Vast tracts of the landscape of modern South Asia are covered in fields and farmlands.
In the northwest, cultivation of wheat and barley watered by winter rains predominates. In the east, the low-lying land is covered in a blanket of rice watered by summer rains, while in the south coconut groves play a highly important role in agricultural economies.
Within this expanse there is a small but scattered population for whom agriculture has had a limited role, and though marginalized, hunter-gatherer groups have played important parts in the socioeconomy since prehistory.[496] Additionally, shifting cultivators and nomadic pastoralists have co-existed alongside settled agriculturalists since, and undoubtedly before, written records began. The interplay of all of these groups is hard to characterize in prehistory, particularly in the Neolithic where evidence is limited to a handful of material and environmental remains. This makes it hard to pinpoint when and where agriculture began in the subcontinent. Indeed, the prehistory of South Asia is uniquely muddled and the mixing of traditions has been one of its hallmarks. Domesticates from South Asia, East Asia, Africa, and Southwest Asia were all introduced to various parts of the subcontinent at different times and all played a part in the development of local agricultural communities. While archaeological investigations into the origins of agriculture in South Asia are not as developed as those in other areas (see Chapter 8 on Southwest Asia and Chapter 22 on Europe in this volume), generations of work have shed light on independent domestications and agricultural developments across this region.In general, the natural ecology of much of the subcontinent is characterized by the yearly monsoons that bring the majority of annual rainfall in as
Map io.i South Asia showing principal sites mentioned in the text: 1.
Sheri Khan Tarakai; 2. Rana Ghundai; 3. Jalipur; 4. Harappa; 5. Mehrgarh; 6. Tokwa; 7. Lahuradewa; 8. Napachik; 9. Kot Diji; io. Damdama; ii. Amri; 12. Koldihwa; 13. Mahagara; 14. Senuwar; 15. Kuchai; i6. Salabhdihi; i7. Gopalpur; i8. Golbai Sasan; i9. Bajpur; 2o. Kodekal; 2i. Budihal; 22. Watgal; 23. Utnar; 24. Sanganakallu.little as two weeks, heavily influencing socioeconomic life. Early agricultural communities in many areas may have been severely hindered by the monsoon. The stark seasonal variability created in some regions would have made adapting to settled life incredibly difficult. Alongside inherent issues such as the increase in disease associated with living in close proximity to livestock, regular flooding episodes and/or drought would have had to be overcome. Nevertheless, the Neolithic in South Asia, as elsewhere, was an era of change in which food production tended to replace foraging, sedentism increased over mobility, and population density tended to increase. The Neolithic period, and how it is defined chronologically, varies by region in South Asia, beginning by c. 7000 BCE in some areas, or by 3500-2500 bce in others. By the end of the Neolithic, sedentism was present in many parts of the subcontinent, pottery production was nearly universal, and some textile production and metallurgy had been established. This period continued in many areas up to c. 1000 bce, with the direct transition to what was in effect an Iron Age. A distinct Bronze Age is only recognized in the Indus valley region and is associated with the rise and decline of the urban Indus civilization. It has also been suggested that it was during the Neolithic that much of the basic linguistic geography of the subcontinent is likely to have been established, including the regional distributions of Dravidian, Munda, and Indo-Aryan language families.[497]
While there remains debate over the extent to which early farming was brought about by the immigration of farmers, adoption of domesticates by local hunter-gatherers, or local domestication processes from wild forms, it is clear that patterns of agricultural origin were regionally varied across South Asia.
Domesticates included those that were derived from indigenous wild species, as well as those introduced from elsewhere, especially those from West Asia. Key field crop plants that were native domesticates of South Asia include several millets (Brachiaria ramosa, Echinochloafrumentacea, Panicum sumatrense, Paspalum scrobiculatum, and Setaria pumila), pulses (Cajanus cajan, Macrotyloma uniflorum, Vigna mungo, Vigna radiata, and Vigna aconitifolia), sesame and cotton (Gossypium arboreum and Sesamum indicum), and possibly taro (Colocasia esculenta).[498] In addition, water buffalo and zebu cattle were animal domesticates indigenous to the subcontinent (Table 10.1).[499]This chapter summarizes the archaeological evidence for the Neolithic and early food production across South Asia, with a focus on four major macro-regions (Table 10.1; Figure 10.1) with distinct chronological sequences, crop ecologies, and cultural traditions:
1. the northwest, including the greater Indus valley
2. the Gangetic plains
3. eastern India
4. savanna India
It has been argued that each of these areas developed early agricultural practices and ‘Neolithic'-type societies independently.[500] Nevertheless, within any of these macro-regions it is plausible that a mosaic of multicentric origins took place, such
Table 10.1 The animals and plants of South Asia that may have been domesticated and the areas in which their domestication may have occurred; numbers in brackets refer to the regions shown in Figure 10.1.
