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1. Origins
- University Press of Florida
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1 Origins The people to whom these ruined sites belonged, lacking posts, these many settlements, widely distributed, they, O Agni, having been expelled by thee, have migrated to another land. Taittiriya Brahmana (2.4.6.8) The most widely known period in South Asian prehistory is the “Indus Age”—a term that encompasses settled life in Pakistan and north-western India from incipient agricultural production after 7000 b.c. to the beginning of the Iron Age about 1000 b.c. (Possehl 2002). The term “Indus civilization” refers to a time during the latter half of the third millennium (2400–1900 b.c.) when Indus sites went through a “mature” phase, best represented by the archaeological record at large urban centers such as Harappa, Mohenjo Daro, Lothal, and Kalibangan (see the Harappa web site at http://www.harappa.com/ for more information). Trade goods, technology, seals, symbols, systems, and ideas were shared by more than a thousand settlements along the banks of the Indus River system—from the seven rivers that made up its headwaters to its fertile deltas on the Arabian Sea (Fig. 1.1). The mature phase of the Indus civilization ended circa 1900 b.c., and the succeeding post-urban phase lasted for most of the second millennium (1900–1000 b.c.) in northwest India and Pakistan. The post-urban phase was characterized by significant decentralization of the core Indus territory. Many of the large population centers were abandoned and an increasing number of small villages and encampments proliferated at the margins of Indus territory and beyond, to the western end of the GangesJumna doab, southern Gujarat, and south into peninsular India. In the Ganges-Jumna region alone, the number of settlements increased from 218 during the mature Harappan to 853 in the post-urban phase (Possehl Figure 1.1. Map of archaeological sites in the Indus Age and the Deccan Chalcolithic. [18.213.110.162] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 09:16 GMT) Origins · 3 2002). The average size of these settlements declined from 13.5 hectares (ha) to 3.6 ha during the post-urban phase. During the second millennium b.c. agricultural villages also dotted the landscape of Maharashtra (Fig. 1.2). These ‘Copper and Stone Age’ villages of west-central peninsular India are collectively referred to by the culture history term “Deccan Chalcolithic.” Based primarily on ceramic typology , this period is divided into four major phases: the Savalda (2200–1800 b.c.), Late Harappan (1800–1600 b.c.), Malwa (1600–1400 b.c.), and Jorwe (1400–700 b.c.). It was during the Savalda (2000–1800 b.c.) that the first Deccan Chalcolithic settlements appear in northern Maharashtra, in the Tapi and Pravara river valleys. The majority of these villages were small, covering about 1 ha of land, and population size in an average village was approximately 100 to 200 people1 (Dhavalikar 1988). During this time, Deccan Chalcolithic people built round or rectangular mud and mud-brick houses. They practiced a diverse subsistence economy based on hunting, fishing, foraging, stock raising, and subsistence agriculture Figure 1.2. Map of Chalcolithic sites in Maharashtra during the second millennium b.c. 4 · Bioarchaeology and Climate Change (Dhavalikar 1988; Dhavalikar, Sankalia, and Ansari 1988; Shinde 2002). They had well-built ceramics and copper technology, although the use of copper was sporadic, perhaps due to the scarcity of raw materials in this area. There were about 50 Deccan Chalcolithic settlements in northern Maharashtra by the beginning of the Late Harappan phase (1800–1600 b.c.). A brick-lined burial chamber, bronze figures, and carved inscriptions at Daimabad resembling Harappan seals are evidence that some of these villages maintained contact with Indus trade networks during this time (Sali 1986). Significant population expansion began during the subsequent Malwa phase (1600–1400 b.c.), and the site of Daimabad soon became a regional center within the Pravara River valley. Archaeologists have speculated that population growth was the impetus for Chalcolithic people to incorporate more agricultural production into their lifestyle during the subsequent Jorwe phase (Dhavalikar 1988). At present, the origin of Deccan Chalcolithic people and their connection to the Harappans remains unclear. The Indus Origin hypothesis suggests that Indus people resettled in central India after the breakup of the Indus civilization, founding villages in what became known as the Malwa and Ahar cultures. Subsequently, through progressive moves southward roughly every 200 years, they eventually colonized Maharashtra (Shinde 1990). Geography, settlement pattern, radiocarbon dates, and some of the structural features at villages...