MIGRATORY PASTORALISM IN WESTERN INDIA IN THE SECOND MILLENNIUM B.C. : THE EVIDENCE FROM ORIYO TIMBO (CHIRODA).

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

RISSMAN, PAUL CHARLES.

Contributor:

University of Pennsylvania.

Subjects (All):

Archaeology.

0324.

Local Subjects:

0324.

Physical Description:

476 pages

Contained In:

Dissertation Abstracts International 46-08A.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

Summary:

Recent anthropological approaches to pastoral movement have stressed variability and change. In contrast, archaeological research, constrained by poor data of unreliable quality, has been forced to continue a typological outlook that lumps significant variation in subsistence and settlement into broad, homogeneous categories. Therefore much of the richness of past migratory strategy goes unrecognized. This is especially true in South Asian archaeology, where migratory pastoralism plays a significant explanatory role but lacks the justification of solid evidence.

This dissertation attempts to mitigate uncertainty in migratory pastoral analyses through a seasonal determination of pastoral mobility using dental annuli in the teeth of archaeological herd animals as its primary data. Dental annuli are pairs of light and dark bands that form, one set per year, in the dentin and cementum of mammalian teeth. By counting the number of annuli, an animal's age at death may be determined. More important for the study of migratory pastoralism, the placement of the last-formed annulus on the tooth can yield the season of death as well. In this way the seasonal movement of herds in and out of settlements can be measured.

Annular analysis was performed on dental remains of cattle, sheep and goats from the Post-urban Phase Harappan site of Oriyo Timbo (Chiroda), located in Gujarat, India. This site displayed indications of mobile pastoral settlement in its lack of solid architecture, thin deposit, location away from presumed agricultural zones, and abundance of animal bones, but further understanding of pastoral strategy was elusive. An annular analysis of the faunal material revealed a clustered pattern of deaths during the formation of the darker portion of the annulus. A control study of modern Indian domesticates found this period corresponded to the dry season months from March to June and shortly afterward. These data, supplemented by an age determination indicating an absence of lactating livestock and their young in the herd structure, allowed the suggestion that Oriyo was a dry season cattle camp associated with more sedentary occupations in nearby areas. This evidence was integrated with that of other sites in the region to form an image of the regional pastoral economy of Western India in the second millennium B.C.

Notes:

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-08, Section: A, page: 2348.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1985.

Local Notes:

School code: 0175.

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.