List the items of food available to people in Harappan cities. Identify the groups who would have provided these.
The Harappans ate a wide range of plant and animal products, including fish. Archaeologists have reconstructed dietary practices from finds of charred grains and seeds.
Plant products available included wheat, barley, lentil, chickpea and sesame. Millets were found from sites in Gujarat, while finds of rice were relatively rare.
Animal products included meat from cattle, sheep, goat, buffalo and pig, which were domesticated. Bones of wild species such as boar, deer and gharial have also been found, along with bones of fish and fowl.
The groups who would have provided these food items include agricultural communities who cultivated grains, and pastoralists who reared domesticated animals like cattle, sheep and goat. Hunting communities likely provided wild animals, though it is unclear whether the Harappans hunted these themselves or obtained meat from other hunting groups. Fishermen would have provided fish from nearby water bodies.
Explanation
This question tests students' understanding of Harappan subsistence strategies. The answer draws directly from the textbook section on 'Subsistence Strategies' which details the plant and animal remains found at Harappan sites. The second part of the question requires students to identify the social groups involved in food production - farmers, pastoralists, hunters and fishermen - based on the evidence of domesticated and wild animal bones found at these sites.
Solution Steps
Step 1: Identify plant-based food items from archaeological evidence (grains and seeds)
Step 2: Identify animal-based food items from bone remains
Step 3: Distinguish between domesticated and wild animal sources
Step 4: Identify the social groups responsible for providing different food items based on the nature of food sources