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{{Short description|Archaeological site in Pakistan}}
{{Distinguish|Naushahro}}
{{Use Pakistani English|date=June 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2025}}
{{Infobox archaeological site
| name = Nausharo
| image = Nausharo Matka.jpg
| alt =
| caption = "Naushahdu [[Matki (earthen pot)|Matka]]", a [[jar]] made around ([[2700 BC|2700]] – [[1800 BC]]) found in Nausharo
| map_type =
| map_alt =
| map_caption =
| location = [[Balochistan]], Pakistan
| coordinates =
| epochs = Mature Indus Valley civilization
| excavations = 1985–1996
| archaeologists = French team led by [[Jean-François Jarrige]]
| condition = [[Ruins]]
| ownership =
| public_access =
| map = {{mapframe|frame=yes|type=point|{{Coord||}}|text=|zoom=SWITCH:5,8,9|switch=zoomed out, zoomed mid, zoomed in}}
}}

'''Nausharo''' is an archaeological site dating back to the [[Indus Valley Civilization|Harappan]] period, located in [[Balochistan (Pakistan)|Balochistan]], Pakistan. The excavations were carried out between 1985 and 1996 by a French team of archaeologists, under the direction of [[Jean-François Jarrige]]. The other sites belonging to the same cluster are [[Mehrgarh]] and [[Pirak]].

==Nausharo excavation==
Excavations at Nausharo, 6 km from Mehrgarh, revealed a dwelling-site contemporaneous and identical to the later periods of [[Mehrgarh]]. It was occupied between 3000 and 2550 BC and again between 2550 and 1900 BC.

=== Pottery workshop ===
The discovery of a pottery workshop at Nausharo revealed fired and unfired pottery pieces and unworked clay, as well as 12 flint blades or blade fragments. The blades showed use-wear traces that indicates their usage in shaving clay while shaping pottery on a potter's wheel. The excavated blades were compared to experimentally produced replica blades used for a variety of other activities such as harvesting and processing of silica-rich plants, hide processing, and hand-held use for shaping clay; however, the use-wear traces were almost identical to the excavated blades when used with a mechanical potter's wheel in the shaping of clay pots. Also significant was the discovery of copper traces found on the platforms of two blades examined with a scanning electron microscope and X ray analysis.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Méry|first1=S|last2=Anderson|first2=P|last3=Inizan|first3=M.L.|last4=Lechavallier|first4=M|last5=Pelegrin|first5=J|title=A pottery workshop with flint tools on blades knapper with copper at Nausharo (Indus civilisation ca. 2500 BC)|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|date=2007|volume=34|issue=7|pages=1098–1116|doi=10.1016/j.jas.2006.10.002}}</ref>

==Chronology==
Mature Indus Valley Civilisation is believed to begin around 2600–2450 BC, during Mehrgarh VII period (2600 BC–2000 BC). This time period also corresponds to Nausharo I (Kot Diji phase), and Nausharo II periods.

Somewhere between 2600 BC and 2000 BC (Mehrgarh Period VII), Mehrgarh seems to have been largely abandoned in favor of Nausharo, which became fortified and quite large. Historian [[Michael Wood (historian)|Michael Wood]] suggests this abandonment took place around 2500 BCE.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wood|first1=Michael|title=In Search of the First Civilizations|date=2005|publisher=BBC Books|isbn=978-0563522669|page=257|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jTCezHSfbwMC&q=mehrgarh+abandoned+Naushahro&pg=PA55|access-date=20 May 2016}}</ref>

According to Jarrige, period I of Nausharo corresponds to Mehrgarth VII, while periods II and III were during the mature Harappan civilization.<ref>JEAN-FRANÇOIS JARRIGE (1993), The Early Architectural Traditions of Greater Indus as Seen from Mehrgarh, Baluchistan. Studies in the History of Art, Vol. 31, Symposium Papers XV: Urban Form and Meaning in South Asia: The Shaping of Cities from Prehistoric to Precolonial Times (1993), pp. 25–33. p.33</ref>

The more detailed chronology of Nausharo is usually given as follows,

* Period IA c. 2900–2800 BC
* Period IB c. 2800–2700 BC
* Period IC c. 2700–2600 BC
* Period ID c. 2600–2550 BC (transition period)
* Period IIA c. 2550–2300 BC
* Period IIB c. 2300–1900 BC
* Period III c. 1900–1800 BC

==See also==
* [[Indus Valley civilization]]
* [[List of Indus Valley Civilization sites]]
* [[List of inventions and discoveries of the Indus Valley Civilization]]
* [[Hydraulic engineering of the Indus Valley Civilization]]
* [[Mehrgarh]]
* [[Pirak]]

==Further reading==
Jarrige, Catherine; [http://www.persee.fr/articleAsPDF/arasi_0004-3958_1992_num_47_1_1330/article_arasi_0004-3958_1992_num_47_1_1330.pdf ''Une tête d'éléphant en terre cuite de Nausharo (Pakistan)'']{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} [''An elephant's head in terracotta:Nausharo (Pakistan)''] (French).

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.harappa.com/indus/74.html Cooking pots, Nausharo]
* [http://www.harappa.com/indus/22.html Toy carts, Nausharo]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061120152744/http://www.museeguimet.fr/gb/pages/page_id18573_u1l2.htm Centre for Archaeological Research Indus Balochistan]

{{coord|29.365|67.588|display=title}}
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Balochistan, Pakistan]]
[[Category:Indus Valley Civilisation sites]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Pre-Indus Valley civilisation sites]]

{{Balochistan-geo-stub}}

Nausharo - Revision history

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