Here we present direct dates of food grains and insights into agricultural strategies adopted by Harappans from a newly excavated Indus site 4MSR (Binjor) in northwestern India. The site revealed Early and Mature Harappan phases delimited by a Transitional phase based on ceramics and archaeological artifacts. The macro-botanical remains revealed that the site was occupied by an agricultural society during the Early phase (~2900−2600 BCE), whereas diversification of the economy including more craft specialization, along with an agricultural advancement was witnessed during the Mature phase (~2500−1800 BCE). The advent of summer crops during the Transitional phase (~2600−2500 BCE) indicates climate amelioration attributed to inception of strong Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM). By the end of Mature phase, millet was recorded due to a change in climatic (relatively lower moisture) conditions or drying of the river channel, which forced the settlers to shift the cropping (agricultural) strategy in the region. Plausibly, this unavailability of water during the end of Mature phase led the settlers to abandon the site in order to migrate somewhere else. The subsistence pattern indicates continuity and change in temporal domain likely owing to changing climatic/environmental conditions, resources and knowledge gained by exchange/trade of cultures over a time period between ~2900 BCE to 1800 BCE.
Stable isotopic compositions of carbon and nitrogen (δ13C, δ15N) of archaeological grains/seeds recovered from different cultural layers of an Indus archaeological site 4MSR (29°12'87.2"N; 73°9'421"E; Binjor, western Rajasthan, India) provide insights into the Harappan agriculture between ~ 2900 to ~ 1800 BCE. While δ13C values were used to retrieve hydrological status, δ15N values were used to gauge agricultural intensification. Isotopic data of grains/seeds were generated representing three Indus phases (i) early phase (~ 2900 − 2600 BCE), (ii) transitional phase (~ 2600 − 2500 BCE) and (iii) mature phase (~ 2500 − 1800 BCE). We find δ13C values of barley grains (winter crop) varied in overlapping ranges for all the three phases − 21.3‰±1.9; −22.9‰±1.6 and − 22.7‰±1.7 respectively (n = 10 for each phase) indicating insignificant changes in hydrology for winter crops. For summer crops cotton also, average δ13C values for transitional phase − 23.7‰±1.8 were not significantly different from those of mature phase − 22.5‰±2.4. δ15Nbarley values also varied in wider ranges, however, intra-phase variability appears to have progressively increased from early (8.0‰±1.7) to transitional phase (7.3‰±2.5) and then mature phase (9.2‰±7.2) indicating a plausible agricultural intensification. We also measured δ13C of host soil organic matter (SOM) and sediment δ15N to assess regional environmental conditions. In contrast to the trends observed for archaeological grains, δ13CSOM values showed a statistically significant enriching trend from early (−23.6‰±1.4) to mature phase (−20.3‰±1.9) hinting a growing aridity in the region. We surmise that Harappan farmers of western Rajasthan region might be managing arable hydrological conditions in their fields through agricultural interventions to continue agriculture practices despite growing aridity in the vicinity.
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