Harappan Civilization & Cotton cultivation

According to a paper published in Israel in 2022, records from the Tel Tsaf site shows cotton fibers originated in the Indian subcontinent around 5200 BCE.

• However, in a recent update to the findings, mentioned that Cotton was used in India before the other countries even do not have any idea of its cultivation.

Key-highlights of the information:

• Countries like Iraq, Greece, the Persian Gulf and North Africa all came to know about cotton thousands of years later its first use in the Indian subcontinent.
• Archaeological records trace the beginning of India’s connection with cotton to around the 7th-6th millennium BCE.
• This beginning around 8,000 years ago in Indian sub-continent paved the way for domesticating cotton, which was then spun and woven into designed textiles used domestically and exported to contemporary civilisations.
  
  

Harappan Civilization:

• The history of India begins with the birth of the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC),also known as Harappan Civilization.
• It flourished around 2,500 BC, in the western part of South Asia,in contemporary Pakistan and Western India.
• The Indus Valley was home to the largest of the four ancient urban civilizationsof Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China.
• In 1920s, the Archaeological Department of India carried out excavations in the Indus valley wherein the ruins of the two old cities, viz. Mohenjodaro and Harappawere unearthed.
• In 1924, John Marshall, Director-General of the ASI, announced the discoveryof a new civilisation in the Indus valley to the world.

Harappan Civilisation and evidence of Cotton:

• From the excavations of site near mountainous region of Balochistan at an archaeological site in Mehrgrah, found the first evidence of cotton during Harappan age.
• However, the Cotton species used was unclear from that site.
• It was estimated that, earlier there are four species of Gossypium (cotton) cultivated– G arboreum L, G herbaceum L, G hirsutum L, and G barbadense L – were domesticated in different regions across world at different times.
• G arboreum was domesticated in the Indian subcontinent, eventually spreading to Africa and other parts of Asia, whereas G herbaceum was first cultivated in Arabia and Syria.

Agriculture during Indus Valley Civilization:

• The Harappan villages, mostly situated near the flood plains,produced sufficient foodgrains.
• Wheat, barley, rai, peas, sesame, lentil, chickpea and mustard were produced. Millets are also found from sites in Gujarat. While rice uses were relatively rare.
• The Indus people were the earliest people to produce cotton.
• While the prevalence of agriculture is indicated by finds of grain, it is more difficult to reconstruct actual agricultural practices.
• Representations on seals and terracotta sculpture indicate that the bull was known, and archaeologists extrapolate shows oxen were also used for ploughing.
• Most Harappan sites are located in semi-arid lands,where irrigation was probably required for agriculture.
• Traces of canalshave been found at the Harappan site of Shortughai in Afghanistan, but not in Punjab or Sindh.
• Although the Harappans practised agriculture, animals were also reared on a large scale.
• Evidence of the horse comes from a superficial level of Mohenjodaroand from a doubtful terracotta figurine from Lothal.