Artefacts such as perforated jars, shell bangles, terracotta beads, shells and the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli, different types of pottery and two hearths have been found during excavation under way at Pachamta, a village 100 km from Udaipur in Rajasthan.
Pachamta belongs to the Ahar-Banas culture in the Mewar region, which was contemporaneous with the early and mature Harappan culture. The Ahar culture, datable to 3,000-1,700 BCE, was chalcolithic (the Bronze Age), and its people had trade links with the Harappans.
Prabodh Shirvalkar of the Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, a deemed-to-be university in Pune; Lalit Pandey of Rajasthan Vidyapeeth University, Udaipur; and Teresa P. Raczek of Kennesaw State University, U.S., are leading the excavation under a project called the Mewar Plains Archaeological Assessment.
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The National Geographic Society is funding the project. The village is close to Gilund, an important Ahar-Banas culture site.
Dr. Vasant Shinde, Vice-Chancellor and Director, Deccan College, who had earlier excavated Gilund, said: “Gilund provided important information about the transformation of life from hunting-gathering to agriculture in the Mewar region around 4,000 BCE. We found very early pottery and bricks structures at Pachamta.”