INDIGENOUS HYDRO-ENGINEERING AND SETTLEMENT NETWORKS: THE GAURBANDS OF THE RAKHSHAN-RAS KOH REGION RECONSIDERED

Abstract

Balochistan over the millennia has produced numerous pre/protohistoric cultural traditions despite its geographic adversities. The traditions that developed from here were smart enough to use every resource that was available by then. This study, however, would shed a light on a region meagre with basic resources, yet flourished hundreds of settlements on its barren landscape. The piedmonts of Ras Koh in Rakhshan territory in the northwest of Balochistan is hardly known in archaeological literature. The inhabitants of the ancient Rakhshan, possibly with the start of settlement system up until the Kulli Traditions in the mid-third millennium BCE, erected hundreds of gaurbands (gabarbands) to sustain and feed vast cultures like Kulli through terraced fields. The gaurbands are defined as stone embankments built on the flood plains and foot hills were meant to attain the seasonal downpour. These torrential waters accumulated enough silt depositions and retained moisture for months, and eventually cultivation began once water evaporated. In this connection, this study brings new data in the field where sites like Kallag-i-Kour, Mammo-e-Koh, Soren Karod, and the Jalwar Archaeological Complex, were documented in Kharan and Washuk in association with series of gaurbands.