Prehistoric Pottery Treasures from Baluchistan (Pakistan)

edited by Ute Franke and Elisa Cortesi with contributions by Aurore Didier, Benjamin Mutin, Sharmila Faruqui, Rainer Schmiedchen, Muhammad Shah Bukhari, Ehjaz Elahi and Taimur Mirza (photographs).

Since the early days of research some 100 years ago, Baluchistan´s cultural heritage is known for its high quality craftsmanship and beauty. Intricate geometric patterns on clay vessels, highlighted in different colours, betray an intense aesthetic sense, hybrid creatures and magic animals allow glimpses into a world of phantasy and imagination. Unfortunately, this appeal has created an economic value, reflected by the sheer amount of vessels from illegal excavations in Baluchistan on the art market.

The outstanding collection of 804 ceramic vessels and 15 stone objects retrieved in 2005 by the Pakistani customs in the port of Karachi and saved by the government from disappearing on the international art market provides but a faint idea of what is buried in the soils of Baluchistan – and of what must already have been lost. Their provenance is mostly central and southern Baluchistan, in date they range from c. 3500 to 400 BCE. The German-Pakistani Archaeological Mission to Kalat was invited 2012 by the Department of Archaeology and Museums and the Ministry for Culture and Tourism Sindh to document and restore the objects in the National Museum of Pakistan in Karachi.