New evidence for early 4th millennium BP agriculture in the Western Himalayas: Qasim Bagh, Kashmir. (February 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Spate, Michael; Zhang, Guilin; Yatoo, Mumtaz; Betts, Alison
• Is Part Of: Journal of archaeological science. Volume 11(2017)
• Page Start: 568
• Page End: 577
• Publication Date: 2017-02
• Subjects: Archaeology -- Periodicals; Archaeology -- Research -- Periodicals; 930.1
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.12.038
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2352-409X

Abstract

Abstract: Palaeobotanical studies at Qasim Bagh, a site of the Northern Neolithic culture in the Kashmir Valley, India, have produced important new data on the spread of agriculture across Inner Asia, and on the cross-transmission of Chinese and West Asian cultivars. Directly dated broomcorn millet ( Panicum miliaceum ) and compact wheat ( Triticum aestivum ), and a series of charcoal dates suggest that the Valley of Kashmir was integrated into a wider network of crop exchange in the mountainous regions of South and Central Asia from at least the 5th/4th millennium BP transition. The evidence of Qasim Bagh supplements recent data from other Central Asian sites which suggest that exchange of East and West Asian cultivars took place earlier than previously believed. Highlights: Directly dated wheat and millet grains, relating to the Neolithic phase in Kashmir ca. 4000–1500 BP Botanical assemblage suggests that Kashmir was integrated into wider system of crop exchange in Asia. Wheat and millet may be evidence of early shift to bi-seasonal or supplementary cropping in Kashmir.