Holocene peopling and sea-level changes along the northern coast of the Arabian Sea (Pakistan)

Abstract

Surveys carried out in the provinces of Las Bela and Lower Sindh (Pakistan) have led to the discovery of many concentrations of knapped stone artefacts associated with mangrove and sea shells. The most important group of sites has been discovered along the shores of Lake Siranda (Balochistan) and on the limestone terraces that rise from the Indus Plain in Lower Sindh. The radiocarbon dates obtained from the Lake Siranda sites have shown that the ancient lagoon was seasonally settled between the last two centuries of the 8th and the end of the 5th millennium uncal BP that is from the beginning of the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. Although more research is needed, we now know the important role played by the coastal zones of Las Bela and Lower Sindh in the Holocene archaeology of the Arabian Sea, the only region of the northern coastline that has provided evidence of Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement. The Neolithic knapped stones discovered during the surveys consist of bladelet artefacts and geometric microliths made from local cherts, while the Chalcolithic Amri Culture implements are obtained from exotic flint. Since the beginning of the Holocene the coastal zone has been affected by dramatic events among which are sea-level rise, tectonic activity, subsidence, and the advance of the Indus Delta. The present landscape shaped around the end of the Bronze Age, when arid conditions established and the Indus Civilisation declined. Unfortunately many of the coastal sites are in danger or have been destroyed by industrial development.