Social and environmental transitions in arid zones: the North Gujarat Archaeological Project — NoGAP (original) (raw)
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Quaternary International, 2013
The present work aims at setting the bases for the critical study of settlement patterns and resource management among Holocene hunteregatherer and agro-pastoral groups in arid margins. The case study is set on the SW margin of the Thar Desert, in N Gujarat, an ecotone sensitive to the slightest shifts in precipitation patterns (Indian Summer Monsoon). The potential significance of published and newly acquired archaeological information is discussed in the light of physiographical data collected from satellite imagery and field exploration. The review of available and newly acquired records includes: (a) The integration of field and remote observation of regional traits and (b) The definition of active morphological processes that may bias archaeological preservation and visibility. A synthetic geoarchaeological map of the study area is proposed that integrates physiographical and archaeological evidence at the regional scale. The potential significance of the archaeological evidence in the region (i.e. presence/absence/concentration of archaeological materials in different physiographical units) is discussed in terms of preservation and visibility. At this stage, results are considered at the regional level of macroscopic units. The results constitute the first step towards the full multi-scalar integration of landscape architectures, stratified archaeological sites and surface sediments at regional and local levels.
The present work aims at setting the bases for the critical study of settlement patterns and resource management among Holocene hunter–gatherer and agro-pastoral groups in arid margins. The case study is set on the SW margin of the Thar Desert, in N Gujarat, an ecotone sensitive to the slightest shifts in precipitation patterns (Indian Summer Monsoon). The potential significance of published and newly acquired archaeological information is discussed in the light of physiographical data collected from satellite imagery and field exploration. The review of available and newly acquired records includes: (a) The integration of field and remote observation of regional traits and (b) The definition of active morphological processes that may bias archaeological preservation and visibility. A synthetic geoarchaeological map of the study area is proposed that integrates physiographical and archaeological evidence at the regional scale. The potential significance of the archaeological evidence in the region (i.e. presence/absence/concentration of archaeological materials in different physiographical units) is discussed in terms of preservation and visibility. At this stage, results are considered at the regional level of macroscopic units. The results constitute the first step towards the full multi-scalar integration of landscape architectures, stratified archaeological sites and surface sediments at regional and local levels.
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2014
The Indus Civilization (2600e1900 BC) in Gujarat is characterized by a series of small yet monumentally walled settlements located along trade and travel corridors. The manufacture and use of typically Harappan material culture at these settlements demonstrates that many residents of these sites participated in exchange and interaction networks that linked them to distant Indus cities. Less is known, however, regarding the ways in which the residents of these sites were situated into their local landscapes. Here we combine previously published faunal analyses from the small walled settlement of Bagasra in the Indian state of Gujarat, with a preliminary investigation of intra-and inter-individual variation in the ratios of biogenic isotopes of strontium ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr), carbon (d 13 C), and oxygen (d 18 O) in the tooth enamel of domestic animals consumed at the site. 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios in the teeth of sheep and goats exhibit little intra-or inter-individual variation suggesting that most were raised locally while greater inter-individual variation in the teeth of cattle suggesting that nearly half of these animals were either raised further afield or were supplied with fodder raised elsewhere. d 13 C values from these same samples in the teeth of sheep and goats exhibit considerable intra-individual variation suggesting of a seasonally variable diet incorporating significant wild forage while uniformly higher values in the teeth of cattle suggest that they consumed mostly agricultural produce throughout the year. d 18 O values in the teeth of both sets of domestic livestock exhibit considerable intra-individual variation commensurate with the seasonal variation in temperature and rainfall characteristic of the region while variation between taxa is consistent with observed dietary differences. Taken together, our findings provide new information regarding the ways in which the domestic animals consumed at Bagasra were raised and obtained while establishing an empirical baseline necessary for further exploration of the land-use changes that may have accompanied the emergence and decline of South Asia's first urban civilization.
Understanding the interplay between subsistence strategies and settlement patterns is fundamental for elucidation of past economical and cultural changes. Gujarat, on the periphery of the Harappan universe, has distinct regional traditions, including material culture displaying an independent style with the local indigenous hunter and food-gathering communities. Long traditions of the Harappan influence are documented at a number of sites, whose material culture and town planning are similar to those of the Indus Valley Civilization. Thus, Gujarat stands as an important region for understanding larger spheres of interaction during the Harappan period. Two agricultural strategies can be identified at Kanmer, one is based on rabi crops on which the Harappan Civilization was founded, and the second by the addition of kharif crops. This article presents the constant but more gradual change seen in the subsistence system and at the same time supports hypotheses concerning Harappan subsistence in the northwestern region on one hand, and the potential for new subsistence models, particularly in Gujarat, on the other.