| Common | Area of earliest appearance in the | |
| name | Latin name | archaeological record |
| Animals | ||
| Pig | Sus scrofa | A genetically separate lineage in India? |
| Water buffalo | Bubalus bubalis | Northwest, lower Indus; more than once? (1) |
| Zebu cattle | Bos indicus | Northwest, Indus (1) |
| Food crops | ||
| Browntop millet | Brachiaria ramosa | South India (4) |
| Cucumber | Cucumis sativus | North/northwest India? (multiple origins?) (2, 1?) |
| Horsegram | Macrotyloma uniflorum | South India and northwest (1, 4) |
| Kodo millet | Paspalum scrobiculatum | India |
| Little millet | Panicum sumatrense | Western India (Gujarat, Punjab) |
| Melon | Cucumis melo | Northern India (additional origins in East Asia, and possibly Egypt) (2) |
| Moth bean | Vigna aconitifolia | North India? |
| Mung bean | Vigna radiata | South India and northwest (1, 4) |
| Pigeon pea | Cajanus cajan | East India: Orissa (3) |
| Rice (indica subspecies) | Oryza sativa subsp. indica | North India: middle Ganges (2) |
| Sawa millet | Echinochloa frumentacea | Secondary rice weed, north India? (2?) |
| Sesame | Sesamum indicum | Northwest, Indus (1) |
| Urd bean | Vigna mungo | Western India (Gujarat) |
| Textile crops | ||
| Tree cotton | Gossypium arboreum | Northwest, Indus (1) |
| Cylindrical luffa | Luffa cylindrica | Northern India (additional origins in East Asia, and possibly Egypt) (2) |
| Jute | Corchorus olitorius, Corchorus capsularis | North/northwest India? (2, 1?) |
Figure 10.1 Timeline of the South Asian Neolithic, focusing on the areas mentioned in the text and showing the approximate time that various crops and livestock enter the archaeological record.
Map io.2 Map of South Asia showing the areas mentioned in the text, the main sites mentioned in the text, and the South Asian species that most represent the early agriculture of each area (key: Skt = Sheri Khan Tarakai, Hrp = Harappa, Mgr = Mehrgarh, Dmd = Damdama, Tkw = Tokwa, Lhd = Lahuradewa, Mhg = Mahagara, Kch = Kuchai, Slbd = Sulabhdihi, Gpr = Gopalpur, Gbsn = Golbai Sasan, Kdk = Kodekal, Bdl = Budihal, Utr = Utnur, Sgk = Sanganakallu). i: the northwest including the greater Indus valley; 2: the Gangetic plains; 3: eastern India; 4: savanna India.
as the suggested independence in crop origins in Saurashtra (Gujarat) versus that in the southern Deccan (Karanataka), or between the Indo-Gangetic divide and upper Ganges (Punjab/Haryana/western Uttar Pradesh) versus the middle Ganges (eastern Uttar Pradesh/Bihar). Even so, it is clear that in many areas agricultural societies only emerge in the archaeological record with the influx of agricultural elements from other parts of the subcontinent and beyond. Within the subcontinent as a whole, there have been differing and conflicting directions for the diffusion of cultivation.[501] For example, the evidence from the Gangetic plains suggests that a South Asian agriculture spreading from east to west met a Southwest Asian agriculture spreading broadly west to east. These contrasting patterns have encouraged some efforts at modelling the interaction of multiple currents of agricultural and demographic spread.[502] This review will focus on the current evidence that constrains the chronology of origins, the biogeography of origins, and the main trends in settlement-subsistence systems (Figure 10.2).