Question

Why do archaeologists think that many people who lived in Mehrgarh were hunters to start with and that herding became more important later?

Answer 1

Hint: Mehrgarh is a Neolithic site which is located near the Bolan pass in Pakistan. The evidence which we found here were classified on the basis of levels which suggest earlier or later material.

Complete answer: Mehrgarh is one of the important Neolithic sites, located in a fertile plain near Bolan pass which is one of the important routes into Iran. It is one of the earliest villages and it was believed that here, men and women learnt to grow wheat and barley. They rear sheep and goats for the first time. Archaeologists found evidence of many kinds of animal bones from the earliest level where they found bones of wild animals and pig and in later level bones of sheep, goat and cattle have been found.
It is seen that the earliest level is at the lower layers and the later level is at the upper layers.
These layers showed us the earlier people were Hunters because at the lower layer or level we found bones of wild animals and in later period herding became important as in the upper layer we found bones of domestic animals.
Other than animal remains, we have also found evidence of human figures and material used by them like pottery, potter wheels, bronze and copper vessels.

Note: The lower and upper layers are often referred to as level which suggests earlier or later periods respectively. Remains of the square and rectangular house have also been found where each house had three or four compartments which may have been used for storage.