Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:19:55.408Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Water supply and history: Harappa and the Beas regional survey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Rita P. Wright ,
Reid A. Bryson  and
Joseph Schuldenrein
Rita P. Wright
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, New York University, 25 Waverly Place, New York 10003, USA (Email: [email protected])
Reid A. Bryson
Affiliation:
Center for Climatic Research, University of Wisconsin, 1225 W. Dayton St., Madison, WI 53706-1695, USA (Email: [email protected])
Joseph Schuldenrein
Affiliation:
Geoarchaeology Research Associates, 5912 Spencer Avenue, Riverdale, New York 10471, USA (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Introducing the methods of archaeoclimatology, the authors measure the relative locus of the monsoons, the intensity of winter rains and the volume of water in the rivers in the Upper Indus, in the region of Harappa. They also note the adoption of a multi-cropping agricultural system as a possible strategy designed to adjust to changing conditions over time. They find that around 3500 BC the volume of water in the rivers increases, and the rivers flood, implying annual soil refreshment and the consequent development of agriculture. By contrast, from around 2100 BC the river flow begins to fall while the winter rains increase. This time-bracket correlates nicely with the brief flourishing of Harappa. The locally derived evidence from Harappa combined with the Beas survey data provide a model for understanding the abandonment of settlements in the Upper Indus and possibly the wider civilisation.

Keywords

IndusHarappaagricultureclimateriver flow
Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 82 , Issue 315 , March 2008 , pp. 37 - 48
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amundson, R. & Pendall, E.. 1991. Pedology and Late Quaternary environments surrounding Harappa: a review and synthesis, in Meadow, R.H. (ed.) Harappa Excavations 1986–1990: a multidisciplinary approach to third millennium urbanism (Monographs in World Archaeology 3): 13–27. Madison (WI): Prehistory Press.Google Scholar
Bryson, R.A. 1994. On integrating climatic change and culture change studies. Human Ecology 22 (1): 115–28.Google Scholar
Bryson, R.A. 1997. Proxy indications of Holocene winter rains in Southwest Asia compared with simulated rainfall, in Dalfes, H.N., Kukla, G. & Weiss, H. (ed.) Third Millennium BC Climate Change and Old World Collapse (proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop held at Kemer, Turkey, September 19-24, 1994) (NATO ASI Series 1, vol. 49): 465–73. Berlin & London: Springer.Google Scholar
Bryson, R.A. 2005. Archaeoclimatology, in Oliver, J.E. (ed.) The Encyclopedia of World Climatology: 58–63. Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Bryson, R.A. & Bryson, R.U.. 1997. Macrophysical climatic modeling of Africa's Late Quaternary climate: site-specific, high-resolution applications for archaeology. African Archaeological Review 14 (3): 143–60.Google Scholar
Bryson, R.A. & Bryson, R.U.. 2000. Site-specific high-resolution models of the monsoon for Africa and Asia. Global and Planetary Change 26: 77–84.Google Scholar
Bryson, R.A. & DeWall, K.M. (ed.). 2007a. A Paleoclimatology Workbook: High Resolution, Site-Specific, Macrophysical Climate Modeling. Hot Springs (SD): The Mammoth Site (http://www.mammothsite.com).Google Scholar
Bryson, R.A. & DeWall, K.M. 2007b. Environments of the Northwest Entrada: an examination of climate, environment and timing in the peopling of the Americas from the northwest, in Stenger, A. & Schneider, A.L. (ed.) Proceedings of the International Science conference, Science in Archaeology, Houston 2007: 35–59. Institute for Archaeological Studies.Google Scholar
Courty, M.-A. 1995. Late Quaternary environmental changes and natural constraints to ancient land use (Northwest India), in Johnson, E. (ed.) Ancient Peoples and Landscapes: 105–26. Lubbock (TX): Museum of Texas Tech University.Google Scholar
