Mundigak

Vessel from Level IV

Mundigak was a large prehistoric town with an important cultural sequence from the 5th–2nd millennia BC. It was excavated by the French scholar Jean Marie Casal in the 1950s[1] The mound was nine meters tall at the time of excavation.[2]

Pottery and other artifacts of the later 3rd millennium BC, when this became a major urban center, indicate interaction with Turkmenistan, Baluchistan, and the Early Harappan Indus region.

Mundigak flourished during the culture of Helmand Basin (Seistan), also known as Helmand culture (Helmand Province).[3]

With an area of 21 hectares (52 acres), this was the second largest centre of Helmand Culture, the first being Shahr-i-Sokhta which was as large as 150 acres (60 hectares), by 2400 BCE.[4]

Bampur, in Iran, is a closely related site.

Around 2200 BCE, both Shahr-i-Sokhta and Mundigak started declining, with considerable shrinkage in area and with brief occupation at later dates.[5]

Remains of the town of level IV.1

Plan of temple

Remains of a "palace" is found in one mound. Another mound revealed a large "temple", indicating urban life.[6]

An extensive series of mounds marks the site of a town. The chronology is still uncertain, but it has tentatively been divided into seven main periods with many subdivisions. The main period seems to be Period IV, which saw a massive rebuilding after an earlier destruction. Both the "palace" and the "temple" and possibly the city walls as well date from this period. Another destruction layer and a marked ceramic change indicate a period of abandonment between IV and V Periods, followed by a period of further building and construction of new monuments, including the "massive monument". Periods VI and VII saw only periodic occupation on a small scale.

Mundigak and Deh Morasi provide early developments in what may be now called religious activities. A white-washed, pillared large building with its door way outlined with red, dating around 3,000 BC is related to religious activities.[2]

Early houses were constructed at Mundigak (during period I 4) in the form of tiny oblong cells with pressed earth walls. In the following layer (I 5) larger houses with square and oblong houses with sun dried bricks were found. Ovens for cooking and wells for water storage were found during later phases.[8]

Mother goddess figures from Mundigak (left) and Deh Morasi Ghundai (right). 3rd millennium BC.

Apart from pottery and painted pottery, other artifacts found include crude humped bulls, human figures, shaft hole axes, adzes of bronze and terracotta drains.[6] Painting on pots include pictures of sacred fig leaves (ficus religiosa) and a tiger-like animal.[9] Several stone button seals were also found at Mundigak.[10] Disk Beads and faience barrel beads,[11] copper stamp seals, copper pins with spiral loops were also found.[12]

The female-looking human figurines (5 cm (2.0 in) in height) found at Mundigak are very similar to such figurines found at another archeological site in Afghanistan, Deh Morasi Ghundai (circa 3000 BC).[2]

Collection:

• BIAS and DAFA – sherds;
• Kabul Museum and Musée Guimet – excavated material.

Field work:

• 1951-58 Casal, MAI– excavations.[13]

• List of Indus Valley Civilization sites
• List of inventions and discoveries of the Indus Valley Civilization
• Hydraulic engineering of the Indus Valley Civilization
• Mehrgarh — archaeological site in Bolan near Quetta
• Sheri Khan Tarakai — archaeological site in Bannu
• Hadda — archaeological site in Nangarhar Province
• Surkh Kotal — archaeological site in Baghlan Province
• Mes Aynak — archaeological site in Logar Province

• Archaeological Gazetter of Afghanistan / Catalogue des Sites Archéologiques D'Afghanistan, Volume I, Warwick Ball, Editions Recherche sur les civilisations, Paris, 1982.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Category:Mundigak.

• Mundigak Objects at the Guimet, Paris