RAS question
Mehrgarh, one of the earliest Neolithic settlements in South Asia, is located in:
Correct answer: (C) Balochistan (Pakistan).
Mehrgarh, one of South Asia's earliest Neolithic settlements, is located in Balochistan, Pakistan.
Explanation
Mehrgarh is placed in the Kachi plain of Balochistan, Pakistan, and that location is the core of the question. It dates to about 7000 BCE, while Encyclopaedia Britannica describes the site as part of the Neolithic period and places it approximately within 8000 to 5000 BCE. Its importance lies in the evidence of a settled food-producing economy: wheat and barley cultivation, cattle domestication, and wider animal husbandry are all associated with the site. That is why the answer is not simply a modern political location; Mehrgarh is a key marker for early farming and domestication in South Asia, discovered by Jean-Francois Jarrige.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Gujarat is wrong because Mehrgarh is located in Balochistan, Pakistan, not in India.
- (B) Rajasthan is wrong because the site is identified with the Kachi plain of Balochistan, Pakistan, rather than any Rajasthan location.
- (D) Sindh is wrong because the location is Balochistan, Pakistan; choosing Sindh confuses one Pakistani region with the specific province named for Mehrgarh.
Concept
This tests Ancient Indian History through the location and significance of a major Neolithic site. It recurs in RAS because site-location pairs such as Mehrgarh and Balochistan connect archaeology with early agriculture and domestication.