The Gangetic plains
Towards the middle Ganges plains there is clear evidence of a strongly indigenous Neolithic tradition, which included the development of rice cultivation and eventual sedentism. There remains room for debate as to whether or not true village farming (sedentism, with domesticated crops and animals and an agriculture-dominated economy) developed on its own or only after influences from wheat-barley-sheep-goat systems of the greater Indus region, but there is clear evidence for a unique rice-based Neolithic.
The first evidence for rice in South Asia comes from the site of Lahuradewa, one of the most important in the subcontinent.[525] The site also potentially provides evidence for the earliest ceramics in South Asia. Lahuradewa is in eastern Uttar Pradesh, situated on an oxbow pond of a former Ganges tributary. The smaller tributaries, and oxbow ponds, would have lent themselves to fishing, which is likely to have been a major resource of Mesolithic and Neolithic alike in the middle Ganges region. Lahuradewa may have been occupied as early as c. 9000 bce, but certainly by c. 7000-6000 bce, which is confirmed by a direct date on rice (Oryza sp.) at c. 6400 bce. Rice grains and chaff have been recovered from the early deposits, suggesting that rice was harvested at this site. Rice-type phytoliths and an increase in grass-type pollen found in a pollen core were dated to c. 6000 bce,[526] and it is therefore not surprising that the mound has been heralded as a very early rice farming site, perhaps rivalling those of the Yangtze, China, for the first domestic rice. However, it is not agreed that the rice from Lahuradewa was actually domestic, and the degree of sedentism at the site is unclear.
Recent synthesis of the genetics and archaeology of rice suggests that the indica subspecies of domesticated rice associated with this region is not a truly independent domesticate.
Instead, it shared key domestication mutations with East Asian japonica rice. This indicates that early hybridization between a fully domesticated japonica and wild-type (but managed or cultivated) proto-indica created the domestic O. s. indica.'[527] That proto-indica was under management is implied by the preservation of traits that would not have survived if introduced into truly wild populations on the Ganges plains. Instead human management of wild rice habitats and resowing would provide a context in which domestication traits from japonica could have been successful. This is supported by the archaeological evidence from Lahuradewa and by micro charcoal found in a core taken from Lahuradewa Lake.[528] The burning of vegetation, which produced increased levels of micro charcoal c. 7200 bce, may have occurred as part of a wild rice management routine where rival vegetation was burnt to provide weed-free locations in which to grow rice.Lahuradewa is an unusual site in that it provides evidence from the very early Neolithic to the Chalcolithic. Equally unusual is that radiocarbon dates from the site push back the antiquity of early rice harvesting to at least c. 6400 BCE. However, much like Mehrgarh, there are no other known sites in this area with such an antiquity. Instead the majority of secure radiocarbon dates for the early layers of Neolithic settlements, including Jhusi, Koldihwa, and Tokwa, fall around 2500-2000 bce, contemporary with Lahuradewa period iB.[529] During this period wheat, barley, lentil, sheep/goats, and zebu cattle begin to appear in the archaeological record. These would have crossed into the Gangetic plains from the northwest, via the Indus civilization.
After 2000 bce south Indian crops were adopted into the agriculture of the area, including browntop millet, horsegram, and mung bean. This points to trade contacts across the Vindhyas hills to the Deccan in the south, distinct from the more obvious cultural connections upriver towards the Indus.
In summary we have three phases: a proto-indica rice Neolithic or Neolithic- Mesolithic (Lahuradewa phase ia, 7000-2500 bce), a formative Village Neolithic (Lahuradewa phase ib, 2500-2000 bce), and an established Village Neolithic/Chalcolithic (Lahuradewa phase 2, 2000-1000 bce), after which there was a transition to the Iron Age. Earlier dates have been proposed for the beginning of the formative Village Neolithic, c. 5000-4000 bce; however, these primarily come from mixed charcoal samples (with the inherent issues of the Old Wood Effect) and/or from disturbed deposits.[530]Early permanent agricultural settlements in the Ganges grew wheats and barley and reared sheep/goats and cattle. By c. 2500-2000 bce rice is found at many sites, including Damdama, Senuwar, and Mahagara.[531] This period marks a major agricultural development to a double-cropping system, with summer crops (wheats, barley, etc.) and winter crops (rice, etc.) grown in the same year. Culturally this period shows a classic developed Neolithic society. Pottery includes cord-impressed ware, and stone tools include polished celts and quern stones. The sites of Koldihwa, Senuwar, and Narhan, among others, provide evidence for thatched wattle-and-daub buildings, and burnt lumps of clay with the impressions of reeds and/or bamboo give an indication of the types of building material used. These structures tended to be circular, for example at Tokwa, with internal hearths, and were often encircled by post holes.[532] Perhaps the clearest evidence for the importance of double-cropping comes from these buildings, which have rarely been found prior to it. The need, and indeed the ability, to stay in one location to take advantage of the seasonal flooding of the Ganges and its plains arose with rice.
In a similar vein to the rest of South Asia, we have clear evidence for the continuation of aceramic Mesolithic cultures into the Neolithic in this region.
Damdama, for example, was occupied up to 2000 bce, Lekhahia provides a date of c. 2100 bce, and Sarai-Nahar-Rai and Mahadaha of c. 1000 bce.[533] These sites often have shallow archaeological deposits, indicating seasonal occupation, but some of the latest dates could be plagued by intrusive material. Circular structures with hearths and burnt plaster floors have been discovered at Damdama, Mahadaha, and Sarai-Nahar-Rai, but perhaps more excitingly a significant number of human burials were also found.[534] Zooarchaeological assemblages are dominated by deer and gazelle,[535] and archaeobotanical assemblages show a reliance on wild foods, including rice.[536] Taken as a whole, the middle Ganges region displays a particularly protracted transition from the exploitation of wild rice (after 7000 bce ) to fully sedentary agropastoral villages by around 2000 bce, alongside persistent pockets of hunter-gatherer-fisher Mesolithic cultures. Once intensive rice production was established, however, during the second millennium bce, the population grew rapidly and social complexity ultimately emerged during the period of Iron Age urbanism that took place in the middle of the first millennium bce.