New radiocarbon dates of human tooth enamel reveal a late appearance of farming life in the indus Valley

Abstract

The domestication of plants and animals is believed to have commenced around 9500 BCE in the Near East. If the timing of the westward diffusion of the Neolithic transition is well documented, the precise mechanisms by which agriculture emerged between the Iranian Plateau, Central Asia, and South Asia remain unclear. In this context, the archaeological site of Mehrgarh (Pakistan) represents an essential point of reference. It is the sole site in the region where Neolithic occupation deposits have been extensively excavated, thereby providing the most essential insights into this period in northwest South Asia. Nevertheless, the accurate dating of these deposits remains a matter of contention, with implications for the most critical question of the emergence of agricultural life in the regions between the Fertile Crescent in the west and the Indus Valley in the east. Bayesian modelling of new radiocarbon dates performed on human tooth enamel from 23 Neolithic burials indicates that the aceramic Neolithic cemetery at Mehrgarh started between 5200 and 4900 BCE and lasted for a period of between two and five centuries. This result is in stark contrast with the previously proposed chronology of Neolithic Mehrgarh, which had not only suggested an early beginning around 8000 BCE but also a much longer duration of three millennia. This new, younger chronology implies that agriculture emerged in the Indus Valley as the result of a late diffusion of farmers into this region. Additionally, the data suggest that the thick Neolithic occupation deposits of Mehrgarh were formed at a faster rate than previously assumed, and that pottery production and its utilization in present-day Pakistan emerged not before the mid-fifth millennium BCE.