
Discerning Palates of the Past
An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Crop Cultivation and Plant Usage in India
Seetha Narahari Reddy(Author)
International Monographs in Prehistory (Publisher)
1st Edition
Published on 1. April 2003
Book
Hardback
175 pages
978-1-879621-37-4 (ISBN)
Description
This book analyzes the agricultural and pastoral infrastructure of the Mature and Late Harappan cultures (ca. 2500-1700 BC) of northwest India. The economic role of drought-resistant millet crops is reconstructed using ethnographic studies of crop processing, palaeoethnobotany, and carbon isotope analysis. Reddy reveals that simply recovering crop seeds from archaeological contexts does not confirm local crop cultivation, and she suggests that agricultural production of millet crops for human food and for animal fodder may have been economically interwoven in the Harappan civilization. New directions are provided for discerning archaeologically how pastoralism and agriculture may be integrated in complex economic systems.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Ann Arbor
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Library binding
Illustrations
Bibliography; Index; 69 Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 282 mm
Width: 221 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
703 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-879621-37-4 (9781879621374)
DOI
10.3167/9781879621374
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
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Additional editions

Seetha Narahari Reddy
Discerning Palates of the Past
An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Crop Cultivation and Plant Usage in India
E-Book
04/2003
1st Edition
Berghahn Books
€40.99
Available for download
Person
Seetha Narahari Reddy is a Principal Investigator with Reddy Anthropology Consulting.
Content
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Plants, Past and Present: An Introduction
Chapter 2. Archaeological Context and the Scope of Inquiry
Chapter 3. The Living Past: Ethnographic Crop Processing Studies
Chapter 4. The Search for Patterns: Ethnographic Modeling and Archaeological Relevance
Chapter 5. Going Beyond Carbonized Seed Lists: Paleoethnobotanical Research
Chapter 6. If the Threshing Floor Could Talk: Testing the Ethnographic Models
Chapter 7. Modeling Animal Diet and Fodder Acquisition
Chapter 8. Conclusion: Discerning Palates, Plant Usage and Subsistence
Glossary
References
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Plants, Past and Present: An Introduction
Chapter 2. Archaeological Context and the Scope of Inquiry
Chapter 3. The Living Past: Ethnographic Crop Processing Studies
Chapter 4. The Search for Patterns: Ethnographic Modeling and Archaeological Relevance
Chapter 5. Going Beyond Carbonized Seed Lists: Paleoethnobotanical Research
Chapter 6. If the Threshing Floor Could Talk: Testing the Ethnographic Models
Chapter 7. Modeling Animal Diet and Fodder Acquisition
Chapter 8. Conclusion: Discerning Palates, Plant Usage and Subsistence
Glossary
References