It is a distinct geographical area, with the Kirthar rampart paralleled on the east by the Lakhi range and outliers and bordered on the east and south-east by Kohistan where low, parallel ridges define wide open valleys with thermal springs and rivers. One of the well-known sites of this geographical sector, Amri, is located at the edge of the cultivated alluvium within 2 km of the right bank of the Indus, but most of the related sites are located around thermal springs and take advantage of the water coming down the innumerable minor water-courses of the region. Good agricultural soils are, however, said to be limited, but large grazing areas and plentiful year-round supply of water make it suitable for large-scale pastoralism as well. Period I at Amri is divided into four phases on the basis of ceramic changes. but the basic character of ‘Amri ware’—a handmade red/beige pottery with geometrical designs painted with a thick brush in black, often with red fillings—remains the same, although with an increasing proportion of wheelmade specimens. Potter’s graffiti are common. The general artefact assemblage does not extend beyond a little copper, shell and terracotta bangles, sling stone and parallel-sided blades. Mud-brick houses occur, but along with them there are traces of cellular mud-brick formations, possibly meant to support superstructures. Cattle, sheep, goat and donkey have been found. Deer account for the wild fauna. Fairservis infers that a trench at the western edge of the Amri IA settlement was perhaps a canal. After an ‘intermediate’ period, this period was followed at the site by the Indus civilization. The Amri pattern has been repeated at Ghazi Shah which has yielded potter’s graffiti, beads of copper, lapis, shell, etc. and chert drills to make the stone beads. A distinguishing feature of the sites in Kohistan is ‘an artificially built conically shaped hill’, rising up to 25 m above the level of the surrounding plain. They vary in circumference and possess encircling terraced walls on the slopes, signs of a stairway or ramp on the southern side and traces of domestic buildings on stone foundations below. This settlement type has been described as acro-sanctuim/lower towns. The calibrated range of Ghazi Shah dates is c. 3400–c. 2800 BC and thus the beginning of the Amri-type occupation may safely be put around the middle of the fourth millennium BC.
Fig. 15 Amri Pottery (Asthana 1985)