Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures

2016 Edition
| Editors: Helaine Selin

Plant Domestication in India

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7747-7_10005
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India is believed to possess a unique Neolithic transition toward plant domestication (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCL0SMbZG6Q&app=desktop) (Feb 2014 UCL Talk youtube link). It has become increasingly apparent that cultivation preceded sedentary village life in India (Fuller, 2006, p. 52). The beginnings of plant domestication among non-sedentary societies in India have yet to be firmly established as evidence of food production among seasonally mobile societies is difficult to identify in the archaeological record (Fuller, 2006, p. 59). Nevertheless the end of the process, when sedentary villages emerged supported by agriculture, is well established. For most of India this took place around 2500–2000 B.C. It should be noted that this pattern is distinct from that of western Pakistan where preceramic agricultural settlement was established sometime before 6000 B.C., based on crops that had been domesticated earlier in Western Asia, such as wheat and barley (Possehl, 1999, pp....

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© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Institute of ArchaeologyUniversity College LondonLondonUK