan has long been and still is a ‘terra incognita'.

At the occasion, she presented the findings of recent excavations that took place at Sohr Damb/Nal, a prehistoric site in Balochistan. During the lecture that lasted over an hour, she gave an insight into one of the least travelled areas of Pakistan, while presenting a wide range of earthenware pottery from 7000-2000 BC.

The gradual shift of the pottery from very crude and basic vessels to more sophisticated and decorated containers, as well as, urbanity and later migration, highlighted the way the civilisation progressed. In her lecture, Dr Franke presented the findings from the various periods in Balochistan history. From the undisturbed Period I to Period II, where a single grave carried upto to 16 individuals, along with decorative beads and utensils and, later on, Period III where figurines and refined ceramics were made to Period IV that shares stark similarities with the Indus Valley Civilisation, the changes that took place culturally and technologically were revealed along with the everyday life that was based on a nomadic lifestyle.

Though there was initially the idea that the civilisation in Balochistan was linked with the Indus Valley, however, the notion was dispelled by the findings of the German-Pakistani Archaeological Mission. The lecture proved to be an informative effort, however, one question that still remains unanswered is as to why the once thriving Balochistan was left behind by the Indus Valley Civilisation.

Those present on the occasion included German Counsel General Dr Christian Brecht, Vice Counsel of the Consulate General of Russia Director Sergey Kuznetsov, filmmaker and ex Information Minister Javed Jabbar along with some architecture and archaeology enthusiasts.