The civilization of the Indus Valley had meat-heavy diets, beef preference, a research study reveals.
By using lipid residue analysis, the study offers insights into the food patterns of ancient South Asia.
A study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science has shown that the people of the Indus Valley Civilisation in northwestern India had a predominantly meat-heavy diet consisting of animals such as pigs, cattle, buffalo and sheep, along with dairy products.
"The study titled, Lipid residues in pottery from the Indus Civilisation in Northwest India, also found high proportions of cattle bones, which may imply a "ethnic preference for beef consumption" across Indus populations.
A study, led by Akshyeta Suryanarayan, as a part of her PhD thesis at the University of Cambridge, looks at the food habit of the people of that era on the basis of lipid residue analysis found in pottery from Harappan sites in Haryana.
The study has been co-authored by former vice-chancellor of Pune’s Deccan College and renowned archaeologist Prof Vasant Shinde and Prof Ravindra N Singh of BHU, as well as with Miriam Cubas, Oliver E. Craig, Carl P. Heron, Tamsin C. O Connell, Cameron A. Petrie of Cambridge University.
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