The Ancient Rock Carvings of Sindh have been explored in

Kirthar Mountains The Kirthar Mountains ( ur, كوه کھیرتھر; sd, کير ٿر جبل) are a mountain range that mark the boundary between the Pakistani provinces of Balochistan and Sindh, and which comprise much of the Kirthar National Park. The mountain ra ...

Range, Sindh,

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. The Kirthar Mountains Range covers a distance of 190 miles (300 Kilometers) in boundaries of

Jacobabad District Jacobabad District ( sd, جيڪب آباد ضلعو, ur, ) is a district in the province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is located in the north of Sindh, by the provincial boundary with Balochistan. Its headquarters is the town of Jacobabad, which was ...

Qambar Shahdadkot District Qambar Shahdadkot District ( sd, ضلعو قمبر شهداد ڪوٽ, ur, ) is a district of Sindh, Pakistan, originally named after Shahdad Khan Khuhawar the official founder. District Qambar Shahdadkot, with headquarters at Qambar, was esta ...

Dadu District Dadu District ( sd, ضلعو دادو), ( ur, ) is a district of Sindh Province, Pakistan. With headquarters the city of Dadu, the district was created in 1931 by merging Kotri and Mahal Kohistan (later Jamshoro) tehsils from Karachi District a ...

and

Jamshoro District Jamshoro District ( sd, ضلعو ڄام شورو, ur, ), is a district of Sindh province, Pakistan. Jamshoro city is the capital while Kotri is the largest city of the Jamshoro District. The district borders Dadu district to the north. To the e ...

from north to south up to

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

, Sindh.

Rock carving sites

The numerous sites of ancient rock carvings have been discovered where ancient rock art is engraved on rocks. The sites are located at Hur Dhoro (natural water spring), Zainy Dhoro (a hollow where water of hill torrent collects), Peepal spring, Pachhal, Sado-Mado. Whereas, the dhoris (little ponds of water in the bed of hilly streams) in vicinity of the Nai Gaj Valley which is located at a distance of 38 km towards west of Johi town in Johi tehsil,

, Sindh, are the Shakloi Dhoro, Phazgar Dhori, Gurban Dhoro, Met Dhori, Makhi Dhori, Faizoo Garoti, Sakey Dand, Gurban Dhoro. The Kalri Dhoro in surroundings of Nari/Nali hill stream while Kashani Dhoro in neighborhood of Nain Taki (hilly torrent) in Johi tehsil Dadu District, at the same time as along the banks of hill streams of Mazarani, Shahaar and Keharji near Qambar,

Larkana District Larkana District ( Sindhi: ضلعو لاڙڪاڻو; ur, ) is a district of Sindh province of Pakistan. Its main city is Larkana on the banks of the Indus River. It is home district the of influential Bhutto family. The Larkana Bulls cricket ...

(now

) and Nai Dilaan in Dadu district. The rock art is too explored near hill torrents of Sallari, Khurbi, Radh, Saghro, Buri, Khenji, Chhahar, Seeta, the Kukrani, Haleli, Anghai, Khandani, Naing, Bandhani, Osho and Baz Khando in Kirthar mountains range. The rock carvings also have been discovered nearby

Gadap Town Gadap Town ( sd, گڏاپ ٽائون , ur, ) is a town in the northwestern part of Karachi with the Hub River on its western limits also forming the provincial border between Sindh and Balochistan, while to the north and east are Jamshoro Dist ...

at Gadap Tehsil of

district. Undoubtedly, Dadu District is more abundant in ancient rock carvings of Sindh.

Engravings

Different kinds of engravings are engraved herein rock carvings of Sindh. The petroglyphs of bullock-cart, Sun towers, unicorns, Sindh ibexes, humped bulls, many stupas related to

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

, animals like lions, wolves, camels, dancing women, right swastikas, wild-sheep, double and single humped camels, leopards, dogs, men with bows and arrows in attacking position, horse and camel riders, hunters with muzzle-load guns, men and women in pairs and in dancing style, wheels, fencing, rows of dots, hunting scenes while hunting Sindh ibexes with guns, rite dance, archers, swords bison, cut-marks fire altars and a fire temple of

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheisti ...

including dancing girls are engraved on rocks shelters, Buddhism is more dominant subject of rock carvings in Kirthar Range, Sindh. The ancient inscriptions of

Brahmi script Brahmi (; ; ISO: ''Brāhmī'') is a writing system of ancient South Asia. "Until the late nineteenth century, the script of the Aśokan (non-Kharosthi) inscriptions and its immediate derivatives was referred to by various names such as 'lath' ...

or Brahman script and Kharosthi scripts are as well inscribed in these ancient rock carvings of Sindh.

Ancientness

Some research scholars of Sindh are of the opinion that these rock carvings belong to

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

and

chalcolithic The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...

periods. According to some other anthropologists and research scholars of Sindh, this art of rock carvings is prehistoric and it had been executed on rock shelters from

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

to medieval and post medieval periods.

References

{{reflist Prehistoric Pakistan Ancient history of Pakistan Neolithic Asia Rock art Petroglyphs