A study of fat residues in ancient ceramic vessels from the cities of the Indus Civilization in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh today suggests that the prehistoric people at the time ate animal meat such as cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, and pigs as well as dairy products.
The study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, involved the extraction and identification of fats and oils trapped in old ceramic vessels during their use in the past. gone.
Based on the analysis, the scientists, including those from Cambridge University in the UK, revealed how these old vessels were used and what was cooked in them.
“Our study of lipid residues in Indus pottery reveals the dominance of animal products in containers, such as the meat of invertebrates such as pigs, regenerated animals such as cattle or buffalo, and sheep or goats, which as well as dairy products, ”said study co-author Akshyeta Suryanarayan, a PhD student in the Department of Archeology, University of Cambridge. Suryanarayan, who is currently a postdoctoral researcher at CNRS, France, said her team found the bulk of non-reactive animal fat in the vessels – even though there weren’t many the remains of animals such as pigs were present.
“It is possible that plant products or a mixture of plant and animal products have been used in containers, creating inevitable results,” she said.
Despite the high percentages of the remains of domestic regenerating animals found at these sites, archaeologists said there is little direct evidence of the use of dairy products in the vessels.
“The results used in vessels across rural and urban Indus sites in northwestern India are similar to the Harappan Mature (c.2600 / 2500-1900 BC),” said Cameron Petrie, senior. author of the study from Cambridge University.
“This shows that while certain urban and rural settlements and people living in them used different types of material culture and pottery, they may have had culinary practices and ways of preparing food,” Petrie said.
The scientists believe the findings highlight the stability of rural settlements in northwestern India at the time of the transformation of the Indus Civilization, and during a period of higher growth. “There is also evidence that rural towns in northwestern India showed continuity in the ways in which they cooked or prepared food from the urban cities (Mature Harappan) to suburban times (Harappan not survives), ”said Petrie.
He said this was particularly at a stage of climate instability after 2100 BC, suggesting that daily practices at small rural sites continue beyond cultural and climate changes.
“These results show that the use of lipid residues, along with other methods in biology, has the potential to open up exciting new avenues for understanding the connection between the environment, food products, material culture, and ancient society. in South Asia protohistoric, ”Suryanarayan concluded.
(This story was published from a wire group group without altering the text.)
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