Enzel, Y., Ely, L.L., Mishra, S., Ramesh, R., Amit, R., Lazar, B., Rajaguru, S.N., Baker, V.R. & Sandler, A.. 1999. High-resolution Holocene environmental changes in the Thar Desert, Northwestern India. Science 284: 125–8.Google Scholar
Flam, L. 1993. Fluvial geomorphology of the Lower Indus Basin (Sindh, Pakistan) and the Indus civilization, in Schroder, J.F. Jr. (ed.) Himalayas to the Sea: Geology, Geomorphology and the Quaternary: 265–87. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Flam, L. 1999. Ecology and population mobility in the prehistoric settlement of the Lower Indus Valley, Sindh, Pakistan, in Meadows, A. & Meadows, P.S. (ed.) The Indus River: Biodiversity, Resources, Humankind: 313–23. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Fuller, D.Q & Madella, M.. 2002. Issues in Harappan archaeobotany: retrospect and prospect, in Settar, S. & Korisettar, R. (ed.) Indian Archaeology in Retrospect, Volume 2 (Protohistory), Archaeology of the Harappan Civilization: 317–90. New Delhi: Indian Council of Historical Research/Manohar.Google Scholar
Harvey, M.D. & Flam, L.. 1993. Prehistoric soil and water detention structures (Gabarbands) at Phang, Sindh Kohistan, Pakistan: an adaptation to environmental change? Geoarchaeology 8: 109–26.Google Scholar
Jorgensen, D.W., Harvey, M.D., Schumm, S.A. & Flam, L.. 1993. Morphology and dynamics of the Indus River: implications for the Mohenjo-daro site, in Schroder, J.F. Jr. (ed.) Himalayas to the Sea: Geology, Geomorphology and the Quaternary: 288–326. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Khadkikar, A.S., Rajashekhar, C. & Kimaran, K.RN.. 2004. Palaeogeography around the Harappa port of Lothal, Gujarat, western India. Antiquity 78: 896–903.Google Scholar
McKean, M.B. 1983. The palynology of Balakot, a pre-Harappan and Harappan age site in Las Bela, Pakistan (PhD dissertation, Southern Methodist University, Dallas). Ann Arbor (MI): University Microfilms.Google Scholar
Madella, M. & Fuller, D.Q. 2006. Palaeoecology and the Harappan civilisation of South Asia: a reconsideration. Quaternary Science Review 25: 1283–1301.Google Scholar
Miller, L.J. 2003. Secondary products and urbanism in South Asia: the evidence for traction at Harappa, in Weber, S. & Belcher, W.R. (ed). Indus Ethnobiology: 251–326. Lanham (MD): Lexington.Google Scholar
Mughal, M.R. 1997. Ancient Cholistan: archaeology and architecture. Lahore/Rawalpindi: Ferozsons.Google Scholar
Pande, B.M. 1977. Archaeological remains along the ancient Sarasvati, in Agrawal, D.P. & Pande, B.M. (ed.) Ecology and Archaeology of Western India (Proceedings of a workshop held at the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, February 23-26, 1976): 55–69. Delhi: Concept Publishing.Google Scholar
Patel, A. & Meadow, R.. 1998. The exploitation of wild and domestic water buffalo in prehistoric northwestern South Asia, in Buitenhuis, H., Bartosiewicz, L. & Choyke, A.M. (ed.) Archaeozoology of the Near East III ( Proceedings of the third international ICAZ symposium on the archaeozoology of southwestern Asia and adjacent areas): 180–99. Groningen: Centre for Archaeological Research & Consultancy.Google Scholar
Pendall, E. & Amundson, R.. 1990a. The stable isotope chemistry of pedogenic carbonate in an alluvial soil from the Punjab, Pakistan. Soil Science 149: 199–211.Google Scholar
Pendall, E. 1990b. Soil/landform relationships surrounding the Harappa archaeological site, Pakistan. Geoarchaeology 5: 301–22.Google Scholar
Phadtare, N.R. 2000. Sharp decrease in summer monsoon strength 4000–3500 cal yr BP in the central Higher Himalaya of India based on pollen evidence from Alpine peat. Quaternary Research 53: 122–9.Google Scholar
Ruter, A.H., Arzt, J., Vavrus, S., Bryson, R.A. & Kutzbach, J.E.. 2004. Climate and environment of the subtropical and tropical Americas (NH) in the Mid-Holocene: comparison of observations with climate model simulations. Quaternary Science Reviews 23: 663–79.Google Scholar
Schuldenrein, J. 2002. Geoarchaeological perspectives on the Harappan sites of South Asia, in Settar, S. & Korisettar, R. (ed.) Indian Archaeology in Retrospect, Volume 2 (Protohistory), Archaeology of the Harappan Civilization: 47–80. New Delhi: Indian Council of Historical Research/Manohar.Google Scholar
