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Ancient Cultural and Socio- Indian Subcontinent of The Archaeobotanical remains In ancient cultural and socio­ economical dynamics of the Indian subcontinent K. S. Saraswat Saraswat KS 1992. Archaeobotanical remains in ancient cultural and socio·economical dynamics of the Indian subcontinent. Palaeobotanist 40 : 514·545. The paper describes the ancient plant economy in the Indian subcontinent in a chronological framework of cultural development from the earliest Neolithic cultures of primitive village·farming communities to highly advanced Iron Age cultures of Early Historical Period around the beginning of the Christian Era. In an impressive array ofarchaeobotanical data generated during the last four decades, some of the salient developments include the earliest evidence of west Asian cereal cultivation dated to C. 7,000 B.C., in Neolithic Baluchistan, Pakistan, and the earliest evidence of rice cultivation during sixth millennium B.C. in the Middle Ganga Valley, India. Similarly, other notable developments sifted from the data include the viticulture and cultivation of some garden plants by the Harappans in Punjab and evidences of highly systematised and rational medicinal plants from the Iron Age cultures in Ghaghra Valley of eastern Uttar Pradesh 'deciphering the meaningful perspective of medicinal history in the Indian archaeological context. Throughout the cultural development from Harappan times to the end of first millennium B.C. the records of crop remains of West Asian, African and indigenous origin from widely scattered sites indicate well-knit trade contacts and socio'economical and cultural integration which kept evolving in new forms during the course of growth and fading of heterogeneous cultural groups in diverse geographical regions. Several new advances in the recovery and analysis of plant remains during the.recent past hold out the possibility of obtaining new informations which may drastically change our existing archaeobotanical concepts. Key-words-Archaeobotany, Ancient plant economy, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Harappan Culture, India. K. S Saraswat, Birba/ Sahni Institute oj Palaeobotany, 53 University Road, Lucknow 226007, India. rilll ~-~ ~ 3{q~ m-<ftq- :aqqt<llflq ltt '1T'fT;r ~'Ill"'ffi" tri" '1'1'f<f it ,!<irli4il'1l"lfit", ~ -q;qT 1lm ~~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ nf mu -'1"[ if if 'f'llfrlT tm <r;;;rrq- <r; 3fffi-'ll'<f <tt <'itt<'-1fT 'f'llfrlT crq; ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~u ~~ ~ ~ rl'~ ;O~ ~ <tt ~ 4TG'l a:rvt-~~ <tt ~ <tt I 'if[( if q;-( B'fI1"t a:rnt ~ (~) ~~ ~ ~ rl'~ ~ <'f'T'lT'T 7,000 'flf 'to 'La j);j,,;lf'lfrll'1 if 'lffirl' if "fur ll'>rr w if <'f'T'lT'T ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~I ~ 6,000 cr<f 'to 'La !:IT'1' <tt ihfi <r; 'll1f'lT 'VN< if 'IfI"f'f iITU 3flI< <tt ihfi l1;'f "3'W"1' ~ ~I ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ rl'~ ~ ~ tfim ~ 'rff;on< Ilffi if 'qflf(T 'Olit <tt <'itt<' 1fT 'f'llfrlT 3itqUl-q tfim <r; 'll1f'lT 'liT ~ a:rcr~ ~ ~ ~"il' ~ ,,~ ~'l'fCf ~ ~ ~ ~ ~, <'itt<' 1fT crq; <tt '1"'Ifu m"ifl1 l1;'f <r; Gl<'Rf mm fq; ~ ~ ~~~,~-~ ~ ~u ~ ~I ~ ~ ehl if 'f'llfrlTaIT if 3ltt 'liT 'f[>'l'fCf fq; m<'f if fq;<) ~ ~ ~ '1l"l~f4~ ~ ~ 1[it 3f'!'l'!:lT'1' ~ ~u 'l"llT <rcfqr;r -q I'1 <r; eft if 3lflJ:'1 qfq(R m I STUDY of the scanty plant remains of human the discovery and excavations of sites of Harappan workmanship, survived in pre- and protohistoric culture in the Indus Valley, from 1921·22 to 1946­ settlements, provides evidences to reconstruct the 1947. Owing to the importance in the subsistence history of man and plant relationship in the Dark economy in the ancient times, centrality of Ages. 'rhe cultural models of plant remains in agriculture was the main field of research. The European archaeology have dominated the thoughts and speculations for about 125 years, yet we have to Four Decades of Indian Palaeobotany look only at relatively recent events beginning with Editors B. S. Venkal3chala & H. P Singh Publisher: Birbal Sahni [ns[itute or Palaeobotany, Lucknow SARASWAT-ARCHAEOBOTANICAL REMAINS OF INDIAN SUBCONTINENT 515 reports on the food refuse in the form of carbonized (1984) at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany seeds and fruits from the Harappan settlements generated a mass of data on the ancient plant unravelled the histOlY of plant domestication and economy. At Deccan College, Pune Kajale made agriculture. During this early phase of development significant contribution on the crop economy, the archaeological plant remains also attracted the particularly in the ancient cultures of peninsular attention of Professor Birbal Sahni. In 1936, he India. No work was done by them on the anatomical reported some food grains from an Early Historical studies of archaeological material. Buth and his site at Khokra-Kot, Rohtak District, Haryana and students at Kashmi~ University, Srinagar have assessed the values of archaeological discoveries for accomplished the research work on the cultural