Kashmir and Swat During Neolithic Times – A Comparative Analysis of Material Culture Between the Sites of Two Distinct Regions

Abstract

Beginning in late fourth millennium BC and continuing to the end of second millennium BC the material culture of the Neolithic period has been reported from several places in Kashmir in the past. However, more recently in a systematic survey of North West Kashmir six more sites from Baramulla District were added to the list. Systematically studying these new sites permitted some attempts to characterise settlement patterns during this period in the district, through understanding types of sites, landscape features, material culture and any evidence for interactions inside and outside Kashmir. Burzahom, Gufkral and Kanispora, (the key excavated sites of Kashmir), and several others thought to be Neolithic on the grounds of surface finds, have already provided some information about interactions during the Neolithic period in Kashmir with South Asia more closely with Pakistan. Through this paper, I aim to contextualise new interpretations in the broader region of South Asia and understand the level of interactions between Kashmir and Swat during Neolithic times. This is achieved by considering findings and results of the material culture from new sites in Baramulla as well as the previously known in the Kashmir region.