By: RASHID AHMAD RATHER, MALIK TAZIM NAZIR
This paper proposes a theoretical periodization of Kashmir’s prehistoric cultural development—from the aceramic Neolithic to the Early Historical era—based solely on published archaeological data. By examining architecture, subsistence, technology, mortuary practices, and material culture, it clarifies the diagnostic traits that define each phase. The aceramic Neolithic, best represented at Burzahom, features pit dwellings adapted to severe winters, a refined lithic and bone industry, mixed foraging–farming subsistence, and practices such as cranial trepanation. The ceramic Neolithic introduces pottery while retaining earlier technologies, expands burial customs, and shows growing craft specialization and long-distance interaction. The Megalithic period marks a major transformation, with monumental stone structures, the spread of copper metallurgy, emerging social hierarchy, and settlement expansion into new ecological zones. The Early Historical phase, linked to the Kushans and Buddhism, represents the final occupation at Burzahom, combining prehistoric continuities with new institutions and technologies. Rather than a linear evolution, Kashmir’s sequence reflects dynamic interplay between local innovation and regional connectivity, environmental adaptation and cultural choice. Period boundaries are best understood as transitional zones where older and newer practices coexisted, offering broader insights into cultural change and continuity.
