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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Archaeol.
Sec. Zooarchaeology
Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fearc.2025.1517351
This article is part of the Research Topic Exploring Ichthyoarchaeology: Bridging Methodological Gaps and Advancing Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Human-Aquatic Ecosystem Interactions View all articles

Ichthyoarchaeological Perspectives on Roles of Fish and Red Meat during Indus Civilization in Gujarat, India

Provisionally accepted
Abhayan GS Abhayan GS 1*Pramod P Joglekar Pramod P Joglekar 2,3Ajithprasad Pottentavida Ajithprasad Pottentavida 4Rajesh S.V. Rajesh S.V. 1Pankaj Goyal Pankaj Goyal 2Brad Chase Brad Chase 5Jeewan Kharakwal Jeewan Kharakwal 6Prabodh Shirvalkar Prabodh Shirvalkar 2
  • 1 Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
  • 2 Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute, Pune, Maharashtra, India
  • 3 Infosys Foundation Academic Programme, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, India
  • 4 Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, India
  • 5 Albion College, Albion, Michigan, United States
  • 6 Janardan Rai Nagar Rajasthan Vidyapeeth University, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The roles of animals during the Indus Civilization (circa 4000 BCE to 1300 BCE), which thrived in South Asia, have been extensively studied by zooarchaeologists. While significant progress has been made in understanding the domestication and hunting of mammals, information on the use of aquatic organisms such as fish, mollusks, and crustaceans has been relatively sparse. Excavations at Indus Civilization sites have uncovered substantial quantities of fish remains, potentially providing valuable insights. In South Asia, the study of fish remains has often been neglected, primarily due to the lack of comprehensive reference collections for comparison. This paper discusses the current state and future possibilities of South Asian ichthyoarchaeology, highlighting the results of ichthyoarchaeological investigations in the Gujarat region of India. Analysis of fishbone assemblages from Indus sites such as Bagasra, Kanmer, Shikarpur, Kotada Bhadli, and Navinal in Gujarat has identified 24 fish species from 14 families. Evidence of anthropogenic activities such as cut marks, charring, and chewing on the bones suggests various aspects of fish consumption.These analyses reveal information about the diversity of fish species used, fishing environments, changes in fish consumption across different cultural phases, spatial distribution of fish remains within the sites, and fish processing patterns. The ichthyoarchaeological data aligns with cultural changes inferred from archaeobotanical and non-fish faunal records from these sites. This paper offers insights into a more nuanced role of fish in the diet, tailored to the tastes and preferences of consumers, rather than being a secondary or incidental food source, alongside mammalian meat during the Harappan Civilization in the Gujarat region.

    Keywords: Journal: Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology Section Theme Exploring Ichthyoarchaeology: Bridging Methodological Gaps and Advancing Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Human-Aquatic Ecosystem Interactions Harappan Civilization, Ichthyoarchaeology, fishbones, Species identification, aquatic fauna, Subsistence economy, fish consumption, Kachchh in Gujarat

    Received: 25 Oct 2024; Accepted: 16 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 GS, Joglekar, Pottentavida, S.V., Goyal, Chase, Kharakwal and Shirvalkar. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Abhayan GS, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, 695034, Kerala, India

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