Holocene peopling and sea-level changes along the northern coast of the Arabian Sea (Pakistan)

Abstract

Surveys carried out in the provinces of Las Bela and Lower Sindh (Pakistan) have led to the discovery of many sites with knapped stone artefacts associated with mangrove and sea shells. The most important group has been discovered along the ancient shores of Lake Siranda (Balochistan) and on the terraces that rise from the Indus Plain in Lower Sindh. Fifty-five radiocarbon dates from the Siranda Lake sites have shown that the lagoon was settled between the last two centuries of the 8th and the end of the 5th millennium uncal BP. This chronology finds confirmation in Lower Sindh. Since the beginning of the Holocene, the coastal zone has been affected by dramatic events among which are sea-level rise, tectonic activity, and the advance of the Indus Delta. The present landscape began to shape around the end of the Bronze Age, when arid climatic conditions established and the Indus Civilisation declined.