Bioarchaeology and Climate Change: A View from South Asian Prehistory (Bioarchaeological Interpretations of the Human Past: Local, Regional, and Global)

"Using subadult skeletons from the Deccan Chalcolithic period of Indian prehistory, along with archaeological and paleoclimate data, this volume makes an important contribution to understanding the effects of ecological change on demography and childhood growth during the second millennium B.C. in peninsular India."--Michael Pietrusewsky, University of Hawaii at Manoa In the context of current debates about global warming, archaeology contributes important insights for understanding environmental changes in prehistory, and the consequences and responses of past populations to them. In Indian archaeology, climate change and monsoon variability are often invoked to explain major demographic transitions, cultural changes, and migrations of prehistoric populations. During the late Holocene (1400-700 B.C.), agricultural communities flourished in a semiarid region of the Indian subcontinent, until they precipitously collapsed. Gwen Robbins Schug integrates the most recent paleoclimate reconstructions with an innovative analysis of skeletal remains from one of the last abandoned villages to provide a new interpretation of the archaeological record of this period. Robbins Schugs biocultural synthesis provides us with a new way of looking at the adaptive, social, and cultural transformations that took place in this region during the first and second millennia B.C. Her work clearly and compellingly usurps the climate change paradigm, demonstrating the complexity of human-environmental transformations. This original and significant contribution to bioarchaeological research and methodology enriches our understanding of both global climate change and South Asian prehistory. A volume in the series Bioarchaeological Interpretations of the Human Local, Regional, and Global Perspectives, edited by Clark Spencer Larsen During the second millennium B.C. hundreds of villages were founded in peninsular India. The people of the Deccan Chalcolithic period relied on farming drought-resistant barley and wheat. They raised cattle, sheep, and goats; maintained hunting and foraging traditions; and utilized the resources gathered from local lakes and forest habitats for subsistence, construction, and fuel. Throughout this time, Chalcolithic people successfully colonized the peninsula despite the challenges of living in a semi-arid climate and unpredictable monsoon rainfall. By 1400 B.C. their settlements were thriving, populations were growing, and large regional centers were established. Yet, around 1000 B.C., the majority of these settlements were deserted. This book uses evidence from paleoclimate research, archaeology, and human skeletal material to examine life and death at three villages occupied during this time. Innovative methods of bioarchaeological analysis reveal complexity in the interactions between humans and their environment and suggest a new model for understanding this period of India's prehistory. Questions about human interactions with the environment thousands of years ago in India are interesting from an academic standpoint, but the insights we gain into the past are relevant in a contemporary context as we face the consequences of continued population growth, unsustainable lifestyles, degradation of local environments, and large-scale climate change. Having a longer view of the challenges, strategies, and consequences of human-environment interactions may prove helpful as we all develop strategies for dealing with contemporary environmental change Origins The western Deccan plateau: environment and climate Archaeology at Nevasa, Daimabad, and Inamgaon Demography Estimating body mass in the Subadult skeleton Reconstructing health at Nevasa, Daimabad, and Inamgaon.