Subsistence System, Paleoecology, and ¹⁴C Chronology at Kanmer, a Harappan Site in Gujarat, India

Abstract

This article presents the results of 4 excavation seasons in which botanical and animal remains were collected at the Harappan site of Kanmer in the Kachchh District of Gujarat, India. The findings revealed a subsistence economy consisting of food production with domesticated plants and animals, hunting, fishing, and wild plant gathering. Cultural relics and radiocarbon dating support our identification of different cultural periods at the site. This study provides new insights into the subsistence strategies during different phases of occupation and offers the potential for new subsistence models to be applied at nearby sites, particularly in this peripheral zone of the Indus civilization.

Monsoon in history and present

“…The globally recognized arid event at ~4200 yr BP prompted the settlers to adopt drought-resistant small-grained millets for sustenance (Weber, 1991;Reddy, 1994;Pokharia, 2011Pokharia, , 2017b in the peripheral zone (Gujarat), as this region lacks any major perennial rivers. Adverse climatic conditions due to the declining ISM might have provided suitable conditions for these crops in the region of Gujarat, thus providing clues about human adaptation capabilities such as changes in subsistence patterns and changing food habits (Fuller, 2006;Pokharia, 2011;Goyal et al, 2013). Despite rapidly changing monsoon, diversification in crop economy during the Chalcolithic (4200 to 3500 yr BP) phase is evident by wheat, barley, rice, millets, pulses, oil-yielding crops and fibre crop cultivation from archaeological sites of northern Rajasthan and Ganga Plain (Saraswat, 1992(Saraswat, , 2004Pokharia, 2008Pokharia, , 2011Pokharia et al, 2009).…”