Plant macroremains from Sarethi: An Early Historic site in Saryu region of Ganga Plain, Uttar Pradesh

Anil K. Pokharia; Pushp Lata Singh; Neelam Mishra; Anoop Kumar; Upendra Singh; Alka Srivastava; Anjali Trivedi; Himani Patel; Dipak Kumar Shukla; Chandra Bhushan Gupta; Md. Afroz

doi:10.54991/jop.2019.39

Authors

Anil K. Pokharia Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, 53 University Road, Lucknow 226007, India
Pushp Lata Singh Department of AIHC and Archaeology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005
Neelam Mishra Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, 53 University Road, Lucknow 226007, India
Anoop Kumar Department of AIHC and Archaeology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005
Upendra Singh Department of AIHC and Archaeology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005
Alka Srivastava Department of Botany, Dayanand College, Kanpur 208001
Anjali Trivedi Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, 53 University Road, Lucknow 226007, India
Himani Patel Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, 53 University Road, Lucknow 226007, India
Dipak Kumar Shukla Department of AIHC and Archaeology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005
Chandra Bhushan Gupta Department of AIHC and Archaeology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005
Md. Afroz Department of AIHC and Archaeology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54991/jop.2019.39

Keywords:

Sarethi, Archaeobotany, Early Historic, Ganga Plain, Double–cropping

Abstract

The paper highlights additional data on the carbonized remains of crop plants, weeds and wild taxa recovered from excavations at Sarethi, a multicultural site in district Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh. The field–crops are represented by the grains and seeds of Oryza sativa (rice), Hordeum vulgare (barley), Triticum aestivum (bread wheat), T. sphaerococcum (dwarf wheat), Pisum arvense (field pea), Lens culinaris (lentil), Lathyrus sativus (grass pea), Vigna sp. (green/black gram), Macrotyloma uniflorum (horse gram), Linum usitatissimum (linseed), and Gossypium arboreum/herbaceum (cotton) dating back to 200 BCE–700 CE. In addition, few weeds and wild taxa denotative of cultivated fields and surrounding vegetation have also been recorded in the assemblage. The plant remains have been discussed and compared with the information on plant based subsistence economy from other sites in the region.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

Costantini L & Costantini Biasini L 1985. Agriculture in Baluchistan between the 7th and the 3rd millennium BC. Newsletter of Baluchistan Studies 2: 16–30.

Chauhan MS, Sharma C, Singh IB & Sharma S 2004. Proxy records of Late Holocene vegetation and climate changes from Basaha Jheel, Central Ganga Plain. Journal of Palaeontological Society of India 49: 27–34.

Chauhan MS, Pokharia AK & Singh IB 2009. Pollen record of Holocene vegetation, climate change and human habitation from Lahuradewa Lake, Sant Kabir Nagar District, Uttar Pradesh, India. Man and Environment 34: 88–100.

Chauhan MS, Pokharia AK & Srivastava RK 2015. Late Quaternary vegetation history, climatic variability and human activity in the Central Ganga Plain, deduced by pollen proxy records from Karela Jheel, India. Quaternary International 371: 144–156.

Fuller DQ, Korisettar Ravi, Venkatasubbaiah PC & Jones Martin K 2004. Early plant domestications in southern India: some preliminary archaeobotanical results. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 13: 115–129.

Harvey L Emma & Fuller DQ 2005. Investigating crop processing using phytolith analysis: the example of rice and millets. Journal of Archaeological Science 32: 739–752.

Liu Xinyi, Lister DL, Zhao Z, Staff RA, Jones P, Zhou L, Pokharia AK, Petrie CA, Pathak A, Lu H, Matuzeviciute GM, Bates J, Pilgram TK & Jones MK 2016. The virtues of small grain size: potential pathways to distinguishing feature of Asian wheats. Quaternary International 426: 107–119.

Liu Xinyi, Diane L Lister, Zhijun Zhao, Cameron A Petrie, Xiong sheng Zeng, Penelope J Jones, Richard A Staff, Pokharia AK, Jennifer Bates, Ravindra N Singh, Steven A Weber, Giedre Motuzaite Matuzeviciute, Guanghui Dong, Haiming Li, Hongliang Lu, Hongen Jiang, Jianxin Wang, Jian Ma, Duo Tian, Guiyun Jin, Liping Zhou, Xiaohong Wu & Martin K Jones 2017. Journey to the East: diverse routes and variable flowering times for wheat and barley en route to prehistoric China. PLoS ONE. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0187405.

Maeson LJG van der 1986. Cajanus DC and Atylosia W & A (Leguminosae). Agricultural University Wageningen Papers 84–85, Agricultural University, Wageningen.

Maeson LJG van der 1995. Pigeon pea Cajanus cajan. In: Smartt JS & Simmonds N (Editors)—Evolution of Crop Plants. 2nd Edition. Longman Scientific and Technical, Harlow, pp 251–255.

