Nausharo
Naushahro · Nausharo mound
Kot Diji I (3000–2700) → Transitional II (2700–2500) → Harappan III (2500–2100 BCE)·Kot Diji / Early Harappan → Mature Harappan (Bolan culture)·🇵🇰 Balochistan, Sibi District, near Mehrgarh, 6 km south of Mehrgarh on Bolan River terrace, Pakistan
About
About Nausharo
Early Harappan → Mature Harappan village (c.3000–2100 BCE) 6 km south of Mehrgarh on the Bolan terrace, Balochistan — 5 ha mound excavated 1985–96 by J-F. Jarrige (French Archaeological Mission). Nausharo Period I (3000–2700 BCE) is Kot Diji–related with wheel-made painted pottery and early Indus seals; Period III yields massive burnt granary, female figurines with elaborate headdresses, and early Harappan fired-brick architecture documenting the Mehrgarh → Nausharo → Harappan trajectory in one valley. Key for Balochistan–Indus transition with no hiatus.
Why it mattersOnly continuous Bolan Valley sequence Mehrgarh 7000 → Nausharo 2100 BCE; proves no break between Mehrgarh Neolithic and Indus; Kot Diji–Harappan continuity in highlands.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Was granary fire deliberate or accidental?
- 02Why elaborate female figurines only here?
Theories
- 01Bolan as Indus nursery valley; climate-push to Indus plain after 2600 BCE
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 (Period I Kot Diji-related)
- Period
- Kot Diji I (3000–2700) → Transitional II (2700–2500) → Harappan III (2500–2100 BCE)
- Culture
- Kot Diji / Early Harappan → Mature Harappan (Bolan culture)
- Builders
- Mehrgarh descendants → Harappan urbanists
- Purpose
- Farming-craft village bridging Mehrgarh Neolithic to Indus urbanism
- Abandoned
- c.2100 BCE (Indus shift to plain)
- Rediscovered
- 1985–96 Jarrige French Mission
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.3000–2700 BCE
Period I Kot Diji painted ware, early seals
c.2700–2100 BCE
Harappan II–III: fired-brick granary, female figurines, burnt houses
1985–96
Jarrige stratigraphic excavation shows continuous Mehrgarh–Nausharo sequence
On the ground
Structures & features
29.2800° N · 67.6800° E · 130 m · 2 mapped features
Burnt Harappan granary
granaryFired-brick compartmented granary with burnt wheat and barley
29.2805° N · 67.6805° EKot Diji I levels
settlementEarliest painted Kot Diji ware houses at mound base
29.2795° N · 67.6795° E
Gallery