Schuldenrein, J., Wright, R.P., Rafique Mughal, M. & Afzal Khan, M.. 2004. Landscapes, soils and mound histories of the Upper Indus Valley, Pakistan: new insights on the Holocene environments near ancient Harappa. Journal of Archaeological Sciences 31: 777–97.Google Scholar
Singh, G., Joshi, R.D., Chopra, S.K. & Singh, A.B.. 1974. Late Quaternary history of vegetation and climate of the Rajasthan Desert, India. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London (Series B, Biological Sciences) 267 (889): 467–501.Google Scholar
Singh, G., Wasson, R.J. & Agrawal, D.P.. 1990. Vegetational and seasonal climatic changes since the last full glacial in the Thar Desert, northwestern India. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 64: 351–8.Google Scholar
Staubwasser, M., Sirocko, F., Grootes, P.M. & Segl, M.. 2003. Climate change at the 4.2 ka BP termination of the Indus Valley civilization and Holocene South Asian monsoon variability. Geophysical Research Letters 30: 1425–9.Google Scholar
Tengberg, M. & Thiébault, S.. 2003. Vegetation history and wood exploitation in Pakistani Baluchistan from the Neolithic to the Harappan Period: the evidence from charcoal analysis, in Weber, S. & Belcher, W.R. (ed.) Indus Ethnobiology: 21–64. Lanham (MD): Lexington.Google Scholar
Thiébault, S. 1988a. Palaeoenvironment and ancient vegetation of Baluchistan based on charcoal analysis of archaeological sites. Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy 54: 501–9.Google Scholar
Thiébault, S. 1988b. L'évolution de la végétation à Mehrgarh, in Jarrige, J.F. (ed.) Les cités oubliées de l'Indus: 44–5. Paris: Musée National des Arts Asiatiques Guimet.Google Scholar
Thiébault, S. 1989. A note on the ancient vegetation of Baluchistan based on charcoal analysis of the latest periods from Mehrgarh, Pakistan, in Frifelt, K. & Sørensen, P. (ed.) South Asian Archaeology 1985 (Papers from the eighth International Conference of South Asian Archaeologists in Western Europe, Moesgaard Museum, Denmark, 1-5 July 1985): 186–8. London: Curzon & Riverdale (MD): Riverdale Company.Google Scholar
Thiébault, S. 1992. Complementary results in anthracological analysis from sites in Baluchistan, in Jarrige, C. (ed.) South Asian Archaeology 1989 ( Papers from the tenth International Conference of South Asian Archaeologists in Western Europe, Musée National des Arts Asiatiques-Guimet, Paris, 3-7 July 1989): 271–6. Madison (WI): Prehistory Press.Google Scholar
Von Rad, U., Schaaf, M., Michels, K.H., Schulz, H., Berger, W.H. & Sirocko, F.. 1999. A 5,000-yr record of climate change in varved sediments from the Oxygen Minimum Zone off Pakistan, northeastern Arabian Sea. Quaternary Research: 139–53.Google Scholar
Weber, S.A. 2003. Archaeobotany at Harappa: indications for change, in Weber, S. & Belcher, W.R. (ed.) Indus Ethnobiology: 175–98. Lanham (MD): Lexington.Google Scholar
Wilhelmy, H. 1969. Das Urstromtal am Ostrand der Indusebene und das Sarasvati-Problem. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie Supplementband 8: 76–93.Google Scholar
Wright, R.P., Afzal, M. Khan & Schuldenrein, J.. 2002. Urbanism in the Indus Valley: environment and settlement on the Beas River, in Unesco Colloqium Indus Valley Civilization: Dialogue among Civilizations: 102–13. Islamabad: Crystal Printers.Google Scholar
Wright, R.P., Afzal, M. Khan & Schuldenrein, J.. 2005a. The emergence of satellite communities along the Beas drainage: preliminary results from Lahoma Lal Tibba and Chak Purbane Syal, in Jarrige, C. & Lefèvre, V. (ed.) South Asian Archaeology 2001 (Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of the European Association of South Asian Archaeologists, College de France, Paris, 2-6 July 2001): 327–35. Paris: Recherche sur les civilisations.Google Scholar
Wright, R.P., Schuldenrein, J., Afzal Khan, M. & Malin-Boyce, S.. 2005b. The Beas River landscape and settlement survey: preliminary results from the site of Vainiwal, in Frank-Vogt, U. & Weisshaar, H.-J. (ed.) South Asian Archaeology 2003 (Proceedings of the 17th International Conference of the European Association of South Asian Archaeologists, Bonn, 7-11 July 2003): 101–11. Aachen: Linden Soft.Google Scholar