Pearsall DM 2001. Palaeoethnobotany: A Handbook of Procedures, Academic Press.

Pokharia AK 2008. Palaeoethnobotanical record of cultivated crops and associated weeds and wild taxa from Neolithic site, Tokwa, Uttar Pradesh, India. Current Science 94(2): 248–255.

Pokharia AK 2011. Palaeoethnobotany at Lahuradewa: A contribution to the 2nd millennium BC agriculture of the Ganga Plain, India. Current Science 101(12): 1569–1578.

Pokharia AK, Pal JN & Srivastava A 2009. Plant macro–remains from Neolithic Jhusi in Ganga Plain: evidence for grain–based agriculture. Current Science 97(4): 564–572.

Pokharia AK, Kharakwal JS, Rawat YS, Osada T, Nautiyal CM & Srivastava A 2011. Archaeobotany and archaeology at Kanmer, a Harappan site in Kachchh, Gujarat: evidence for adaptation in response to climatic variability. Current Science 100(12): 1833–46.

Pokharia AK, Sharma S, Tripathi D, Mishra N, Pal JN, Vinay R & Srivastava A 2016. Neolithic–Early historic (2500–200 BC) plant use: The archaeobotany of Ganga Plain, India. Quaternary International. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.09.018.

Pokharia AK, Agnihotri R, Sharma S, Bajpai S, Nath J, Kumaran RN & Negi BC 2017. Altered cropping pattern and cultural continuation with declined prosperity and extreme arid event at ~4.2ka BP: Evidence from an Indus archaeological site Khirsara, Gujarat, western India. PLoS ONE. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone. 0185684.

Reddy SN 1994. Plant Usage and Subsistence Modeling: An Ethnoarchaeological Approach to the Late Harappan of North West India. Ph.D Dissertation, University of Wisconsin, University Microfilm, Ann. Arbor.

Saraswat KS 1986. Ancient crop economy of Harappans from Rohira, Punjab (ca. 2000–1700 BC). Palaeobotanist 35: 32–38.

Saraswat KS 2004. Plant economy of early farming communities. In: Singh, BP (Editor)—Early Farming Communities of the Kaimur, Publication scheme, Jaipur, vol. II, pp. 416–535.

Saraswat KS 2005. Agricultural background of the early farming communities in the Middle Ganga Plain. Pragdhara 15: 145–178.

Saraswat KS & Pokharia AK 2002. Harappan plant economy at ancient Balu, Haryana. Pragdhara 12: 153–171.

Saraswat KS & Pokharia AK 2003. Palaeoethnobotanical investigations at Early Harappan Kunal. Pragdhara 13: 105–139.

Singh G, Joshi RD, Chopra SK & Singh AB 1974. Late Quaternary history of vegetation and climate of the Rajasthan Desert, India. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 267: 467–501.

Singh P, Upadhyay Prabhakar, Kumar Manoj, Kumar Anoop, Shukla Dipak Kumar, Gupt Chandra Bhushan, Singh Upendra & Afroj M 2018. Preliminary Report on Excavations at Sarethi, District Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh. Man and Environment XLIII(1): 1–14.

Tewari R, Srivastava RK, Singh KK, Saraswat KS, Singh IB, Chauhan MS, Pokharia AK, Saxena A, Prasad V & Sharma M 2006. Second preliminary report of the excavations at Lahuradewa, district Sant Kabirnagar, U.P.–2002–2003–2004 & 2005–06. Pragdhara 16: 35–68.

Tripathi D, Chauhan DK, Farooqui A, Kotlia BS, Thakur B, Morthekai P, Long T, Chauhan MS & Pokharia AK 2016. Climatic variability in Central Ganga Plain, inferred multiproxy study of Karela Jheel (Lake) sediments. Quaternary International, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.11.033.

Trivedi A, Chauhan MS, Sharma A, Nautiyal CM & Tiwari DP 2013. Record of vegetation and climate during Late Pleistocene–Holocene in Central Ganga Plain, based on multiproxy data from Jalesar Lake, Uttar Pradesh, India. Quaternary International 306: 97–106.

Trivedi A, Singh DS, Chauhan MS, Arya A, Bhardwaj V & Awasthi A 2011. Vegetation and climate change around Ropanchhapra Tal in Deoria District, Central Ganga Plain during the last ca. 1350 years. Journal of Palaeontological Society of India 56: 39–43.

Van Zeist W & Bakker–Heeres JHS 1975. Evidence of linseed cultivation before 6000 BC. Journal of Archaeological Science 2: 215–219.

Wasson RJ, Chauhan MS, Sharma C, Jaiswal M, Singhvi AK & Srivastava P 2013. Erosion of river terraces as a component of large catchment sediment budgets: a pilot study from the Gangetic Plain. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 67–68: 18–25.