the understanding of early man, during the period plant remains of Kashmir Valley. which constitutes a link between the time scales of At present, Birbal Sahni Institute of the geologists on one side and of the prehistoric Palaeobotany is the leading centre where the archaeologists on the other. morphological as well as anatomical details of seeds, It was in 1946 that Chowdhury and Ghosh for fruits, cuticles, fibres and wood charcoals are being the first time studied archaeological wood remains studied. The study does not pertain only about the from Arikamedu near Pondicherry. In 1951, their subsistence pattern but to reconstruct the models of work on woods which were used to make coffin at ecological potential of the cultural settlements. Harappa, revealed an interesting data and this During the period of last four decades, as a widened the scope of xylotomical studies in result of increasing interest of archaeologists and archaeology. Vishnu-Mittre and his students­ botanists in each other's spheres of activity, a rich Savithri (1976), Sharma (1983) and Chanchala data has been gathered on the ancient plant GHALIGAI r 2 ./ SARAI KH9~A e I e~URZAHOH r::1 .. _ / 1 Islamabad 0 GUFKRAL /~ GUL HO~."HMAO ~ a::etta I'1EHRGARH ~)} .. ~ ~SARUTARU Karachi o eMARAKOOLA Gauhali eOAOJALI- HAOING Bombay o MOOERN (ITiES e NEOllTHI( SITES Map I-Shows seven zones of Neolithic Culture. 516 THE PALAEOBOTANIST economy. In India and Pakistan at the present Differences in the plant assemblages established moment, a major interest has been on the finds from between sites may be an artifaCt in sampling the early farming communities, alternatively termed methods or due to the nature of evidence. To as Neolithic cultures, some of them as early as 6,000· compare the data on various sites with a view 7,000 S.c. The bulk of the plant remains in most of towards establishing possible developments in the the sites consists of carbonized seeds and fruits. crop husbandry over a larger area, it is necessary to Moreover, for various sites only preliminary results have well·dated information. are published. The dissimilarity in the available Archaeobotanical information on available data information on plant husbandry at the individual falls short in terms of both quantity and qualiry. The sites is a handicap to carry out comparative study. role of rlant economy in relation to the exceedingly r/-:-::>'-''''-' (! '\, \) c. '-c.. ' \ ,.' ) .~. / -. /' ( ..........-. ,,~. --<.;', .-' I /'1'),- r""-'; . -'-._. ....... -.__.--j) PIRAK • MOHENJO DARO• NINDOWARI DAMS NIAJSUTHI L-v-..,--.~ , HARAPPAN, PRE-HARAPPAN & LATE POST HARAPPAN SITES • CHALCOLITHIC & IRON-AGE CULTURE SITES Map 2-lrnportant sites of Harappan and other copper and iron· using cultures. SARAS\X/AT-ARCHAE0130TANICAL REMAINS OF INDIAN SUBCONTINENT 517 broad aspect of socio-economy and cultural communities_ The data on the origin of agriculture is evol ution of widely scattered ancient settlements is a still insufficient. The domestication and cultivation challenging study (Maps 1,2). There are some areas of plants and taming of animals developed step-by such as Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Bengal, Kerala, step out of food-gathering and hunting stage. It is an Himachal Pradesh and Haryana, from where either outcome of the continuing increase in ~he extent practically no information is available or it is too and intensiry of manipulation of natural ecosystems little to be considered. This is a serious gap in our by the Stone Age man. Under the circumstances, it is knowledge which can of course be filled up in quite difficult to fix a point when the phenomenon course of time when more promising sites with plant of agriculture actually started. Future research in this remains are discovered. Important sources of direction would likely throw some light on this information have been cited and coverage of issue. references of many inconclusive and fragmentary reports is regretfully omitted. Some have only been NEOLITHIC BEGINNING touched upon. Summary of the finds of food grains from the ancient Neolithic times to the Early The plant and animal domestication was a Historical cultures in different regions is presented fundamental adaptive element which contributed to in Table I. The present information on plant remains the emergence of permanent sedentary settlements has been synthesized from well-settled farming of Neolithic Culture which is characterized by mud Table I-Archaeological record of field-crop plants in the Indian subcontinent NEOLITHIC CULTURE EARLY HAlWPAN I CHALCOU-, IRON AGE CHALCO CUl.TURE THIC CULTURE LITHIC CULTURE .Z CULT 2 ~ C) liRE :r. 'f. c-'" v C c ~ ..e ..e'" V c 0 :2'" 'f. z ~ o<l c 00 ~ ~C::: 'f. ~ {;j V ~ U;'" J :.;- c~ -0 "'~ 'c -:- .'::!o !" .0 0 '"0 o 0 "'U -",N ~0 ~ c:-: o<lcO cO 0::6 cO 00 ..coo c..":"'" - Vice 0 v 0 ~ al 0 .~o '" 00 .f.CC'" .~c Olo <0 co ]g 'f. C;N ",0 ~ 'T .- °<r cO vO cO V VJO> ._if'° v"" ° ° ~'T_ '-0 v . 0() ." °N ° o<l0.° >.N '-0 "'0 _cO<r .N ~~ r- I .\ .?- ~oc ~<"I ~-:-­ V ::::x "'-.
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