IF THE THRESHING FLOOR COULD TALK - INTEGRATION OF AGRICULTURE AND PASTORALISM DURING THE LATE HARAPPAN IN GUJARAT, INDIA

Cultivation of crops as a distinct economic activity is a complex huma n behavior that needs to be clearly demonstrated in archaeological con texts, particularly to determine whether crop grains were obtained thr ough trade and exchange. The article presents the results of ethnoarch aeological studies focused on the development of crop processing model s tailored to aid paleoethnobotanical reconstructions. These newly dev eloped ethnographic models of crop processing and usage were then rigo rously applied to the questions of cultivation, economic role, and use of millet crops at two Late Harappan sites in Gujarat, India. The res ults demonstrate the interpretive potential of identifying the presenc e or absence of the economic activity of cultivation at a wide range o f site types, and such modeling has far reaching implications for inte rpreting the settlement organization and subsistence orientation of a culture. (C) 1997 Academic Press.