Abstract The Valley of Kashmir in the western Himalayas holds a large number of Neolithic sites that are part of a loosely affiliated group of prehistoric cultures occupying mountains and valleys in the north of the Indian subcontinent – the Northern Neolithic. Despite extensive excavations at several sites in the 20th century, full reports on key sites are still lacking. As a result of this a number of issues have arisen, including a poorly resolved internal chronology based in part on relative dating of ceramics, as well as unclear or speculative links to neighbouring cultures. This study reports new absolute dates, botanical materials and ceramic analyses resulting from preliminary survey and testing work aimed at rectifying these problems. A thorough synthesis of previously reported excavation data is also provided, and considered alongside the newly reported material. This has allowed us to contextualise the development of the Neolithic in Kashmir against a growing number of recent studies on the spread of early dry-farming agricultural villages in the mountain zones of South Asia. The long term cultural and economic stability of the Northern Neolithic in Kashmir has allowed us to situate it as an important niche within a wider network of agriculturalist-pastoralist exchange taking place between the mountain zones and the settled areas of Inner Asia during the 3rd- 2nd millennia BCE.

中文翻译：

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喜马拉雅山西部的新石器时代北部：克什米尔山谷的新研究

摘要喜马拉雅山西部的克什米尔山谷拥有大量新石器时代遗址，这些遗址是史前文化中一群松散联系的一部分，这些史前文化占据了印度次大陆北部（北新石器时代）的山脉和山谷。尽管20世纪在几个地点进行了大规模发掘，但仍缺乏有关关键地点的完整报告。结果，出现了许多问题，包括内部时序问题解决得不好，部分是由于陶瓷的相对年代，以及与邻近文化的联系不明确或推测。这项研究报告了为纠正这些问题而进行的初步调查和测试工作所产生的新的绝对日期，植物材料和陶瓷分析结果。还提供了以前报告的挖掘数据的全面综合，并与新报告的材料一起考虑。这使我们可以将克什米尔新石器时代的发展与最近在南亚山区的早期旱作农业村落的传播的研究相结合的背景下进行。克什米尔北部新石器时代的长期文化和经济稳定使我们将其定位为在第三至第二次山区与内亚定居区之间发生的更广泛的农牧民交流网络中的一个重要利基市场。公元前千年。