Forum Pakistan

Amri
A pre-Harappan or early *Harappan archaeological culture (first half of the 3rd millennium Be), in the *Indus Valley in *Sindh, Pakistan. It gets its name from a multi-level settlement near the village of Amri discovered in 1929 by N. Majumdar on the Indus western bank opposite *Chanhu-Daro. In 1959, a French archaeologist J.M. Casal carried on the diggings. He tudied two tells: Tell A (12 metres high) and Tell B (4 metres high), and identified five cultural periods (I-V): I A-D-culture A; II A-B-intermediate mixed level; III A-C-Harappan cultural level; III related to Jhukar culture; IV related to * Jhangar culture; V-historical time. In culture A, dwellings were registered in I B-D period. Rectangular houses (16 x 3 m) were divided into several rooms. The modelled and wheeled pottery had black and red painting on it arranged into geometric patterns and these colours and motifs characterize Arnri ware. Implements were made of bone, copper and stone; shell bangles and terra cotta figurines were also found. Faunal remains include bones of domesticated (oxen and goat) and wild (gazelle) animals.

Twenty-odd settlements with A pottery were discovered. The characteristic Amri style can sometimes be found in Balochistan; there are analogies with the *Kot Diji culture. Pakistani archaeologists are now making progress in studying A.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.M. Casal, 'Fouilles d'Amri', Vols. 1, 2, Paris, i961; D.P. Agrawal, 'The Archaeology of India', Scandinavian institute of Asian Studies monograph series, No. 46, London, 1982; M.R. Mughal, 'The Early Harappan Period in the Greater Indus Valley and Northern Balochistan', A. Arbor, 1970.