Millets and Herders: The Origins of Plant Cultivation in Semiarid North Gujarat (India)

Botanical evidence suggests that North Gujarat (India) was a primary center of plant domestication during the mid-Holocene. However, lack of systematic archaeobotanical research and significant taphonomic processes have so far hampered the possibility of substantiating this hypothesis. This paper explores the role of plants in the subsistence strategies of early-middle Holocene populations in this semiarid region and the processes leading to plant cultivation. To do so, we carry out a multiproxy archaeobotanical study —integrating macro and microbotanical remains— at two hunter-gatherer and agropastoral occupations. The results show that the progressive weakening of the Indian summer monsoon ca. 7,000 years ago compelled human populations to adopt seminomadic pastoralism and plant cultivation, which resulted in the domestication of several small millet species, pulses, and sesame.Peer Reviewe

Site Formation Processes and Hunter-Gatherers Use of Space in a Tropical Environment: A Geo-Ethnoarchaeological Approach from South India.

Hunter-gatherer societies have distinct social perceptions and practices which are expressed in unique use of space and material deposition patterns. However, the identification of archaeological evidence associated with hunter-gatherer activity is often challenging, especially in tropical environments such as rainforests. We present an integrated study combining ethnoarchaeology and geoarchaeology in order to study archaeological site formation processes related to hunter-gatherers' ways of living in tropical forests. Ethnographic data was collected from an habitation site of contemporary hunter-gatherers in the forests of South India, aimed at studying how everyday activities and way of living dictate patterns of material deposition. Ethnoarchaeological excavations of abandoned open-air sites and a rock-shelter of the same group located deep in the forests, involved field observations and sampling of sediments from the abandoned sites and the contemporary site. Laboratory analyses included geochemical analysis (i.e., FTIR, ICP-AES), phytolith concentration analysis and soil micromorphology. The results present a dynamic spatial deposition pattern of macroscopic, microscopic and chemical materials, which stem from the distinctive ways of living and use of space by hunter-gatherers. This study shows that post-depositional processes in tropical forests result in poor preservation of archaeological materials due to acidic conditions and intensive biological activity within the sediments. Yet, the multiple laboratory-based analyses were able to trace evidence for activity surfaces and their maintenance practices as well as localized concentrations of activity remains such as the use of plants, metals, hearths and construction materials.The research leading to these results has received funding form the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions—http://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under REA agreement n° 623293 granted to DF at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from PLOS via https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.016418

Shikarpur lithic assemblage: New questions regarding Rohri chert blade production

Recent excavations at Shikarpur, a fortified Harappan site situated near the Gulf of Kuchchh in Gujarat, Western India, brought to light a large collection of Rohri chert blades.  Chert found in the Rohri hill near Sukkur in Sindh, central Pakistan is distinctive and easily identifiable. The wide distribution of standardized Rohri chert blades is often regarded as a testimony to the Harappan efficiency in long distance trade and craft production.  The possibility of localized production of Rohri chert blades in Gujarat is often negated due to the constraints of raw-material availability.  The absence of Rohri chert working debitage from most of the sites in Gujarat, has lent support to this position. The Shikarpur Rohri blade assemblage however incorporates more than 650 blades, a large fluted blade-core and a few Rohri chert debitage.  These have led the excavators to suggest that some of the blades found at Shikarpur were locally produced from raw materials brought to the site from the Rohri hills.  Typo-technological features of the Rohri chert assemblage from Shikarpur have been analysed in this background. These along with metrical features of the assemblage are compared with Rohri chert assemblages from other major Harappan sites in the region to check the validity of the proposed ‘limited local production’

Multi-proxy survey of open-air surface scatters in drylands: Archaeological and physico-chemical characterisation of fossilised dunes in North Gujarat (India)

This research aims at improving our understanding of open-air archaeological surface scatters in drylands, their extension and the intensity of human activities during their occupation. To do so, the study of physico-chemical proxies is integrated to that of archaeological artefacts by means of systematic field survey combined with laboratory sedimentary analyses and a robust statistical approach. In most dry regions, archaeological survey has traditionally aimed at the collection of artefacts. When present, the study of physical and geochemical samples has been limited to excavated archaeological levels. In this work, we evaluate the archaeological significance of physico-chemical proxies from surface samples collected within and around four mid and late-Holocene surface scatters in North Gujarat, a semi-arid region located at the south-west margin of the Thar Desert in India. The four archaeological scatters are found on top of fossilised sand dunes. Archaeologically, they represent subsistence strategies based on hunting and gathering, agro-pastoralism, or a succession/mixture of the two. The four locations were systematically sampled across a linear transect. For each sampling unit, the archaeological materials were quantified and classified by means of a Linear Discriminant Analyses. Physio-chemical variables were ordinated in a PCA space and clustered through a Hierarchical Clustering. Results were displayed along the dune transect and integrated into a Correspondence Analysis. Significant differences are attested in the spatial distribution and content of Ca, P and grain size, allowing us to suggest a set of distinct cultural soilscapes that characterise the dunes of the study area: vertisols (agric horizons in interdunal lower slopes), aridisols (relict dune surfaces in the mid-slope), and anthrosols (top dune). The last show a strong correspondence with the presence of archaeological artefacts, and the different intensity of human footprint are discussed accordingly to potential past subsistence strategies and the intensity of human occupation. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA.This research arises from collaboration between the MS University of Baroda and the IMF-CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) within the framework of the North Gujarat Archaeological Project (NoGAP) and the SimulPast Project CSD2010-00034). F.C.Conesa acknowledges worked on this paper with funding from the JAE-PreDoc program (CSIC and European Social Found). A. L. Balbo worked on this paper under the Juan de la Cierva Programme (MINECO JCI-2011-10734), and with a Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation/Stiftung.Peer reviewe

