Ahar Dhulkot Mound
Dhulkot Ahar-Banas Site · Ahar Type-Site
Ahar-Banas Chalcolithic 3000–1500 BCE·Ahar-Banas Ahar ware — type-site defining culture·🇮🇳 Rajasthan, Udaipur District, Ahar village on Ahar River 3 km east of Udaipur old city, Mewar Plain, India
About
About Ahar Dhulkot Mound
Ahar Dhulkot Mound — eponymous Ahar-Banas Chalcolithic type-site (3000–1500 BCE) on Ahar River at Udaipur's eastern edge, excavated 1961–62 by H.D. Sankalia (Deccan College) and R.C. Agrawal. Dhulkot (ash mound) 11 m deposit covers 4.2 ha with five cultural periods: Ahar Period I (Black-and-Red with White Painted) → Ahar Ib (Reserved Slip) → Early Historic. Houses of wattle-and-daub, saddle querns, copper chisels, and coarse red ware prove agrarian village with copper from Aravalli Khetri. Ahar museum at mound base displays stratigraphy.
Why it mattersAhar-Banas type-site — defines White Painted Black-and-Red and Mewar Chalcolithic chronology
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Ash mound formation — ritual or domestic refuse?
Theories
- 01Ahar as independent Chalcolithic not Harappan outlier
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.3000 BCE Ahar Period I
- Period
- Ahar-Banas Chalcolithic 3000–1500 BCE
- Culture
- Ahar-Banas Ahar ware — type-site defining culture
- Builders
- Ahar-Banas villagers
- Purpose
- Type-site farming village defining Ahar ceramic and copper tradition on Mewar alluvium
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.3000 BCE
Ahar foundation with Black-and-Red I
1961–62
Sankalia excavations define Ahar culture
1980s
Ahar Museum established at mound base
On the ground
Structures & features
24.5922° N · 73.7325° E · 590 m · 2 mapped features
Dhulkot Ash Mound Summit
mound11-m ash-rich summit with White Painted Black-and-Red stratigraphy
24.5925° N · 73.7327° EAhar River Terrace Habitation
settlementWattle-and-daub house floors on Ahar river terrace west slope
24.5918° N · 73.7320° E