Gilund

The 20-hectare Ahar-Banas Chalcolithic settlement at Gilund in Rajsamand district, Rajasthan, 95 kilometres from Udaipur — one of the largest Ahar-Banas settlements, excavated by B.B. Lal in 1959-60 and by the Deccan College-University of Pennsylvania joint team under Vasant Shinde and Gregory Possehl from 1999 to 2005. The excavations documented a specialised craft-production centre with evidence of large-scale ceramic manufacture, copper working, bead and shell craft, and long-distance exchange networks reaching into Harappan Gujarat. The 2003 discovery of a Harappan-style seal with Harappan script-like markings suggests either direct Harappan contact or a local Harappan-influenced writing tradition. The 300-plus storage jar seals (bullae) with impressed designs document a complex administrative or commercial accounting system. Gilund operated c.3000-1700 BCE.