Dairy production in IVC

 By analysing residues on ancient pots, researchers show the earliest

direct evidence of dairy product processing, thus throwing fresh light on the
rural economy of the civilization.
 The studies were carried out on 59 shards of pottery from Kotada
Bhadli, a small archaeological site in present-day Gujarat.

How did they find it?

 The team used molecular analysis techniques to study the residues

from ancient pottery.
 Pots are porous. The pot preserves the molecules of food such as
fats and proteins. Using techniques like C16 and C18 analysis we can
identify the source of lipids.
 Traces were seen in cooking vessels indicating that milk may have
been boiled and consumed.

Significant outcome of the study

 The study has found residues in a bowl showing that either heated
milk or curd could have been served.
 There are also remains of a perforated vessel, and similar vessels
were used in Europe to make cheese.
 The Harappans did not just use dairy for their household.
 The large herd indicates that milk was produced in surplus so that it
could be exchanged and there could have been some kind of trade
between settlements.
 This could have given rise to an industrial level of dairy exploitation.
 Dholavira (Gujarati: ધોળાવીરા) is an archaeological site at Khadirbet in Bhachau Taluka
of Kutch District, in the state of Gujarat in western India, which has taken its name from a
modern-day village 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) south of it. This village is 165 km (103 mi)
from Radhanpur. Also known locally as Kotada timba, the site contains ruins of an
ancient Indus Valley Civilization/Harappan city.[1] Dholavira’s location is on the Tropic of
Cancer. It is one of the five largest Harappan sites[2] and most prominent archaeological
sites in India belonging to the Indus Valley Civilization. [3] It is also considered as having
been the grandest of cities[4] of its time. It is located on Khadir bet island in the Kutch
Desert Wildlife Sanctuary in the Great Rann of Kutch. The 47 ha (120 acres)
quadrangular city lay between two seasonal streams, the Mansar in the north and
Manhar in the south.[5] The site was thought to be occupied from c.2650 BCE, declining
slowly after about 2100 BCE, and that it was briefly abandoned then reoccupied until
c.1450 BCE,[6] however recent research suggests the beginning of occupation around
3500 BCE (pre-Harappan) and continuity until around 1800 BCE (early part of Late
Harappan period).[7]
 The site was discovered in 1967-68 by J. P. Joshi, of the Archaeological Survey of
India (ASI), and is the fifth largest of eight major Harappan sites. It has been under
excavation since 1990 by the ASI, which opined that "Dholavira has indeed added new
dimensions to personality of Indus Valley Civilisation." [8] The other major Harappan sites
discovered so far are Harappa, Mohenjo-
daro, Ganeriwala, Rakhigarhi, Kalibangan, Rupnagar and Lothal.