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Balochistan in Pakistan is the home of Mehrgarh, one of the earliest known farming settlements in the subcontinent. The earliest settlement is as old as 7000 BC, the time when humans had changed from hunter gatherers to farmers.

During the excavations, the archaeologists discovered clay female figurines associated with fertility rites, and believed to have been worshipped by the natives. Similar figurines have surfaced in other archaeological sites in the province. Several of these statues are carved with necklaces, and have their hands on their breast or waist. Some have children on their laps.

The people of that era used to wear woollen or cotton clothes. Some of the deities had their braid on their back and shoulders. Most of the male statues wore turbans, which is still in vogue in Balochistan. While the opinion of several archaeologists that several of the statuettes discovered at the site might have been childrenÃ?$(Bs (Btoys is plausible, there are many who link these terracotta figures to be religious beliefs and the eon-old concept of the power of nature and female deities. Moreover, terracotta figures of bulls have also been discovered at Mehrgarh pointing to the possible worship of animals or their exalted status as life-givers for the food they yielded.

The figurines reveal the attire the women possibly wore; lace-like material round their waists and adorned their upper bodies with necklaces. Archaeologists are still clueless as to how they wove the material and whether they used cotton or wool to make their garments.

It is interesting to note, however, that the male figurines have turbans Ã?$(O m(Buch like those worn by the inhabitants of Balochistan today. Reflecting artistic talent and painstaking workmanship, these figurines provide some of the best clues to life in that period. During the diggings, experts say seven layers of habitation were discovered. Each layer was different from the other denoting the levels of progress as the Mehrgarh inhabitants moved from one phase of civilisation to the next.[7,000-year-old civilisation site needs attention]