Harappan people and cattle meat

An interesting fact from Harappan culture about the consumption of cattle, pig and sheep/goat meat has come to light recently in a study conducted by Akshyeta Suryanarayan and her team. Harappan culture vessels provided evidence that ruminant meat, dairy products and fats from plants and animals especially non-ruminants were cooked in them and were the delicacies of these people. The study was conducted on 172 pottery sherds obtained from 7 sites of northwest India which had already been dated with radiocarbon method had shown traces of animal lipids. The purpose of this investigation was to find out the diet and vessel use of urban and rural people of Mature Harappan period (c.2600/2500–1900 BC. Rims of the vessels were specifically chosen for this purpose as the cooked fats had greater likelihood of reaching the rims of the vessels. The residue from the inner surface of the pottery pieces was used, lipids were extracted and analyzed by chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Isotope analysis showed that about 60% of the vessels contained residues of non-ruminant fats whereas majority of the vessels showed the lipid profile which is commonly attributed to ruminants. The faunal bone assemblage of the Harappan period and the lipid analysis of pottery sherds had shown some contradictory results. Contribution of bones of cattle/buffalo and sheep/goat is overwhelmingly large in the total faunal assemblage of the area indicating their domestication. Four jar shaped vessels taken from different sites which were analyzed were used for dairy products of cattle/buffalo including raw milk, yoghurt, ghee and butter. A large number of adult animal bones assemblages suggest that besides getting meat and milk products from the cattle, these were used for the secondary product utilization as well especially for carrying and pulling loads.

Though Harappan vessels contained residues of dairy lipids but these were in very small quantities as compared to those of the other prehistoric sites of the world. It may be because everyone may not have access to it in Harappan civilization and may be used only on special occasions. However, there was no difference in the use of pottery in urban and rural settings.