Lakheen-Jo-Daro, an Indus Civilization Settlement at Sukkur in Upper Sindh (Pakistan): A Scrap Copper Hoard and Human Figurine from a Dated Context

The Bronze Age settlement of Lakheen-Jo-Daro is located in the northern outskirts of the city of Sukkur, ca. 2.5 km north of the present course of the Indus, where the river narrows to flow across the northernmost limestone fringes of the Rohri Hills. The site was accidentally discovered in 1985, though the first trial trenches were opened in 1994. During the cleaning of the profile of one of the trenches excavated in 1996, one copper anthropomorphic figurine was found very close to a small charcoal lens that was radiocarbon dated to 3960 ± 140 b.p. (GrN-23123). The result attributes the deposit to a period of development of the Mature Indus Civilization. Other finds from the same trench consist of important, unique specimens among which are a group of white steatite micro-beads and a probable small hoard of copper items that are the main subject of this article.