Trees, Wood and wood related Life Science Knowledge by Indus Civilization People
History Botany Neolithic India – 13
HISTORY of BOTANY in Indus Valley Civilization in Indian Subcontinent – 4
By: Bhishma Kukreti M.Sc. {(Botany), B.Sc. (Honours in Botany), Medical Tourism Historian)}
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There were seals found in the archaeological sites of Indus Civilizations at various places.
Kapil states “Plant forms represented on the seals are rare”. There are 12 seals depicting Tress on them (1). Mackey (2) states that the scientists identified those tress on the seals as –
Ficus religiosa (Pipal)
Acacia arabica (Babul)
Prosopis spicigera (Jhandi)
The Indus valley humans understood very well the qualities and values of wood, strength, durability and preservative power of various wood(3).
Chaudhari and Ghos informed following wood uses in Indus Valley civilization (4)-
Dalbergia latifolia (Rosewood)
Cedrus deodara (Devdar)
The above were used for making coffin
Following plant remains were also identified
Zizyphus sp (Ber) was used for making mortar for pondering the grains
Ulmus (Elm)
Wood Used in Constructing Buildings in Indus Valley Culture
Indus Valley People used wood in building construction as ladders were made of wood (5). Mahajan (5) states that perhaps the lintels and side jambs of the door were made of wood but none of them survived.
It is one probability that wooden shafts were used for inserting into holes of limestone pillar found in the site (5)
Knowledge of Characteristics of various Wood and Tress
Chaudhary (3) states that Indus people were having knowledge of trees, wood, shocking absorbing quality of each type of wood but also the seasoning quality of timbers. Lothal (Indus Valley site) people constructed dockyard and boats. That clearly suggests that Indus people were having good knowledge of wood, timber quality and its preservative quality. (3) Indus valley people also knew how to cut the wood and how to use specific tree parts.
Indus People were having knowledge of relationship of wood with building materials too.
Since Indus people used to raise animals, therefore, knew the plants useful for particular animals and knew the relationship of plant part beneficial to animal too.
References-
1-Kapil R.N., 1970, Biology in Ancient and Medieval India, Indian Journal of History of Science Volume V, No1, pp 119- 140
2-Mackey .E., 1931 , Seal Impressions and copper tablets with tabulation , In , Marshal J. (ed.) Mohenjo –daro and the Indus civilization . pp 390-391
3-Chaudhari, K.A, 1968, Wood Anatomy, Aligarh Muslim Uni. Press pp 26-35
4-Chaudhari K.A., Ghosh S.S. 1951, Plant Remains from Harappa , Ancient India , 7, 17
5-Mhajan V.D , 1998 , Ancient India , S Chand and co ND, pp 57
Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti
Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Andhra Pradesh India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Arunachal Pradesh, India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Assam, India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Bihar, India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Chhattisgarh , India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Goa, India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Gujarat, India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Haryana , India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Himachal Pradesh , India, Asia; ; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Jammu Kashmir , India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Jharkhand ,India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Karnataka, India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Kerala, India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Madhya Pradesh India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Maharashtra , India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Manipur, India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Meghalaya, India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Mizoram , India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Nagaland, India, Asia; ; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Odisha, India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Punjab, India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Rajasthan , India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Sikkim, India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Tamil Nadu, India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Telangana , India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Tripura , India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Uttarakhand (U.K.) , India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Uttar Pradesh , India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of West Bengal ,India, Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of , Indian subcontinent , Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of , Myanmar , Indian subcontinent , Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of , Bangladesh , Indian subcontinent , Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Pakistan , Indian subcontinent , Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Baluchistan , Indian subcontinent , Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Nepal , Indian subcontinent , Asia; Trees , Woodcrafts Indus valley , History of Botany of Afghanistan, Indian subcontinent , Asia;
