In Search of the First Farmers of Gujarat
Ajithprasad. P（マハラジャ・サヤジラーオ大学考古学部教授）
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要 旨：
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Until very recently, it has been argued that food producing economies emerged in Gujarat with the introduction of Indus civilization in the Urban Phase. Recent discovery of early farming Chalcolithic communities from North Gujarat dated at least a thousand years earlier than the Urban Harappan have called this model into question. North Gujarat has also revealed long standing Mesolithic occupation dating back to 7100BCE. How and from where did the early farming communities arrive at food production? Did the stimulus for food production come from outside? Or was the process of farming an internal development derived from the resource management practices of the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers? Hunter-gatherers generally tend to expand their food base through various adaptive strategies. This generally happens due to internal compulsions and environmental challenges. The question therefore is did any of the economic activities of the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers eventually lead to the beginning of farming way of life in North Gujarat or not? We are investigating this issue through different research strategies involving archaeo-botanical, zooarchaeological and palaeoenvironmental studies which are discussed in the presentation.