An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c6.s1.5

v1.c6.s1.5

General consensus (Zeuner, 1963; Clason, 1974) favours the Near East as the principal centre of domestication, but a number of individual species had their origin elsewhere. The reindeer was confined to n. Europe, the horse was domesticated n. of the great mountain ranges and certain species of the camel and dog originated in the New World. Clason, 1974, suggests that from the Near East stock-breeding spread e. wards to Afghanistan and Baluchistan, further e. to Pakistan and India and probably even to s.-e. Asia, to the w. into Europe and n. Africa and subsequently to the Nile valley and e. Africa. The beginnings of domestication in the Indian subcontinent, on present excavated evidence, can be traced back to the Mesolithic. The data, however, are meagre, as much of the palaeontological material remains unpublished. Excavations have often been too small and bone collections inadequate, often the reports merely give catalogues with little bearing on the history of domestication. The earliest archaeozoological remains were found at the sites of ADAMGARH (5500 B.C.) and BAGOR (4500 B.C.). The presence of both wild and domesticated animals suggests that hunting was augmented by pastoralism, trade or theft. Besides skeletal remains a substantial part of the archaeological evidence includes animals painted on pottery and in caves and rock-shelters, terracotta figurines and seals, but these must be classed as only of secondary importance.