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May 5, 2002
EXCERPTS: Before history began
Syed Shakir Ali Shah probes into Sindh of the pre-historic ages
THE story of the aborigines of Sindh is lost in the mist of antiquity. No information regarding them can be produced from any literature. But relying on indirect sources, we may say that they were nomadic hunters of the Stone Age. In the Mesolithic and in the early Neolithic periods agriculture was a part of the life of the people. But fish must have supplemented their diet. They were probably driven away from the region at the end of the Stone Age by the Indus Valley people. Thereafter they lived in the neighbouring hills and forests and became ancestors of the jungle tribes of the subcontinent, namely, the Bhils, Veddos, etc.
Thus they led the earliest exodus of the human race from their homes. Dr Lambrick is of the opinion that the Mohanas or the fisherman are also from the aboriginal races of Sindh. According to his theory the Mohanas are ethnologically the descendants of the people of Moenjodaro. However, the inhabitants of that city were related to several racial types.
The traces of the earliest human activities in Sindh have been discovered at a number of hill plateaus. Various stages of their technological development are marked by the stone tools that have been excavated. These can be traced back to the upper palaeolithic, mesolithic and neolithic ages of Pakistan. Until the neolithic age (sixth millennium BC), permanent and open air human settlements did not exist other than what seem to be camping sites of nomads and hunters. The beginning of a sedentary way of life becomes discernible sometimes during the fourth millennium. This marked a major cultural change which generated a series of socio-economic developments giving rise to the Indus civilization. The early tradition of stone tool technology continued even during the Bronze Age. The technique of manufacturing tools, however, underwent changes and refinement to conform to the changing lifestyle of the people. In this context the Rohri hills, the largest flint knapping workshop, reflect successive stages of stone tools manufacture.
The people from the prehistoric period have left a few interesting archaeological relics in Sindh. Some prehistoric stone relics, such as caves, dolmens, cairns, stone circles have been found near Sukkur and Rohri. Recently approximately 1136 stone tool workshops and camp sites have been newly recorded by the joint Pakistan-Italian archaeological mission in Sukkur and Khairpur districts on the Rohri hill ranges which are also a part of the prehistory of Sindh. Other relics which have been found are a few cairns and cromlechs near Karachi, the Hub valley and Taluka Thano Bula Khan, caves in the Kehru valley, stone enclosures called “Kaffir Kot” on the right bank of the Gugger river, and neolithic altars.
Dr Paolo Biagi and Dr Nilofer Shaikh and their team made an excellent collection of stone implements, such as small scrapers, blades, axes, chisels, cores, pebble-stone tools and microlithic stone tool pottery from the different parts of the surveyed area.
Mr G.E.L. Carter also collected the stone implements from Tando Ghulam Hussain, Ganjo Takar and Guja Takar in Hyderabad district, Karri plateau and Veji Bathi in Sehwan, Ran Pattani in Karachi district, Jhang Shahi hilltop, Jhangri Makar near Kotri, Tharro hills near Gujjo in Thatta district, Budka Takar and Bolari hilltop in Hyderabad district. Mr Carter is of the opinion that some of these relics belong to the microlithic age and others to the neolithic age, ranging from 8000 BC to 6000 BC. These stone tools show that they were manufactured at certain central prehistoric workshops such as the Rohri hills flint tools production centre. Stone implements of the neolithic period are also reported from Kot Diji, Naro Waro Daro, Tharo, etc. Amri (which may or may not be from an earlier phase of the Indus civilization) and a little later the Indus valley civilization itself represent the early stages in the evolution of human society in Sindh.
Excerpts from
Nawabshah: the lost glory
By Syed Shakir Ali Shah
Indus Publications, 25 Fareed Chambers, Abdullah Haroon Road, Karachi. Tel: 021-5660242
ISBN 969-529-000-0 206pp. Rs1395
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