The earliest ploughed field
AI-drafted · awaiting admin review
Is the field at Kalibangan, Rajasthan, the world's oldest ploughed field?
Disputed: evidence incompleteTechnology & engineering
Indian claim
B.B. Lal's ASI excavations at Kalibangan (1960–1969) found a pre-Harappan field with criss-cross furrows, described as the earliest ploughed field revealed by excavation, about 2800 BCE. The same cross-ploughing is still used locally for mustard and gram.
Evidence for the Indian claim
- The grid of furrows, about 30 cm one way and 1.9 m the other, shows mixed cropping, a practice that survives in the region.
Commonly credited to
The plough (ard) was used earlier in Mesopotamia, and ard marks have been found under Neolithic burial mounds in northern Europe.
Evidence for the other claim
- No plough itself was found at Kalibangan.
- Ard marks in Europe and evidence of ploughing in Mesopotamia may be as old or older, depending on dating.
What historians and scientists say
Kalibangan is one of the oldest excavated ploughed fields and the clearest early example of cross-ploughing. Whether it is the very oldest depends on how other ard marks are dated, and the plough itself was not an Indian invention alone.