Editorial Note [While this essay is a straightforward narrative of the different aspects of the Chalcolithic development in southeast and northeast Rajasthan, one may like to put a different orientation on the authorsí discussion. First, the Ahar culture is here chronologically divided into the early, middle and late phases, with its beginning going back to c. 3300 BC and the terminal phase to c. 1500 BC. That not everything is secure about this chronology is evident from the second authorís publication (A. Sarkar, Chalcolithic and modern potting at Gilund, Rajasthan, a cautionary tale, Antiquity 86 (329), 2011, 994-1007), where she puts these two points at 3600 and 1800 BC respectively. On the basis of the radiocarbon dates from Balathal, one may even argue for a still earlier date for the beginning of the Chalcolithic in this area. In fact, the available radiocarbon dates should put the beginning of Balathal in the second half of the 5th millennium BC and in fact it is very perplexing that the authors should ignore these early Balathal dates without any explanation. Secondly, the threefold chronological division of the Ahar Chalcolithic is still arbitrary, without the basis of such divisions being made clear. Thirdlyóand this, we believe, is very importantó, the essay does not emphasise that the question of the Rajasthan Chalcolithic cannot be disassociated from the question of the beginning of the Neolithic and metallurgy in the region. The claim of the Aravallis as an independent centre of agriculture and metallurgy was put forward by the first editor of this volume in 1995 (The Archaeology of Ancient Indian Cities, Delhi 1995: OUP) long before Arunima Kashyapís research conclusively showed the presence of agriculture in the so-called Mesolithic level of Bagor early in the 6th millennium BC and later. Although he has restated this idea in a number of places there seems to be a general reluctance to accept it because it has never been supported by anybody else. Arunima Kashyapís research may be put in the context of the earlier archaeological work done in the Aravallis and what V.2. Chalcolithic Rajasthan