What's cooking in the Indus Civilisation? Investigating Indus food through ceramic lipid residue analysis
type: CreativeWork
description: This thesis investigates which products were used in ceramic vessels by populations of the Indus Civilisation through ceramic lipid residue analysis. It uses concepts of food choice and foodways to explore the culinary practices of Indus populations. Specifically, the thesis examines how vessels may have been used in urban and rural Indus settlements located in northwest India during the urban period (c. 2600/2500-1900 BC), and identifies whether changes in vessel use occurred in the post-urban period (c. 1900- 1300 BC). It also analyses a small sample of Arabian and Indus-origin vessels from the Umm an-Nar period (c. 2400-2000 BC) in the Sultanate of Oman. As the first large-scale investigation into Indus foodstuff and vessel-use using lipid residue analysis, the thesis first tests the viability of the method in the South Asian context. It compares lipid yields from pottery recovered from collections, washed pottery from recent excavations, and unwashed pottery from fresh excavations. It then integrates the molecular and compound-specific isotopic data with available bioarchaeological evidence from the study region to reconstruct which products were used in vessels at different sites. The results indicate that overall, lipid residues are typically poorly preserved in Indus vessels, but the acidified methanol extraction technique provides a good lipid recovery rate. No significant differences in lipid yield are observable between washed pottery samples and those collected directly from the field, which suggests that washed pottery may serve as a good source for samples for future lipid residue analysis. However, it is difficult to interpret lipid evidence from samples obtained from collections with limited contextual information, suggesting that future lipid analyses in South Asia must be carefully planned to yield optimum results. The molecular results indicate that animal fats were primarily used in vessels, with minor indications of plant products. The compound-s…
abstract: This thesis investigates which products were used in ceramic vessels by populations of the Indus Civilisation through ceramic lipid residue analysis. It uses concepts of food choice and foodways to explore the culinary practices of Indus populations. Specifically, the thesis examines how vessels may have been used in urban and rural Indus settlements located in northwest India during the urban period (c. 2600/2500-1900 BC), and identifies whether changes in vessel use occurred in the post-urban period (c. 1900- 1300 BC). It also analyses a small sample of Arabian and Indus-origin vessels from the Umm an-Nar period (c. 2400-2000 BC) in the Sultanate of Oman. As the first large-scale investigation into Indus foodstuff and vessel-use using lipid residue analysis, the thesis first tests the viability of the method in the South Asian context. It compares lipid yields from pottery recovered from collections, washed pottery from recent excavations, and unwashed pottery from fresh excavations. It then integrates the molecular and compound-specific isotopic data with available bioarchaeological evidence from the study region to reconstruct which products were used in vessels at different sites. The results indicate that overall, lipid residues are typically poorly preserved in Indus vessels, but the acidified methanol extraction technique provides a good lipid recovery rate. No significant differences in lipid yield are observable between washed pottery samples and those collected directly from the field, which suggests that washed pottery may serve as a good source for samples for future lipid residue analysis. However, it is difficult to interpret lipid evidence from samples obtained from collections with limited contextual information, suggesting that future lipid analyses in South Asia must be carefully planned to yield optimum results. The molecular results indicate that animal fats were primarily used in vessels, with minor indications of plant products. The compound-s…
author: Suryanarayan, Akshyeta
language: en
keywords: Indus Civilisation, lipid residues, foodways, ceramics, climate change, South Asia
license: https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/33fd36ff-712b-4b06-8e7e-bbe98483c5b5/download
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
date published: 2020-07-17
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:18Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.50249