Diversity of MIS 3 Levallois technology from Motravulapadu, Andhra Pradesh, India‐implications of MIS 3 cultural diversity in South Asia

The chronology and hominin association of the South Asian Middle Palaeolithic have attracted much attention in the last few decades. The emergence of Middle Palaeolithic culture in the region has been debated between the local origins (behavioural change) model based on an early date around 380 ka and the diffusion (biological change) model based on Homo sapiens dispersals from Africa around 120–80 ka. The latter has more consensus, whereas the former requires a more robust chronological framework to attribute the emergence of the Middle Palaeolithic to behavioural changes. In the absence of hominin remains, the presence of Middle Palaeolithic technological trajectories are frequently used as behavioural markers of Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens fossil remains from the regions between Africa and South Asia dated to ∼ 200 ka presents more convincing support for the latter model. Here we present contextual, chronological and technological analysis of Middle Palaeolithic assemblages dated to 52 ka from Motravulapadu, Andhra Pradesh, India. Morphometrical analysis of the lithic assemblage indicates diverse Levallois core reductions were practised at the site at the onset of MIS 3. Further this evidence highlights the significance of MIS 3 cultural diversity in South Asia, likely related to changing population dynamics, cultural drift, and the highly variable climatic context of MIS 3

Did modern human dispersal take a coastal route into India? New evidence from Palaeolithic surveys of Kachchh, Gujarat

ABSTRACTThe Indian Ocean coastline is argued to have been a critical route of modern human dispersal from Africa, introducing Late Palaeolithic industries into South Asia, but a dearth of evidence has prevented a direct evaluation of this. Kachchh (Gujarat, India), located immediately east of the Indus Delta, is an important setting to appraise the Palaeolithic occupation of the western Indian coastline. Targeted survey of Late Pleistocene sediments there found widespread evidence for occupation of Kachchh during the Late Pleistocene: Middle Palaeolithic and possibly Late Acheulean lithic artifacts. The conspicuous absence of Late Palaeolithic industries in these Late Pleistocene deposits, with their presence only noted in Holocene contexts, does not support the model of modern human expansions into India with these industries via the coastal route. We evaluate these results in the context of current debates regarding Late Pleistocene hominin demography, adaptation, and expansions

The first directly dated evidence for Palaeolithic occupation on the Indian coast at Sandhav, Kachchh

South Asia has a rich Palaeolithic heritage, and chronological resolution for this record has substantially improved over the past decade as a result of focused, interdisciplinary research at a number of key sites. Expanding the spatial diversity of dated Palaeolithic sites in South Asia grows increasingly important to examine how patterns of change through time vary within and between the region’s diverse habitats. Critically, alternate models of modern human dispersals into South Asia highlight the significance of either coastal or continental routes of dispersal, but currently no coastal Palaeolithic sites directly dating to the timeframe of human expansions are known. Our previous research in Kachchh was the first study to clearly identify the presence of Palaeolithic sites in Late Pleistocene landscapes in close proximity to the Indian Ocean coastline. Here, we present the first results of surface survey and test excavation at the site of Sandhav (Kachchh, India), approximately 25 km from the modern shoreline. We characterise the geomorphology of the landscape, highlighting multiple phases of alluvial aggradation and post-depositional carbonate formation, associated with Palaeolithic artefacts. To date, excavations have tested the uppermost Pleistocene deposit, yielding a small collection of fresh Middle Palaeolithic artefacts associated with a luminescence age dating to the first half of MIS 5 (∼114 ka), which provides a minimum age for Late Acheulean artefacts in underlying units. We discuss our findings in the context of debates surrounding the timing, lithic technologies, and ecologies associated with the expansions of modern humans into South Asia

Assessing Systematic Blade Production in the Indian Subcontinent with Special Reference to Eastern Gujarat

Blades as a component of lithic assemblages hold significant importance to understanding the more recent part of human evolution, particularly with regard to the emergence and adaptations of Homo sapiens. The systematic production of elongated stone blanks provides several advantages, including a longer cutting edge and high efficiency in raw material utility. However, the reasons behind the development of these technological forms and the chronological patterns of systematic blade production remain poorly understood in many regions, despite a clear overall intensification in the Late Pleistocene. The South Asian Paleolithic archive is full of blade-bearing assemblages, most of which are defined as Upper Paleolithic or Late Paleolithic. However, many of these previously assumed ‘Upper Paleolithic’ tool components prominently appear in Middle Paleolithic contexts. Here, we discuss some of the most recent case studies of blade-bearing assemblages from Eastern Gujarat that show an in situ emergence of blade technology from advanced Middle Paleolithic technology, suggesting localized origins of blade technology