2017/01/18 by Cameron A. Petrie, Ravindra N. Singh, Ravindra Singh +17 · 15 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Social Sciences · #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Archaeology and Rock Art Studies #Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies
paper · doi:10.1086/690112
This paper explores the nature and dynamics of adaptation and resilience in the face of a diverse and varied environmentaland ecological context using the case study of South Asias Indus Civilization (ca. 30001300 BC). Most earlycomplex societies developed in regions where the climatic parameters faced by ancient subsistence farmers were variedbut rain falls primarily in one season. In contrast, the Indus Civilization developed in a specific environmental contextthat spanned a very distinct environmental threshold, where winter and summer rainfall systems overlap. There is nowevidence to show that this region was directly subject to climate change during the period when the Indus Civilizationwas at its height (ca. 25001900 BC). The Indus Civilization, therefore, provides a unique opportunity to understandhow an ancient society coped with diverse and varied ecologies and change in the fundamental environmentalparameters. This paper integrates research carried out as part of the <i>Land, Water and Settlement</i> project in northwestIndia between 2007 and 2014. Although coming from only one of the regions occupied by Indus populations, these datanecessitate the reconsideration of several prevailing views about the Indus Civilization as a whole and invigoratediscussion about human-environment interactions and their relationship to processes of cultural transformation.