First Evidence of Cotton at Neolithic Mehrgarh, Pakistan: Analysis of Mineralized Fibres from a Copper Bead

doi:10.1006/jasc.2001.0779

Journal of Archaeological Science

Volume 29, Issue 12, December 2002, Pages 1393-1401

https://doi.org/10.1006/jasc.2001.0779 Get rights and content

Abstract

The metallurgical analysis of a copper bead from a Neolithic burial (6th millennium bc ) at Mehrgarh, Pakistan, allowed the recovery of several threads, preserved by mineralization. They were characterized according to new procedure, combining the use of a reflected-light microscope and a scanning electron microscope, and identified as cotton (Gossypium sp.). The Mehrgarh fibres constitute the earliest known example of cotton in the Old World and put the date of the first use of this textile plant back by more than a millennium. Even though it is not possible to ascertain that the fibres came from an already domesticated species, the evidence suggests an early origin, possibly in the Kachi Plain, of one of the Old World cottons.

Résumé: L'analyse métallurgique d'une perle en cuivre, provenant d'une tombe néolithique (VIe millénaire av. notre ère) de Mehrgarh, Pakistan, a permis la découverte de plusieurs fibres textiles, conservées par minéralisation. Elles ont été caractérisées par une nouvelle méthode, combinant l'utilisation d'un microscope à lumière réfléchie à celle d'un microscope électronique à balayage, et ont été identifiées comme étant du coton (Gossypium sp.). Les fibres de Mehrgarh constituent la plus ancienne attestation du coton dans l'Ancien monde et son utilisation a pu être reculée de plus d'un millénaire. Bien qu'il ne soit pas possible d'attribuer avec certitude les fibres à une espèce déjà domestiquée, ces nouvelles données suggèrent une origine ancienne, éventuellement dans la Plaine de Kachi, d'une des espèces cotonnières de l'Ancien monde.

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Regular ArticlesFirst Evidence of Cotton at Neolithic Mehrgarh, Pakistan: Analysis of Mineralized Fibres from a Copper Bead

Abstract

Journal of Archaeological Science

Journal of Archaeological Science

Éléments de géométrie préhistorique à partir des parures funéraires du Néolithique ancien de Mehrgarh (Balouchistan Pakistanais)

L'Anthropologie

The Origin and Domestication of Cotton

Cotton seeds from the Neolithic in Egyptian Nubia and the origin of the Old World cottons

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

Technical reports on Archaeological Remains

The beginning of agriculture in the Kachi Plain: the evidence of Mehrgarh

Appendix B. Vegetal remains

Harappan Agriculture in Pakistan: the Evidence of Nausharo

Agriculture in Baluchistan between the 7th and the 3rd millenniumb.c

Newsletter of Baluchistan Studies

Issues in Harappan Archaeobotany: Retrospect and Prospect

A note on the early history of cotton

Journal of the Textile Institute

Plantes à fibres, Éléments d'agriculture coloniale

New evidence on the origin of the Old World cottons

Heredity

Les matières textiles

Regular Articles
First Evidence of Cotton at Neolithic Mehrgarh, Pakistan: Analysis of Mineralized Fibres from a Copper Bead