Loteshwar (23o 36ʹ 1.8ʺ N; 71o 50ʹ 11.8ʺ E) is situated in the Sami Taluka of Patan District in North Gujarat, Western India. First excavated in 1990’s the site was re-excavated by the North Gujarat Archaeological Project during November/December 2009. The 2009 excavation unearthed two cultural periods namely Mesolithic (dated between the end of the eighth millennium cal BC and the middle of sixth millennium cal BCE) and Chalcolithic (dated to around 3600-3000 BC). The comparative analysis of the lithic assemblages associated with these periods is the main objective of the current study. Other artefacts and ecofacts recovered during the excavations suggest a changing economy at the site from hunting and gathering to agro-pastoralisam. However, the analysis of the lithic assemblage, in particular the cores shows continuity in term of a tool technology (quartering technique of stone tool manufacturing) for over five thousand years. This technological continuity is associated to continuity in settlement patterns, characterized by the occupation of dune tops and the uninterrupted transmission of technological knowledge from one generation to another.
SUBSISTENCE SYSTEM, PALEOECOLOGY, AND 14 C CHRONOLOGY AT KANMER, A HARAPPAN SITE IN GUJARAT, INDIA
This article presents the results of 4 excavation seasons in which botanical and animal remains were collected at the Harappan site of Kanmer in the Kachchh District of Gujarat, India. The findings revealed a subsistence economy consisting of food production with domesticated plants and animals, hunting, fishing, and wild plant gathering. Cultural relics and radiocarbon dating support our identification of different cultural periods at the site. This study provides new insights into the subsistence strategies during different phases of occupation and offers the potential for new subsistence models to be applied at nearby sites, particularly in this peripheral zone of the Indus civilization.
Palynological and Archaeobotanical Investigations at Bhagatrav, Gujarat: A Preliminary Report
Man and Environment 47(2): 23-28, 2022
Harappans colonised both river plains and coasts for varied economic reasons. They not only built large-scale cities but also small-scale strategic settlements as per the needs of various subsistence economies. This paper reconstructs the palynological and archaeobotanical records through the sediments recovered from an archaeological trench at Bhagatrav, a small-scale coastal site in Southern Gujarat. The palynological investigation revealed that the region supported open vegetation dominated by grasses with few trees of Holoptelea, Butea and Acacia in a dry environment. The presence of winter crops was demonstrated by the seed grain studies of Hordeum vulgare (barley), Elusine coracana, Lathyrus sativus, and Triticum sp. (wheat), etc.
Pre-Prabhas Assemblage from Gujarat, Western India
Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology, 2013
The Pre-Prabhas assemblage first reported from Prabhas Patan (Somnath) consists of handmade ceramics; chalcedony blades with crested-guiding ridges; faience and steatite beads and fragment of clay plaster with reed impressions. The ceramics are predominantly coarse and comprises of wide mouthed vessels either with flat or ring base falling under the categories of Red ware, Grey ware and Black and Red ware. Surveys in north Gujarat (1990 onwards) revealed the presence of this assemblage together with Pre-urban Harappan Sindh type ceramics at Datrana IX; at Datrana IV along with Anarta types and Pre-urban Harappan Sindh type ceramics and at Datrana V along with Anarta pottery. The present study tries to situate the Pre-Prabhas assemblage within the context of indigenously evolved regional Chalcolithic cultures of Gujarat through a study of changes in lithic technology in tool and bead making along with ceramics at Datrana IV. The study reveals that Datrana IV gives evidence of transition from Mesolithic to Chalcolithic, which is absent at Somnath. This leads to a tentative proposition that the appearance of Pre-Prabhas assemblage at Datrana IV may predate Somnath, which would indicate that societal changes from Mesolithic to Chalcolithic, reflected through ceramic and lithic technology took place in north Gujarat prior to the other geographical sub-regions in Gujarat. This calls for more intense field surveys within Gujarat to locate varieties of activity areas and the chronological placements of ‘sites’.
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2020
The Indus Civilization (2600–1900 BCE), South Asia’s first urban society, underwent a momentous social transformation towards the end of the third millennium BC, that culminated in urban decline, cessation of writing, and the dissolution of interregional connectivity. These changes roughly coincide with the 4.2 ka BP climate event, a period of global climate fluctuation manifest in northwestern South Asia as a decline in summer monsoon precipitation. The regions encompassed by the Indus Civilization, however, were ecologically and socially diverse such that both local environmental effects of these climatic fluctuations and human responses to them are expected to vary considerably from region to region. In Gujarat, increased aridity has been hypothe- sized to have led to increased pastoral mobility. Here we evaluate this hypothesis using faunal analyses and isotopic data in faunal tooth enamel that allow us to directly monitor livestock management, diet, and mobility at a series of three archaeological sites whose occupational sequences span this period of social and climatic change. We find no evidence for significant changes in pastoral land-use practices through time in this sequence, findings that we interpret as indicating considerable resilience on the part of local pastoral producers.