Adaptation to Variable Environments, Resilience to Climate Change: Investigating Land, Water and Settlement in Indus Northwest India

This paper explores the nature and dynamics of adaptation and resilience in the face of a diverse and varied environmental and ecological context using the case study of South Asia’s Indus Civilization (ca. 3000–1300 BC). Most early complex societies developed in regions where the climatic parameters faced by ancient subsistence farmers were varied but rain falls primarily in one season. In contrast, the Indus Civilization developed in a specific environmental context that spanned a very distinct environmental threshold, where winter and summer rainfall systems overlap. There is now evidence to show that this region was directly subject to climate change during the period when the Indus Civilization was at its height (ca. 2500–1900 BC). The Indus Civilization, therefore, provides a unique opportunity to understand how an ancient society coped with diverse and varied ecologies and change in the fundamental environmental parameters. This paper integrates research carried out as part of the Land, Water and Settlement project in northwest India between 2007 and 2014. Although coming from only one of the regions occupied by Indus populations, these data necessitate the reconsideration of several prevailing views about the Indus Civilization as a whole and invigorate discussion about human-environment interactions and their relationship to processes of cultural transformation

Adaptation to Variable Environments, Resilience to Climate Change: Investigating Land, Water and Settlement in Indus Northwest India

This paper explores the nature and dynamics of adaptation and resilience in the face of a diverse and varied environmental and ecological context using the case study of South Asia’s Indus Civilization (ca. 3000–1300 BC). Most early complex societies developed in regions where the climatic parameters faced by ancient subsistence farmers were varied but rain falls primarily in one season. In contrast, the Indus Civilization developed in a specific environmental context that spanned a very distinct environmental threshold, where winter and summer rainfall systems overlap. There is now evidence to show that this region was directly subject to climate change during the period when the Indus Civilization was at its height (ca. 2500–1900 BC). The Indus Civilization, therefore, provides a unique opportunity to understand how an ancient society coped with diverse and varied ecologies and change in the fundamental environmental parameters. This paper integrates research carried out as part of the Land, Water and Settlement project in northwest India between 2007 and 2014. Although coming from only one of the regions occupied by Indus populations, these data necessitate the reconsideration of several prevailing views about the Indus Civilization as a whole and invigorate discussion about human-environment interactions and their relationship to processes of cultural transformation

Adaptation to Variable Environments, Resilience to Climate Change: Investigating Land, Water and Settlement in Indus Northwest India

This paper explores the nature and dynamics of adaptation and resilience in the face of a diverse and varied environmental and ecological context using the case study of South Asia’s Indus Civilization (ca. 3000–1300 BC). Most early complex societies developed in regions where the climatic parameters faced by ancient subsistence farmers were varied but rain falls primarily in one season. In contrast, the Indus Civilization developed in a specific environmental context that spanned a very distinct environmental threshold, where winter and summer rainfall systems overlap. There is now evidence to show that this region was directly subject to climate change during the period when the Indus Civilization was at its height (ca. 2500–1900 BC). The Indus Civilization, therefore, provides a unique opportunity to understand how an ancient society coped with diverse and varied ecologies and change in the fundamental environmental parameters. This paper integrates research carried out as part of the Land, Water and Settlement project in northwest India between 2007 and 2014. Although coming from only one of the regions occupied by Indus populations, these data necessitate the reconsideration of several prevailing views about the Indus Civilization as a whole and invigorate discussion about human-environment interactions and their relationship to processes of cultural transformation

Holocene Lake and shallow water sedimentsat Mograt Island, Sudan

This paper presents the results of stratigraphic excavation and soil studies carried out at Mograt Island, the largest of the Nilotic islands in Sudan. Due to its restricted insular environments, Holocene alluvial deposits were observed to be interlocked with archaeological remains of different periods, allowing for a combined chronostratigraphic approach to study both cultural and climatic events. To better understand the environmental context through soil components and pedological features at a microscopic scale, soil block samples were accordingly collected and studied by the application of soil micromorphology. This approach provides insights into the history of Nile terrace aggradation through the suspension of Nile sediment loads under stillwater conditions as well as of the periodical establishment of shallow water pools at the islands’ plateaus by the surface run-off from local rains. Since these patterns vary significantly from the present situation, they offer a key to the scenario in which specific early agricultural and animal herding practices evolved

Geoarchaeological insights into the location of Indus settlements on the plains of northwest India

This article presents a geomorphological and micromorphological study of the locational context of four Indus civilisation archaeological sites—Alamgirpur, Masudpur I and VII, and Burj—all situated on the Sutlej-Yamuna interfluve in northwest India. The analysis indicates a strong correlation between settlement foundation and particular landscape positions on an extensive alluvial floodplain. Each of the analysed sites was located on sandy levees and/or riverbank deposits associated with former channels. These landscape positions would have situated settlements above the level of seasonal floodwater resulting from the Indian summer monsoon. In addition, the sandy soils on the margins of these elevated landscape positions would have been seasonally replenished with water, silt, clay, and fine organic matter, considerably enhancing their capacity for water retention and fertility and making them particularly suitable for agriculture. These former landscapes are obscured by recent modification and extensive agricultural practices. These geoarchaeological evaluations indicate that there is a hidden landscape context for each Indus settlement. This specific type of interaction between humans and their local context is an important aspect of Indus cultural adaptations to diverse, variable, and changing environments

Victoria cabrera site: A middle stone age site at Olduvai gorge, Tanzania

Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) is a key site for the study and comprehension of human evolution in East Africa. However, the origin of Homo sapiens and the Middle Stone Age have been poorly understood in the Gorge thus far. In this study, we present the dating, taphonomic, technological and typological analyses of the lithic industry and faunal remains excavated at the Victoria Cabrera Site (VCS) during the 2017 fieldwork season. The stratigraphic sequence of the site contains several levels of fluvial origin, some of them with lithic and faunal remains. Most remains (lithics and bones) are affected by rounding processes. Infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) dating has provided ages between 90 and 70 ka BP for these layers that can be related to the Marine Isotope Stage 5a. Lithics are scarce and the dominant raw materials are Naibor Soit quarzite and basalt, followed by phonolite, chert and quartz as the most common raw materials. The lithic technology is based on the production of flakes obtained from prepared cores, with the discoid method and, to a lesser extent the Levallois method being the most frequently used. The retouched blanks are described as “substratum” or “domestic” tools (sidescrapers, notches or denticulates). There is just one heavy duty piece and points are absent. The faunal assemblage includes Alcelaphinae, Antilopinae and Equidae. The major parts of the unidentified faunal remains are size 3 ungulates, followed by carcasses of size 2 and size 4 species. We cannot relate lithic and bones because no cut marks or percussion marks have been identified and carnivore action is scarce. In sum, VCS represents the first accurately dated Middle Stone Age site, with lithic and faunal remains in Olduvai Gorge