Written by: Sirat Gohar Daudpoto
Posted on: November 25, 2025 | 
| 中文
A view of Rohri hills, Sindh.
The archaeology of Pakistan spans approximately two and half million years of human history, from stone age till the onset of modernity. It is divided into prehistoric, protohistoric and historic periods. This division of ancient past is archaeological, as created on the basis of material remains specific to these eras. Prehistoric archaeology studies bygones of stone ages, and its temporal bracket stretches from about 2.5 million years to 2900 BC, from the use of implements made of stone, wood or bone by the ancestors of humans to the development of settlements and domestication of crops and animal. Protohistoric archaeology, on the other hand, investigates the Indus civilization ant its contemporary cultures and the early settlements in the north that existed in 2800–700 BC. And historical archaeology focuses on the remains belonging to the period between the 6th century BC and the 15th century AD.
Paleolithic tools from Anderi in Dir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Drawings by Lutf-ur-Rahman.
First to the prehistoric archaeology. Prehistoric sites belonging to the paleolithic, mesolithic and neolithic phases are located in different parts of the country. Explorations at these sites have yielded abundant evidence in the form of stone tools, fossils, symbols ruins and so many other things. In Pakistan, the palaeolithic and mesolithic traditions are best represented in the archaeological record of Pothohar, Rohri, Swat, Dir and Las Bela where utensils dated from circa 2.5 million years to the 7th millennium BC are found. However, fossils of jaws and teeth of Homo Sapein Ramapithecus, who is considered common ancestors of all species of humankind, discovered in the Pothohar region are believed to be around 8–14 million years old. In addition, a large number of rock carvings and cupules found in mountains in the northern and southern parts of Pakistan may also be attributed to this era. In the rock art of Pakistan prehistoric carvings mainly depict animals, hunting scenes and anthropic figures.
Hand-axe found at Site PS-7 in the Pinjor zone in Pakistan. Drawing by Dr. Muhammad Salim.
The Palaeolithic epoch is mainly characterized by the use of stone implements made in different sizes and weights. It is an oldest and longest period of human antiquity, covering a period from approximately 2.5 million years before present to 12,000 BC. It is divided into three subdivisions: lower palaeolithic, middle palaeolithic and upper palaeolithic. Earliest stone tools, which include pebbles, choppers, scrapers, flakes, hand-axes and cores, so far discovered in Pakistan come from the lower or early paleolithic era sites at Soan, Rohri hills and Kandak. They were made 1.3–2.5 million years ago during the Pleistocene era at different stone-tool industries. Of which Soan and Rohri hills are well-documented stone age traditions in Pakistan.
Two million years old pebble tool from the Soan valley in Pothohar. Photo by Dr. Mehmood-ul-Hassan.
Pakistan’s oldest stone implements are split quartzite pebbles that are more than two million years old. They were found in the boulder conglomerate of the second glaciation in the Soan valley in Pothothar. Similar pebbles tools were also discovered from the Pinjor zone in Pakistan. Technologically, these implements are of pre-Soan type, as they do not correspond to the dominant features of Soan Culture. The Soan predominantly was a chopper-tool culture with pebble scrapers and choppers, flakes and hand-axes being its type implements.
Stone cleaver discovered at Site PS-53 in the Pinjor zone in Pakistan. Drawing by Dr. Muhammad Salim
On the other hand, a distinct hand-axe tradition, dating from 1.7 million years to 69,000 years before present, is recorded at Soan and the Rohri hills. It is called Acheulean, because its tools are similar to biface axes and ovoid implements of France’s Acheulean culture of the early Palaeolithic era. It is to be added here that Acheulean-type tools, and of the Soan tradition, are also found at Goratai-kandao and Daman in the Kandak valley in Swat. This identification of local Acheulean-type culture in Pakistan is of immense significance, as it connects Pakistan (and South Asia) with vast array of such prehistoric complexes across the continents, from France and Spain through Africa and Middle East to South Asia and then to East Asia. But it is not known whether this hand-axe tradition was a local development or a dispersal from other parts of the world.
Stone tools found in the Rohri hills now housed at the teaching museum of the Department of Archaeology, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur.
The last two sequences, i.e. middle paleolithic and upper paleolithic, of this epoch range between 80,000 and 12,000 years. They are observed at the Rohri hills and in the Swat and Dir valleys. Particularly at Anderi in Dir, the middle and upper paleolithic objects are tentatively assigned to 45,000 and 30,000 years before present respectively. As compared to the tools of early paleolithic, the stone implements of this period are more advance and more in variety.
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