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Ancient Sindh, 15, 2018-19: 89-113 CHAKRANI, M.I• & MALLAH Q.H.•• ANALYSIS OF DIET PATTERN IN INDUS CIVILIZATION THROUGH ARCHAEOBOTANICAL AND ETHNOARCHAEOLOGICAL APPROACH ABSTRACT – The human diet pattern has long history. It was systematically changed when all three first civilizations like Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Indus started using staple resources supplemented with hunting fishing and fruits collecting and produce byproducts like clarified ghee and pickle as their food. To trace the food history, the people of Egypt and Mesopotamia has depicted pictures and kept written records of their activities associated with food and food production. Those records are further supported with physical data like bones, grains and residues on other objects. In Indus civilization there is no absence of paintings or carving which explains the procedures of food preparation or cultivation activities. From Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, huge grain storage is found. The charred seeds and plant impressions are found from several smaller settlements. The figurines and terracotta models of plough ascertain the cultivation culture. The human skeletons also provide basic knowledge about the food and food types used by Indus Valley people but there are difficulties to reconstruct the process and procedures for cultivation and cooking. Therefore, in this paper focus is given to those factors which may help to reconstruct the hidden secrets and help to rewrite the history. In doing so, two types of the data are utilized (i) contemporary civilizations like Egyptian, Mesopotamian under “cross cultural approach” concept and (ii) Ethnoarchaeology which allowed looking into the traditional agricultural communities for comprehending and bridging the past. This data set explained under two broader theoretical paradigms have thrown light on the process and procedures to be considered in archaeological explanation of diet pattern of Indus Valley civilization. INTRODUCTION The food Rotti is one of the basic needs for human survival. It was drastically changed during first human revolution of domestication of animals and plants. The three first civilizations like Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Indus (Fig.# 1). They relied on the permanent and reoccurring resources supplemented with hunting and fruits as their food. Not only this but they find out about the byproducts like clarified ghee and pickle, fats, oil extracts from plants and flowers and so on. This all can be seen from the historical footnotes left by the people of Egypt and Mesopotamia as they depicted pictures and kept written records of their activities associated with food and food production. The physical data like bones, grains and residues on other objects; all attest the record left on the walls of the tombs and carved on the stones. • PhD Research Scholar, Department of Archaeology , Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur •• Professor, Department of Archaeology , Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur 89 On the other hand in Indus civilization there are no direct evidences like paintings or carving but huge grain storage which cannot explain the procedures of food preparation or cultivation activities. The artifacts types like human skeletons, figurines and terracotta models of plough ascertain the cultivation culture. The human skeletons also provide basic knowledge about the food and food types used by Indus Valley people. Looking at the situation, it is utmost necessary to ponder upon basic questions about the crop processing and cooking pattern –how it was done? For answering this basic question, two types of the data is utilized (i) contemporary civilizations like Egyptian, Mesopotamian and (ii) ethnoarchaeology which allowed to look into the traditional agricultural communities of Sindh Pakistan. This data set is theoretically used under the concept of “cross cultural approach” which is used in archaeological explanation since long time under the umbrella of ‘analogy’ as a “systematic method” for detailing explanations and interpretations. This method suggests that analogies/ parallels might be most accurately and appropriately drawn from known cultures with similar settings of the archaeological culture. For instance, Population living on the Nile River had intensive agricultural system during all seasons, such as, the wheat and barley was cultivated in winter shitawi season; the cotton, rice, and sesame in summer season sayfi and maize and sorghum during the annual flood times which was called Nili season of the Nile ( Bowman and Rogan 1999). The paining scenes and writings on Egyptian agricultural system has clearly described the soil types, animals used for plough, and plough types, storage, and the stages from cultivating to harvesting ( Bowman