La Protohistoire du Pakistan : Recherches pionnières des missions archéologiques françaises au Balochistan et au Sindh

Résumé En

Since 1958, the French archaeological missions supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have significantly enhanced the knowledge of the Protohistory period in Pakistan. This paper retraces the pioneering work of the 'Mission Archéologique de l'Indus' in Sindh and Balochistan, which aimed at better understanding the emergence and development of the Indus Valley civilisation. In Makran, a coastal region that has long remained on the fringes of archaeological research, studies by the Mission Archéologique Française au Makran have revealed the dynamism of a Chalcolithic and Bronze Age settlement (5th - 3rd millennia BCE) witnessing close links with the south-eastern part of the Iranian Plateau, the Indus Valley and the Omani Peninsula. Current research by the French Archaeological Mission in the Indus Basin at Chanhu-daro, in Sindh, in cooperation with the Culture, Tourism, Antiquities and Archives Department, Government of Sindh, offers a new vision of the first urban and craft developments of the Indus Civilization.