Having grown up in Balochistan, I used to hear stories that there was no dearth of hidden treasures in the mountains and remotest parts of the province, and one can become rich overnight.

Mehrgarh, which cradled an ancient civilisation thousands of years ago, has suffered such monumental destruction that it’s no more distinguishable from afar.

But its sufferings cannot be blamed on treasure hunters. Two feuding Baloch tribes are responsible for the vandalism.

If a visitor dares to go to the site unaccompanied by a local guide, they won’t be able to find the place because it has lost all its distinctive features.

Although I have visited Mehrgarh twice, I was unable to locate the place when I went there recently.

The heat was almost unbearable. A popular saying sums up the misery: “O God, why did You create hell if You had already created Sibi and Dhaddar (in Kachhi district).”

Next to the long mountainous gorge of Bolan River in Balochistan’s Kachhi district, there lies the site of Mehrgarh, the oldest civilisation in the region. During my visit, I met a local who boasted how a man from his tribe bulldozed the site from dawn to dusk because the land around it belonged to a rival tribe.

Mehrgarh was excavated by French archaeologist Jean Francois-Jarriage between 1975 and 1985 with the help of the Department of Archaeology. The work resumed in the early 2000s.

Picture of neglect

However, the site reflects the provincial government’s apathy as it lies almost abandoned.

Anthropologist Ayub Baloch, who accompanied the French archaeologist, vividly remembers the shock they got after working in the area following the destruction.

“It was Feb 2005. We were heading to Mehrgarh. Seated in the car with me were Prof Jean Francois Jarriage and Mrs Jarriage.

“The couple spoke among themselves, in French, and in hushed tones. But I could see their disbelief and anguish in their facial expressions. It seemed the tragedy was beyond their comprehension,” Ayub Baloch recalled.

Balochistan boasts many archaeological sites which have not been explored as yet due to security reasons, among others. “Besides other places in the province, Mehrgarh and its adjacent areas have to be explored further in order to understand the region’s history,” says Dr Shah Mohammad Marri, a historian.

The Balochistan government’s negligence and indifference to historic places are in a class of their own. The University of Balochistan (UoB), the largest state-run varsity in the province, had been without a department of archaeology for years.

A department has been established at the UoB only this year. Imran Shabir Baloch, a teacher, has a lot to say about Mehrgarh.

“Conserving and preserving archaeological sites require a multi-disciplinary approach involving archaeologists, architects, engineers, conservators, and local communities.

“The specific strategies employed will depend on the site’s condition, historic significance, available resources, and local regulations,” Imran Baloch during a conversation in Quetta.

According to him, restoration and conservation of Mehrgarh are still possible, even though it has lost layer upon layer which could have shed light on the past.

I came across a paper by Jean-Francois Jarriage, titled “Mehrgarh Neolithic”.

“One of the major contributions of Mehrgarh is to indicate clearly the existence of a very impressive neolithic background as early as the eighth millennium BC in the north-western region of the Sub-continent.

“Being a neolithic site, the discoveries in Mehrgarh suggest it has been the earliest farming and herding society, where domestication of plants and animals took place before any other region.”

While working on this story, I learnt that the provincial government prepared a PC-1 back in 2021 outlining measures for preservation of the site. But unfortunately, the work has not yet started.

Archaeologists are free to sing praises of Mehrgarh, but its destruction at the hands of modern man deserves another chapter in the annals of history.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2023