French, Italian, and German researchers (from the Sorbonne University, National Museum of Natural History, the French National Centre for Scientific Research, the University of Padua, Sapienza University of Rome, and Goethe University in Frankfurt) have published a study that redefines the chronology of the beginning of agriculture in the Indus Valley, establishing it at around 7000 years ago.

The findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, are based on a new radiocarbon dating of tooth enamel from individuals from 23 Neolithic burials found at Mehrgarh, an important archaeological site in Pakistan. This new dating shows that the beginning of the Neolithic - marking the introduction of agriculture and the domestication of plants and animals, a crucial step in human history - in the area is much more recent (by about 2,800 years) than previously believed.

While the transition to agriculture in the Near East and Europe is well documented, the details of how and when agriculture spread eastwards in Iran, Central Asia and South Asia have remained unclear.

'Mehrgarh is the only site in the Indus Valley with extensive evidence of Neolithic settlements, albeit without pottery, making it a key site for understanding the early history of agriculture in this region,' says Luca Bondioli, a lecturer at the University of Padua and co-author of the study. 'Previously, researchers believed that the Neolithic period at Mehrgarh began around 10 000 years ago and lasted several thousand years. However, new radiocarbon dates suggest that the Neolithic at Mehrgarh actually began between 7200 and 6900 years ago and lasted only a few centuries, two to five at most'.

This new chronology challenges previous theories and suggests that agriculture in the Indus Valley was probably the result of the late arrival of farmers from neighbouring regions. The data also suggest that the thick deposits of Neolithic occupation at Mehrgarh were formed at a faster rate than previously assumed. Finally, they also suggest that the development of pottery and its use in this area began much later than previously thought, no earlier than about 6500 years ago.

Massimo Vidale, lecturer of Prehistory of the Near and Middle East at the University of Padua and one of the authors of the article, explains: 'This result is surprising and confirms what was already being guessed on the basis of recent research carried out in Iran. The paradigm shift in the ancient history of the Indian subcontinent is very strong, and many of the historical reconstructions hitherto considered to be established are to be completely revised thanks to this research'.

‘Until now, the geological complexity and strong diagenesis operating at the Mehrgarh site had prevented certain dating of the individuals and the cemetery context. Today, at last, dating has been possible thanks to the most advanced carbon 14 dating techniques available at the BioArch laboratory of the CNRS in Paris, directed by Antoine Zazzo’, says Alfredo Coppa, former lecturer of Anthropology at Sapienza University of Rome.

‘Finally, our research on the high-resolution reconstruction of the mobility and childhood life of the inhabitants of Mehrgarh through the histological and biogeochemical analysis of people’s teeth has a definite place in the past,’ explains Alessia Nava, head of the ERC MOTHERS project active at the Department of Oral and Maxillo-facial Sciences at Sapienza University of Rome, ‘and will provide a new and innovative insight into the life of the inhabitants of this very interesting prehistoric community’.

Moreover, from a more general perspective, this study provides new insights into the timing and spread of agriculture in South Asia, reshaping our understanding of how early agricultural practices developed in the Indus Valley.

References

Mutin, B., Zazzo, A., Bondioli, L., Coppa, A., Garbé, L., Müller, W., Nava, A., Quivron, G., Tombret, O., Vidale, M., Didier A., “New radiocarbon dates of human tooth enamel reveal a late appearance of farming life in the Indus Valley”, Scientific Reports, DOI 10.1038/s41598-025-92621-5.

Further Information

Alessia Nava

Department of Oral and Maxillo-facial Sciences

alessia.nava@uniroma1.it