WWW.FRONTPAGEDETECTIVES.COM / LATEST NEWS

Indus Valley Civilization Had Food Processing Units and Made Dung-Based Fuel for Its Cities

Indus Valley Civilization had cities with urban planning, brick houses, water supply, and drainage systems.

PUBLISHED 3 HOURS AGO

Excavated ruins of Mohenjo-daro, with the Great Bath in the foreground and the granary mound in the background (Cover Image Source: Wikimedia Commons | Photo by Saqib Qayyum)

Archaeologists have long been interested in understanding the practices and machinations of the Indus Valley Civilization. Experts for decades have been dedicated to analyzing every part of the unearthed establishments associated with the Harappan population. A study published in Antiquity examines several specimens from the sites associated with this group. The results paint a vivid picture of certain practices in the civilization and prove a previous assertion regarding the group wrong.

Cow dung cakes in Bangladesh (Representative Image Source: Wikimedia Commons/Photo by Melanie Ko) — Cow dung cakes in Bangladesh (Representative Image Source: Wikimedia Commons | Photo by Melanie Ko)

The study focused on 1,444 specimens of ancient plant remains garnered from several archaeological digs. The results showed that there was more grain compared to chaff within the remains. This indicated to researchers that food processing possibly happened outside the city, with the help of a large workforce. Later it must have been transported to the city and used to feed the urban population.

This is the complete opposite of what most researchers previously believed was the situation regarding food processing in the Indus Valley Civilization. Experts thought that food processing took place in domestic setups and was facilitated by individual families. This assertion was made keeping in mind the presence of a large number of seeds from small weeds at the site. Researchers looked into the weed species from the archaeobotanical assemblage and found that they mostly consisted of plants that were the staple diet for the then cattle.

Key Harappa assemblage domesticate taxa (Image Source: Antiquity)

This made the researchers conclude that the seeds were not the result of domestic food processing, instead they were a consequence of cattle dung burning. Experts believe the excrement was burnt by civilians to extract fuel, stated IFL Science.

"The use of dung as a critical fuel source at Harappa, for both domestic and industrial purposes (e.g. in pottery or faience kilns) could explain the patterning," wrote the researchers. "Dung burning was, as it is today, a cultural practice that allowed for a slow steady heat for cooking and made use of a readily available fuel." The findings imply that food processing for cereals like wheat and barley was facilitated in village sites on the outskirts of main cities but controlled by authorities from urban centers.

Researchers are hopeful that more such findings will enable them to know more about the enigmatic civilization. This is not the first time archaeologists have uncovered startling finds in the sites associated with the Indus Valley Civilization. In 2013, a team of Indian and South Korean researchers uncovered dozens of human remains from Rakhigarhi (a past settlement area for the Indus Valley Civilization). Findings regarding the remains were published in the ACB Journal of Anatomy.

Amongst the remains, researchers spotted two skeletons that they believe belonged to a couple. This assertion was made based on the way they had been laid down after death. "They were intimately placed in the burial," said Vasant Shinde, the archaeologist who led the team, stated CNN. "So we thought maybe they shared [a] very intimate relationship" and were probably husband and wife. If this claim turns out to be true, then the pair is the first Harappan couple to have been buried together.