and Rogan 1999, Janick 2002). The Indus Valley farmers were feeding the cities; they were cultivating two crops i.e. Rabi and Kharif. The rabi or spring harvested crop is planted in the fall and watered by winter rains. The kharif is planted in summer during monsoon and harvested in fall. The major grain crops like wheat and barley were planted in the fall and harvested in early summer. The other crops of this season were sesamum, peas, vegetables, and perennial cotton (Kenoyer 1998: 163). The Kharif crop including cotton, mustered, sesamum, dates, melon, peas, rice, sorghum and various millets were grown. The discovery of terracotta plow from Banawali (Bisht 1982:113-124) and plowed field from Kalibangan (Thaper 1975: 19-32) indicated the procedures of cultivation that a plough pulled by draft oxen may have been used (Kenoyer 1998: 50). The complex system of double cropping agriculture produce tremendous surplus that was need to the cities and their residents who were engaged other craft activities. This type of cultivation procedure is still prevailing in traditional farmers of Sindh and other communities of Pakistan. 90 Fig. # 1: Location of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Indus Valley Civilization. Archaeological remains of agriculture in Indus Valley Indus civilization is among world civilization where people lived with full scale prosperity having all luxuries of life. The Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa, Lakhan-jo-Daro Dholavira are few among the cities which defiantly attest the living pattern of people some five thousand years ago. The growth of this prosperous civilization lies deep into the history when they started domestications of both animals and plants. The majority of early sites have enriched with remains of grains which appropriately attest the crops domesticated. Through this paper the details about two broad factors (1) crop processing and (2) diet pattern of Indus valley people have highlighted. The Archaeological research at so many settlements has proved presence of various types of charred grains including wheat, barley, rice and millets along with a list of spices necessary for cooking the curry and chapatti /bread. The Indus people had atleast four types of wheat (a) bread/club (Triticum aestivum/ T.a subsp. compactum) (b) shot (T.a subsp. sphaerococcum) (c) wheat/einkorn (T. monococcum) and (d) emmer wheat ( T. tuigidum subsp. dicoccum). The three types of Barley like (i) Six-row hulled (Hordeum vulgare subsp. vulgare) (ii) naked (H.v. subsp. vulgare var.nudum) (iii) shot (H.v. subsp. sphaerococcum) (Meadow 1993). 91 Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa has huge granaries where a huge amount of grains can be stored, however, those facilities have given us a problem of comprehending the actual source of cultivation with appropriate / basic questions like how the cultivation may have been done and where the grains come from? This has been the missing link for which until now the archeologists of Indus valley civilization have not been able to find remains about the processing of crops. Therefore to understand this missing links, we have collected the data from (a) archaeological sites (b) ethnoarchaeological sources. As mentioned earlier, there are so many archaeological settlements where the remains of grains are found. Among them the earliest one is Mehrgarh. This archaeological site is located near the village of same name Mehrgarh situated at the foot of Bolan Pass along the Bolan River. The ancient mound covers 300 hectares covered with archaeological objects associated with 8th to 3rd millennium BCE. The site was excavated by French team from 1975- 1985 AD and has accomplished excellent results and became the first oldest village settlement of South Asia (Jarrige 2008). From this settlement the remains of both the domesticated and wild plants like wheat and barley have been found. Lorenzo Costantini (1984) has identified naked 6-row barely associated with Neolithic period; (H. vulgare, subsp. vulgare) wild and domestic hulled two-row barley (H. vulgare subsp. spontaneum and H. vulgare subsp. distichum) have also been recorded associated with a ceramic Neolithic period (Fig.# 2). Costantini (1984) has also recorded domestic einkorn (hulled: Triticum monococcum), domestic emmer (hulled: T. turgidum subsp. dicoccum) and Triticum durum (Costantini 1984). Some of these species still continue in this region (Meadow 1998). Plate # 1: Impressions of barley (Hordeum vulgare) and wheat (Triticum dicoccum) (after L. Costantini) Another site was Nausharo excavated by same French team during 1985-1996- the site is located at least 6 kilometer south of Mehrgarh and was occupied during 3000 to 2000 BCE. From this settlement along with other remains the terracotta yolk was found suggesting plowing and cultivation system (Jarrige 2008). Mohenjo Daro and Harappa