The Ahar culture, also known as the Banas culture is a
Chalcolithic
The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...
archaeological culture
An archaeological culture is a recurring assemblage of types of artifacts, buildings and monuments from a specific period and region that may constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society. The connection between thes ...
on the banks of the
Ahar River of southeastern
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...
state in
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
,
lasting from 3000 to 1500 BCE, contemporary and adjacent to the
Indus Valley civilization
The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation, was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form from 2600 BCE ...
. Situated along the
Banas and
Berach Rivers, as well as the Ahar River, the Ahar–Banas people were exploiting the copper ores of the
Aravalli Range
The Aravalli Range (also spelled ''Aravali'') is a mountain range in North India, Northern-Western India, running approximately in a south-west direction, starting near Delhi, passing through southern Haryana and Rajasthan, and ending in Ahme ...
to make
axes
Axes, plural of ''axe'' and of ''axis'', may refer to
* ''Axes'' (album), a 2005 rock album by the British band Electrelane
* a possibly still empty plot (graphics)
See also
* Axis (disambiguation)
An axis (: axes) may refer to:
Mathematics ...
and other artefacts. They were sustained on a number of
crops
A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. In other words, a crop is a plant or plant product that is grown for a specific purpose such as food, fibre, or fuel.
When plants of the same species a ...
, including
wheat
Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...
and
barley
Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...
.
Geographical extent
More than 90 sites of the Ahar culture 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
Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...
state. In Rajasthan, most of the sites are located in
Udaipur
Udaipur (Hindi: , ) (ISO 15919: ''Udayapura'') is a city in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, about south of the state capital Jaipur. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Udaipur district. It is the historic capital of t ...
,
Chittorgarh,
Dungarpur,
Banswara,
Ajmer
Ajmer () is a city in the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Ajmer district and Ajmer division. It lies at the centre of Rajasthan, earning it the ...
,
Tonk and
Bhilwara districts, which include, Ahar,
Gilund, Bansen, Keli,
Balathal, Alod, Palod, Khor, Amoda, Nangauli, Champakheri, Tarawat, Fachar, Phinodra, Joera, Darauli, Gadriwas, Purani Marmi, Aguncha and Ojiyana.
In 2003 excavations at Gilund, archaeologists discovered a large cache of seal impressions dating to 2100–1700 BC. A large bin filled with more than 100 seal impressions was found by a team led by archaeologists from the
University of Pennsylvania Museum
A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...
and the
Deccan College (Pune).
The design motifs of the seals are generally quite simple, with wide-ranging parallels from various
Indus civilization
The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation, was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form from 2600 BCE ...
sites. But also, there are parallels with seals from the
Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC) in
Central Asia
Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...
and northern
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
, over 1,000 miles to the northwest.
Cache of Seal Impressions Discovered in Western India Offers Surprising New Evidence for Cultural Complexity in Little-known Ahar–Banas Culture, Circa 3000–1500 B.C.
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Pottery
Ahar-banas culture: Based on the pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...
excavated here, this site is considered as a separate archaeological culture / subculture.[The Harappan Civilisation: Its Sub-cultures]
Daily Pioneer, 10 May 2018.
Typical Ahar pottery is a Black-and-Red ware (BRW) with linear and dotted designs painted on it in white pigment and has a limited range of shapes, which include bowls, bowls-on-stands, elongated vases and globular vases. The Ahar culture also had equally distinctive brightly slipped Red Ware, a Tan ware, ceramics in Burnished Black that were incised Thin Red ware, as well as incised and otherwise decorated Gray ware fabrics.
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". This is in a way true, because this was primarily the pottery used by the inhabitants of Ahar for drinking and eating.
List of sites
* Balathal
* Gilund
* Ojiyana
See also
* Malwa culture
* Jorwe culture
* Pottery in the Indian subcontinent
Notes
References
*Jane McIntosh, ''The ancient Indus Valley: new perspectives'', ABC-CLIO, 2008, , 77f.
*
External links
*Rohit Parihar
Piecing the Ahar puzzle.
Excavation of sites from the 4,500-year-old Ahar culture provide clues to the link between the Harappans and their predecessors. 12 March 2001 indiatoday.intoday.in
Cache of Seal Impressions Discovered in Western India Offers Surprising New Evidence for Cultural Complexity in Little-known Ahar–Banas Culture, Circa 3000–1500 B.C.
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahar-Banas culture
Chalcolithic cultures of Asia
Archaeological cultures of South Asia
Archaeological cultures in India
Archaeological sites in Rajasthan