Fish exploitation of the Baluchistan and Indus Valley traditions: An ethnoarchaeological approach to the study of fish remains

The analysis of fisheries as part of larger economic systems can offer insight on rural-urban interaction during the Baluchistan and Indus Valley Traditions of South Asia. The analysis of fish remains from five archaeological sites provide a broad range of data for this study. Food provisioning was the major research issue. Interpretations were based on a combination of archaeology, taphonomy and ethnoarchaeology.; To interpret the archaeofaunal patterns, ethnoarchaeological research was conducted in marine and riverine zones of Pakistan. Procurement and processing were documented; samples of butchered and discarded fish were collected to quantify material correlates of dynamic human behaviors. It was possible to reconstruct fish exploitation from the Food Producing Era (8,000 to 4,000 B.C.) to the end of the Integration Era (2,500 to 1,700 B.C.) of the Baluchistan and Indus Valley Traditions. Mehrgarh and Nausharo samples were small and hand-collected and small; they demonstrated continuous stratigraphic sequences of an economy that shifted from mixed wild and domestic animals to a domestic regime. At both sites, direct relationships between procurers and consumers continued, even when the local economy became incorporated into the regional Harappan Interaction System.; Balakot is a village that became incorporated into this regional economic system. The early occupation was a small fishing village, with direct distribution of fish probably present. Balakot was abandoned and re-established during the Harappan phase as a processing station for the inter- and extra-regional trade of dried/salted fish.; Harappa expanded from a small village to an urban center. During its existence as a village, direct distribution of fish occurred. When Harappa expanded into a large urban center, mixed direct and indirect systems were common. These mixed systems may have been various reciprocal social relationships. At Allahdino, skeletal element representation is correlated with bone density and probably do not reflect human cultural activities.; This approach has provided a detailed data set that can be used globally for both complex and hunter-gatherer societies. The use of ethnoarchaeology in this dissertation is an integrated use of middle-range theory: models developed from independent ethnographic sources is used to examine and interpret archaeofauna from village and urban sites.