Chert

Chert related objects and activities related to the ancient Indus Civilization.

Pit 862

The excavation of quarry-pit 862 underway with Drs. F. Negrino (archaeologist), C. Ottomano (paleopedologist) and E. Starnini (archaeologist).

Quarry Pit 862

Excavation of site 862 revealed that the pit had been used by Harappan miners down to a depth of 1.30 meters where the flint vein was encountered. From this pit, a radiocarbon reading of a small charcoal fragment indicated that the mine was exploited

Excavations

Four Harappan workshops were excavated, including site 480 from which more than 35,000 artefacts were collected. Most of them were debitage flakes, but also included narrow blades, bladelets and accurately made bullet cores.

Bladelets

Some of the narrow bladelets discarded by Harappan flint-knappers are only 2-3 millimeters wide. Bladelets were later retouched into insturments in the Indus Valley cities. They were often shaped into microdrills for piercing stone and shell beads.

Kot Diji

Southwest of the hills lies the famous pre-Harappan and Harappan site of Kot Diji. From the surface of the site, it is very easy to collect flint artefacts obtained from Rohri Hills raw material. The quarry pits investigated so far belong to the

Pages