A Potential Early Cattle-Based Faunal Economy from the Indus Valley Civilization Evidence from the Harappan Settlement of Bhirrana in Northern India

Abstract

In South Asia, among the excavated faunal assemblages recovered from numerous sites associated with the Indus Valley civilization, the skeletal elements of domestic cattle (Bos indicus), also referred to as zebu or humped cattle, are most common. While some evidence for the earliest use of domestic cattle is traced to the Aceramic Neolithic layers at Meh- rgarh in Baluchistan (7,000–5,500 BC), there is limited evidence for it in the Pre-Harappan culture at sites attributed to the Indus Valley civilization. Hence the preliminary cattle evidence from Bhirrana—a Harappan settlement in northern India with Pre-Harappan layers—is significant. Cattle remains are common at this site throughout its occupation, includ- ing from the earliest Hakra Ware/Pre-Harappan phase which has provided a mean Carbon-14 date of 8.35 ± 0.14 ka BP (8,597–8,171 years BP/7,570–7,180 cal BC) broadly contemporary with the earliest Aceramic Neolithic phase at Mehr- garh. The identification of domestic cattle in this particular phase suggests that the predecessors of the Harappan people at Bhirrana were already managing these livestock animals prior to the beginning of the Harappan cultural phases, at a time when the intensity of the monsoon was high, although some direct dates on the cattle remains themselves are needed in order to confirm this. Cattle husbandry was found to continue through the Early Harappan to the Mature Harappan period, during which a strong cattle-based faunal economy was established, despite a decline in climatic con- ditions. In this paper we discuss the preliminary analysis of a portion of the faunal remains from this site and aspects related to the exploitation of domestic cattle during the various cultural periods at Bhirrana.