Excavations at Gilund: Unearthing a Chalcolithic Settlement in the Banas Basin

Gilund sits quietly in the Aravalli foothills of Rajasthan, a mound of weathered earth that has yielded some of the earliest evidence of copper-using communities in the Banas Basin. Discovered more than six decades ago, the site has become a touchstone for scholars trying to understand the transition from Neolithic village life to the more complex Chalcolithic societies of western India. For visitors tracing the arc of South Asian prehistory, Gilund offers a window into a period when farming, craft specialisation, and long-distance exchange were taking shape along the rivers of the Aravalli range.

The Archaeological Survey of India's Jaipur Circle has maintained an active interest in the site, recognising its value for regional chronology and cultural mapping. Recent seasons of work have refined our understanding of Gilund's occupational sequence, pointing to connections with Harappan outposts and with neighbouring Chalcolithic centres such as Ahar and contemporary sites in Gujarat. This research resonates beyond India, attracting attention from institutions such as the Australian National University in Canberra, where scholars have long studied the deep history of agricultural societies across Asia.

Within Australia, heritage professionals often look to international case studies when shaping local policy. The federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and the various state heritage statutes echo the protective frameworks used by the Survey, and the parallels help frame why a small mound in Rajasthan matters to a planner in Perth or a museum educator in Melbourne. It is in that spirit of shared stewardship that the work at Gilund continues.

Setting and the Banas Basin context

The site occupies a commanding position above the Banas River, a tributary of the Chambal, placing it on a natural corridor between the Thar Desert and the more fertile plains to the east. This geography made the Banas Basin a magnet for early farmers and pastoralists, and Gilund lies at the heart of that network. The surrounding terrain provided copper ore, limestone, and clay, all essential for the crafts that defined the local Chalcolithic economy.

Modern Aravalli villages still practise dryland agriculture similar to that reconstructed from the site's botanical remains. Walking the tracks around the mound today, one passes herds of goats and fields of millet that echo, in modest form, the subsistence patterns preserved in the ancient layers below. The continuity of land use over four thousand years gives the excavation its living context.

A short history of the excavations

Gilund was first identified by V. N. Misra during regional surveys in the late 1950s, and systematic trenching followed in the 1960s and early 1970s. The Jaipur Circle has built on that legacy, opening new trenches to clarify the stratigraphy and to recover material from previously unexplored sectors. Each campaign has tightened the chronological grid, allowing researchers to place Gilund within a broader cultural dialogue that stretches from the Indus to the Deccan.

The recent seasons have been collaborative, drawing on specialists in archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, and ceramic petrology. Such interdisciplinary work mirrors the team-based approaches used at large institutions in Sydney and Melbourne, where archaeologists routinely pool expertise to interpret complex sites. The results have sharpened the picture of a settlement that was both local in its daily rhythms and well connected through trade.

Occupational layers and chronology

The mound rises roughly nine metres above the surrounding plain and contains at least three major cultural phases. The earliest levels belong to a pre-Harappan Chalcolithic horizon, followed by a mature phase with strong Harappan stylistic elements, and finally a late occupation that fades into the early historic period. Charcoal samples and pottery seriation have anchored these phases in a timeline running from roughly 2000 BCE to later centuries.

The stratigraphy is not always tidy, as it rarely is in sites with such long use, but the careful removal of each spadeful has allowed the team to isolate intact floors, storage pits, and hearths. These features have provided rare glimpses of domestic life, including evidence of food processing and the small-scale smelting of copper. The clarity of the sequence is one of the reasons Gilund remains a reference site for the region.

Pottery, tools, and craft

The ceramic assemblage from Gilund is particularly rich, with painted buff wares, storage jars, and perforated vessels that hint at diverse culinary and ritual uses. Lithic tools include chert blades and querns for grinding grain, while the by-products of copper working appear as slag and small ingots. Together, these finds suggest a community that balanced farming with the manufacture of goods for exchange.

The presence of Harappan seals and sealings at the site has long excited researchers, pointing to Gilund's role in wider networks of communication and trade. Comparable networks once linked the Indus cities to the Persian Gulf and beyond, and the artefacts recovered here carry traces of those long conversations. For students in Brisbane or Adelaide, the Gilund material offers a tangible example of how ancient economies were woven together.

Subsistence, environment, and trade

Analyses of plant remains from the site show a reliance on barley, wheat, millets, and pulses, supplemented by the meat of cattle, sheep, and goats. The surrounding landscape supported this mixed economy, and the Banas River provided a reliable source of water even in drier years. These findings refine our understanding of how Chalcolithic communities adapted to the semi-arid margins of the Aravalli.

Trade goods recovered at Gilund include carnelian beads, copper objects, and shell items sourced from distant coasts. Such finds underline the reach of exchange networks that moved prestige items across hundreds of kilometres. The implications extend to modern Australia, where heritage professionals studying Aboriginal trade routes along the Murray River find useful parallels in the way material culture mapped social relationships.

Conservation, challenges, and public access

The fragility of the mound is a constant concern, as seasonal rains and encroaching agriculture can quickly erode unexcavated deposits. The Jaipur Circle has stabilised exposed sections, built protective bunds, and coordinated with local communities to limit damage. The work echoes conservation efforts at Australian sites like Budj Bim in Victoria, where Indigenous-led management has set benchmarks for protective care.

Documentation remains a priority, and projects like the forgotten havelis of Jaisalmer show how systematic recording can safeguard a heritage story even when the structures themselves are at risk. Gilund benefits from the same philosophy, with detailed mapping, photogrammetry, and open publication of results.

Looking ahead

Future seasons at Gilund will focus on the unexcavated margins of the mound, where geophysical surveys suggest intact occupation surfaces. There is also scope for residue analysis on the ceramic assemblage and for renewed sampling of the palaeobotanical record. Such work will help place the site more firmly within the wider story of Chalcolithic South Asia and will provide new material for comparative study with sites as far away as the Indus floodplains and, through collaborative scholarship, the laboratories of Adelaide and Perth.

The challenge is to keep the momentum going while protecting what has already been revealed. Continued funding, local partnerships, and open access to research will be essential. Plans are also under way to expand the display of Gilund finds within the Circle's museums, giving Australian visitors and Indian residents alike a closer look at the Chalcolithic past. Gilund may be a small mound on a dry riverbank, but its layers hold stories that link the Aravalli to the world.

Preservation priorities for the Gilund mound

Strengthen the protective bunds around exposed sections before each monsoon
Expand the use of ground-penetrating radar to locate unexcavated features
Train local villagers in basic conservation monitoring
Publish trench reports in open-access digital formats
Develop a dedicated display of Gilund artefacts within the Circle's museums
Foster international exchanges with Australian and European research centres
Integrate the site into regional heritage tourism routes