[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989) › v1.c6.s1 # An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c6.s1: 1.1 General Observations An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c6.s1 - **Language:** English ### 1.1 General Observations ### [v1.c6.s1.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c6.s1.1) \[For Pleistocene and early Holocene faunal remains see 15.1-6.\] ### [v1.c6.s1.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c6.s1.2) The process of domestication of animals, one of the factors to lay the foundations of civilization, involves first the capture and subsequently the taming of select species, and then their breeding and maintenance under controlled conditions for man's benefit. Its origins may lie in a symbiotic relationship between animals and the early hunter-gatherers or may have been motivated by religious beliefs or even by the supposed womanly instinct to feed and ultimately keep and tame pets. With man's gradually increasing control over his environment, he also realized the value of animals as sources of food and clothing and for transport. The majority of animals economically useful to man were probably domesticated under conditions of scavenging (e.g. pig, dog) or social parasitism (e.g. reindeer, sheep, goat). Domestication was probably largely the outcome of the interaction of economic and biological phenomena. The most important physical changes that occurred in domesticated animals are reflected in size, skeletal elements, soft parts and colour (Zeuner, 1963). ### [v1.c6.s1.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c6.s1.3) Definite archaeozoological evidence of domestication first occurs in the Mesolithic \[4.5; 15.1.5,6\]. By 6000 B.C. the dog was companion to man, both in n. Europe and the Near East. There is, however, evidence which might prove the domestication of the dog during the Upper Palaeolithic in Russia (Narr, 1959). The domesticated sheep and goat are recorded both in parts of n.-w. Europe (\*c.\* 4000 B.C.) and the Near East (\*c.\* 6710 B.C.). ### [v1.c6.s1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c6.s1.4) From the beginning of the Neolithic \[4.6\] domestication is closely linked with food production. During the later Neolithic livestock became a prominent part of the economy and domesticated animals included both crop-robbers and those used mainly for food (the cattle, pig, buffalo, etc.). Subsequently animals were domesticated for traction (e.g. the elephant, horse, camel, ass). Unsuccessful attempts at domestication included animals like the hyena, gazelle, ibex and fox. ### [v1.c6.s1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.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. ### [v1.c6.s1.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c6.s1.6) Of the domesticated animals found in India today some were domesticated within the subcontinent. They include the \*mithan\* or \*gayal\* (\*Bos frontalis\*), which is the product of cross-breeding of the domestic cattle with the wild gaur and is presently found in e. India, the buffalo and certain species of birds. The cattle, sheep, goat, horse, donkey, two-humped camel, cat and dog are the product of initially imported stock, probably from the n.-w. The cattle are the most widely occurring species at prehistoric sites, but it is not known if a wild ancestor was indigenous, as no parent species is known today. The wild sheep and goat still roam in the n. and w. mountain ranges, but their relationship with domesticated breeds is not very clear. Along with the pig they are not reported from all early Neolithic-Chalcolithic sites. The wild boar was and is still found in Indian jungles and may have been locally domesticated. ### [v1.c6.s1.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c6.s1.7) About 10 species of domesticated animals, represented by limb bones, maxillae, teeth, pelvic and pectoral girdles, vertebrae, scapulae, metapodials, etc., have been found in excavations in India. ## Linked texts (2) - [Bagor](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.bagor) - [Adamgarh](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.adamgarh) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c6.s1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c6.s1) · Pramāṇa