Knowledge of the prehistory of South Asia in the third and second millennia BC has been dominated by the Indus civilisation since the 1930s. In this volume, scholars will find a much-needed new perspective on an early culture that existed on the margins of the Indus alluvial plain. The site of Gilund lies among a cluster of small-scale sites that are recognised by a material culture based largely on shared ceramic styles and referred to as the Ahar-Banas Complex in south-eastern Rajasthan. In this volume, Vasant Sinde, Teresa Raczek and Gregory Possehl present convincing evidence with which to consider Gilund as a major centre in the midst of a culture of agro-pastoralists and artisans living at both seasonal and permanent settlements. The site was occupied in two major periods: the Chalcolithic (3200–1700 BC) and the Early Historic (third century BC to the Kushan period).
In spite of Gilund's large size (22ha), social complexity, widespread economic interaction and a landscape rich in natural resources, Shinde et al. categorise the site as an example of ‘Early Social Complexity’ rather than ‘urbanism’. It is, in fact, the largest known Ahar-Banas site and includes mud-brick structures in the form of a small segment of a circumference wall and parallel-wall complex. Along with other storage facilities, the latter may have been ‘communally based.’ The presence of multiple workshops devoted to a variety of crafts, some of which were produced for external trade and others for consumption within Gilund itself, further demonstrates the social and economic variability within the settlement. This social variability is confirmed by other aspects of the site plan, such as domestic structures that were built using many different construction techniques including mud brick, as well as stone and wattle and daub; some households were larger than others and featured storage pits.
The artefacts and ecofacts presented in Chapters 6–11 support the suggestion that Gilund served as a regional centre engaged in extensive trade networks and was socially and economically complex. Chapters 6 and 7 by Shweta Sinha Deshpande and Lorena Giorgia present the Chalcolithic ceramics. This material is categorised as Early, Middle and Late, allowing ceramic continuity and change to be identified through the sequence. The majority are culturally related to the Ahar ceramic assemblages, although their coarser fabrics suggest that they were locally produced. They include utilitarian (storage and cooking) wares and finer, well-levigated wares, referred to as ‘deluxe’ pottery. Examples of simple graffiti (possibly potters’ marks) are found on a few sherds, along with a single stamped impression on a jar rim. The ceramics are of independent origin and not derived from Harappan traditions; indeed, the ceramic connections to the Indus are sparse, although a number of non-local ceramics clearly attest to interaction beyond the immediate region.
Chapter 8 by Julie Hanlon presents the small finds including terracotta objects. The latter include a large number of personal ornaments, toys or games, lamps, slingballs (some also of stone), votive or ritual objects, pyrotechnological tools (moulds, crucibles, dabbers and stoppers), and a rich assemblage of animal figurines, including humped cattle. Other small finds include domestic grindstones and polishing stones for craft working. There also are objects produced from metal and shell.
Among the most spectacular finds at Gilund are 100 seals and seal impressions, discussed in Chapter 9 by Marta Ameri. This collection is similar to those from other Ahar-Banas sites, but represents the largest corpus discovered thus far. The seal impressions were recovered from a pit and bin associated with the parallel-wall structure and are stratigraphically dated to c. 2500–2000 BC. In addition, there are seal amulets and seals from habitation areas at the top of the site mound, although based on two radiocarbon dates of 1630–1440 and 1690–1510 BC (two standard deviations), the seals and seal amulets are from later contexts. Together, this evidence indicates that seals were in use at Gilund for a considerable period of time and suggests that the sealing practices well known from Central Asia and south-eastern Iran extended deep into India.
Among the most ubiquitous finds at Gilund is the lithic material that extends throughout the third and second millennia. Chapter 10 by Teresa Raczek provides an extensive account of the lithic spatial distributions and a sample of material that has undergone detailed analysis. The majority of tools were produced from locally available quartz. Based on a variety of factors, including the high ratios of complete to broken flakes and blades, she describes the production technology as “informal”. Such technological strategies are not uncommon among sedentary societies and especially those in which large quantities of poor-quality raw materials such as quartz are used. With little training, most of the people at Gilund likely produced their own stone tools and were not specialists.
The only ecofacts covered in the volume are found in Chapter 11, where Matthew Landt presents a preliminary account of a small sample of bone and shell. A species inventory of the faunal assemblage for both the Chalcolithic and the Early Historic includes domesticated (e.g. water buffalo and humped cattle) and wild species (small and large mammals). The fauna listed are typical of South Asian assemblages.
One of the earlier chapters in the volume, Chapter 4 by Praveena Gullapalli and Peter Johansen, is devoted to the Early Historic periods: Sunga-Kushan of the second century BC to third century AD. As in the chapters on the Chalcolithic, the authors break down their material into occupational phases based on stratigraphic and architectural features such as floors, walls and pits. Yet there is a gap between the Ahar-Banas and the Early Historic levels, and the architectural and other features of the two periods differ. The Early Historic period includes stone-walled structures but, overall, deposits are less substantial than the Chalcolithic ones and the site probably did not reprise the administrative functions of earlier periods.
This review has barely scratched the surface of the richness of the materials and interpretations presented by the Gilund team. Comprised of seasoned excavators, with a deep commitment to the archaeology of India, and a group of young archaeologists with specialised skills, this book stands as a benchmark for future study of the Ahar-Banas. Gregory Possehl took on Gilund as his final excavation in India after a period of 50 years of archaeological research in Pakistan and India. His contributions are numerous. He was a master cataloguer of archaeological information, which he shared with his colleagues. He loved being in the field, and with a generous spirit was always happy to engage in discussions of the day's finds. This tendency made the transition to his office at the University of Pennsylvania, where he kept some of his extensive library. Many students and colleagues remember one of the (rhetorical) questions he often asked: pointing to the books on his shelves, he would ask “What is the life of a book?”, by which he meant that it was site reports that had long-lasting value to scholarship. The Gilund monograph imparts that legacy for years to come.
