Plant Domestication, Introduction-cultivation and Plant Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India
(History of Botany in Neolithic Age in India -2)
HISTORY of BOTANY in Indian Subcontinent -7
By: Bhishma Kukreti M.Sc. {(Botany), B.Sc. (Honors in Botany), Medical Tourism Historian)}
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There are two types of cultivars in Neolithic age (1)-
1-Primary crop origin –cultivation started from wild progenitors local to regions .The social process in primary plant origin is –
A-Pristine –cultivation initiated by hunter gatherers only in contact with hunter gatherers.
B-Inspired – cultivation started by hunter gatherers in contact with food producers.
C-Additive-cultivation started by farmers possessing other crops
2- Secondary crop origin- crop introduced not from local progenitors.(1)
The social process is as under in secondary crop origin type (1)-
A-Migration – immigrants farmers carry crops/livestock to other regions (demic diffusion)
B- Adoption - crops or livestock obtained from other region through trade with minimal immigration (cultural diffusion) .
In a significant research paper, Dorian Q Fuller (1) states that the research shows that crop cultivation may have begun in as many five regions (South India, Orissa, the middle Ganges, Saurashtra and Himalayan Foothills) of India before the introduction of exogenous crops and cultivation system. Fuller offers arguments for local ways of domestication in the above five regions of India (1).
Early Crops in South India
The archeobotanical evidences show that there were following crops dominated the southern region in Neolithic India (2) –
A-Pulses
Mungbean (Vigna radiata)
Horse gram (Macrotyloma uniflorum)
B-Grains
Signal grass millet (Brachiaria ramosa)
Bristly Foxtail Millet (Setaria verticillata)
Grain based agriculture in Neolithic age in Jhusi of Gnaga Plains
Pokharia , Pal and Shrivastava offered us the evidences of following food items from Neolithic Jhusi (Allahabd , UP) (3) those indicate that following plants either were domesticated or cultivated in North India from 7th millennium to BC 2nd century -
Cereals
Rice (Oryza sativa )
Barely (Hordeum vulgare )
Bread Wheat( Triticum aestivum )
Drwarf Wheat (Triticum sphaerococcum )
Pulses
Lentil (Lens culnaris )
Field Pea( Pisum arvense )
Green Gram (Vigna radiata)
Grass Pea (Lathyrus sativus )
Horse Gram (Macrotyloma uniflorum )
Oil yielding plants
Flex (Linum usitatissimum)
Sesame (Sesamum indicum )
Horticulture plants
Grape (Vitis venifera )
Amwala( Emblica officinalis)
Vetch (Vicia sativa )
Job’s Tear (Coix lachrymal-jobi)
Season for agriculture, sowing cropping of edible grains etc. in Jhusi (UP) in Neolithic Age
Pokharia et all (3) informed the sowing and cropping period in Neolithic age of Jhusi (UP). The research paper states that the rice, horse gram and green gram were grown in warm rainy season. The winter growing crops were barley, bread wheat, dwarf wheat, field peas, lentil, grass pea and linseed. Grape was winter growing fruit crop. If those cereals etc. were not the origin of UP the theory is that the area was culturally connected with the original home of winter crop right from the early Neolithic culture (3).
Rice domestication cultivation in North India
Dr Fuller states about domestication of rice in north India (1) that there are evidences of orgin cultivation of ancestral indica rice. Fuller further mentions that the full morphological sense was not completed until domesticated Japonica varieties were introduced to North India from China allowing hybridization.
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Domestication and introduction of Plants in Orissa in Neolithic Age
As per Fuller (1), the following crops were either domesticated or cultivated by bringing seeds /knowledge from other regions-
The rice had been dominating crops in Neolithic age in Orissa region (1). The following domesticate pulses-
Cajanus cajan
Macrotyloma uniflorum (introduced one)
Vigna radiata
Vigna mungo
Perhaps Pancicum sumatrense was also domesticated or introduced and cultivate, domesticated (1). Fuller (1) suggests that the agriculture and sedentism(transition) were established in Orissa around mid-second millennium BC .
Domestication and introduction of Plants in Saurashtra in Neolithic Age
Fuller informs that the evidence of early agriculture /cultivation, domestication in Suarshtra Gujrat are from Harappa period (1).
The following grains were domesticated /introduced and cultivated in Saurashtra pensile (1) –
Panicum sumatrense
Vigna species
Macrotyloma
Pearl millet
Sorghum
Lablab purpureus
Plant Domestication, Introduction-cultivation and Plant Knowledge in Neolithic Age in Baluchistan India (Today part of Pakistan)
Fuller states (1) that Mehrgarh site of Neolithic age is an important site for knowing domestication of plants in India. Scientists found evidence of early agriculture based on nonindigenous crops as glume wheat, bread wheat, barely varieties and other livestock(1)
By thorough research studies, Moulherat et all inform that cotton was domesticated first in Mehrgarh (Baluchistan , Pakistan) (4).
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References
1-Fuller Dorian Q, 2011, Finding Plant Domestication in Indian Subcontinent, Current Anthropology, Vol. 52 No. S4), The Origin of Agriculture New data New idea (October 2011)Pp347-367
2- Fuller Dorian Q, 2011, Finding Plant Domestication in Indian Subcontinent, Current Anthropology, Vol. 52 No. S4), The Origin of Agriculture New data New idea (October 2011) pp348
3-Pokharia Anil,Pal J.N., Shrivastava Alka, 2009, Plant macro remains from Neolithic Jhusi in Gnaga plain: Evidence for grain based agriculture, Current Science 97(4): 564-572, August 2009
4- Moulherat C., Tenberg M., et all, 2002, Five Evidence of Cotton at Mehrgarh ,Pakistan: Analysis of mineralised fiber from a copper bead , Journal of Archaeological Science VOl.29 Issue 12 December 2002 pages 1393-1401
Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti, bckukreti@gmail.com , Mumbai India, June 2019
HISTORY of BOTANY in Indian Subcontinent will be continued in next chapter
Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Andhra Pradesh India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Arunachal Pradesh, India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Assam, India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Bihar, India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Chhattisgarh , India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Goa, India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Gujarat, India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Haryana , India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Himachal Pradesh , India, Asia; ; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Jammu Kashmir , India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Jharkhand ,India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Karnataka, India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Kerala, India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Madhya Pradesh India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Maharashtra , India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Manipur, India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Meghalaya, India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Mizoram , India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Nagaland, India, Asia; ; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Odisha, India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Punjab, India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Rajasthan , India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Sikkim, India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Tamil Nadu, India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Telangana , India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Tripura , India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Uttarakhand (U.K.) , India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Uttar Pradesh , India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of West Bengal ,India, Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of , Indian subcontinent , Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of , Myanmar , Indian subcontinent , Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of , Bangladesh , Indian subcontinent , Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Pakistan , Indian subcontinent , Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Baluchistan , Indian subcontinent , Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Nepal , Indian subcontinent , Asia; Plant Domestication Knowledge in Neolithic Age in India ,History of Botany of Afghanistan, Indian subcontinent , Asia;