Gilund
Gilund Ahar-Banas Site · Modiya Magari
Ahar-Banas Chalcolithic 3000–1700 BCE (Early/Mature/Late)·Ahar-Banas (Mewar Chalcolithic) → contact Harappan·🇮🇳 Rajasthan, Rajsamand District, Railmagra Tehsil, Banas Basin (Mewar Plain between Aravalli and Deccan Plateau), India
About
About Gilund
S. C. Gregory and L. Acosta. Gilund is the type-site for the easternmost Chalcolithic Ahar culture (3000–1500 BCE) and yielded India's largest Ahar building complex: a 36×25 m burnt mudbrick warehouse with 100+ storage bins, massive terracotta seal impressions (unicorn and geometric), copper furnaces and lapis lazuli workshops linking Mewar copper belt to Harappan trade. Stratigraphy shows Early Ahar (3000–2600) → Mature Ahar-Banas with Harappan contacts (2600–2000) → Late Ahar (2000–1700) after burning event.
Why it mattersLargest Ahar-Banas site — easternmost Chalcolithic copper town type-site; warehouse proves centralized storage before Harappan urbanism; sealings show Mewar–Harappan exchange without Harappan colonization.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why warehouse burnt c.2000 BCE — invasion or ritual?
- 02Lapis source: Harappan via Rajasthan or direct Afghan?
Theories
- 01Ahar as autonomous Mewar copper civilization contemporary with Early Harappan (Shaffer model)
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.3000 BCE Early Ahar; warehouse c.2500 BCE
- Period
- Ahar-Banas Chalcolithic 3000–1700 BCE (Early/Mature/Late)
- Culture
- Ahar-Banas (Mewar Chalcolithic) → contact Harappan
- Builders
- Ahar farmers and copper-smiths (Mewar Chalcolithic)
- Purpose
- Copper-processing and grain-storage town controlling Banas–Berach trade and Mewar copper
- Abandoned
- c.1700 BCE (post-burn abandonment)
- Rediscovered
- 1959–60 first noted; 1999–2005 Shinde–UPenn excavation
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.3000–2600 BCE
Early Ahar village with handmade black-and-red ware and chalcedony blades
c.2500–2000 BCE
Mature phase: burnt brick warehouse, 100 bins, terracotta sealings, copper smelting, lapis trade
1999–2005
UPenn–Deccan College excavations define Ahar-Banas chronology; 2010 seal study
On the ground
Structures & features
25.0327° N · 74.2637° E · 420 m · 2 mapped features
Eastern Mound (Modiya Magari) Warehousing Complex
warehouseBurnt mudbrick warehouse 36×25 m with 100 storage bins and seal impressions
25.0330° N · 74.2639° EWestern Mound Copper Workshop Area
workshopCopper furnace cluster and lapis-burning workshop on western mound terrace
25.0324° N · 74.2634° E