D'Agostini, F and Ruiz-Pérez, J and Madella, M and Vadez, V and Kholova, J and Lancelotti, C (2022) Phytoliths as indicators of plant water availability: The case of millets cultivation in the Indus Valley civilization. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 309. 01-13. ISSN 1879-0615
![[img]](http://oar.icrisat.org/style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png) |
PDF
- Published Version
Download (2MB) |
Abstract
The interpretation of crop water management practices has been central to the archeological debate on agricultural strategies and is crucial where the type of water strategy can provide fundamental explanations for the adoption and use of specific crops. Traces of water administration are difficult to detect and are mostly indirect, in the form of water harvesting or distribution structures. Attempts have been made to infer plant water availability directly fromarchaeobotanical remains. Current evidence suggests that the ratio of sensitive to fixed phytolith morphotypes can be used as a proxy for water availability in C₃ crops, as well as in sorghum and maize. Nevertheless, the controversy on whether genetically and environmentally controlled mechanisms of biosilica deposition are directly connected towater availability in C₄ crops is open, and several species remain to be tested for their phytolith production in relation to water levels. This research aims at clarifying whether leaf phytolith assemblages and concentration, silica skeleton size and ratio of sensitive to fixed morphotypes can be related to different water regimes in Eleusine coracana Gaertn., Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br., and Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench.We cultivated 5 traditional landraces for each species in lysimeters, under differentwatering conditions and analyzed their phytolith content/production in leaves. Results show higher proportions of long cells, bulliforms and stomata produced inwell watered conditions. The model built on the basis of phytolith composition has been then applied to interpret archeological phytolith assemblages recovered froma single phase at four different sites of the Indus Civilisation: Harappa, Kanmer, Shikarpur and Alamgirpur. The results show thatmost probably C4 crops grew under water stress conditions, providing new data on the interpretation of ancient agricultural management in the Indus Valley.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Divisions: | Research Program : Asia |
| CRP: | UNSPECIFIED |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Phytolith, Water availability, C₄, Millets, Indus valley civilization |
| Subjects: | Mandate crops > Millets Others > Water Resources |
| Depositing User: | Mr Nagaraju T |
| Date Deposited: | 11 Jul 2023 05:28 |
| Last Modified: | 11 Jul 2023 05:28 |
| URI: | http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/12131 |
| Official URL: | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/... |
| Projects: | UNSPECIFIED |
| Funders: | UNSPECIFIED |
| Acknowledgement: | We would like to thank all the GEMS team (ICRISAT) who helped during the fieldwork, particularly Rekha Baddam and Suresh Naidu as well as Dr. Krithika Anbazhagan and Dr. Sunita Choudhary whose suggestions have been invaluable and benefited the success of the study. Thanks are due to Alessandra Varalli for her support and guidance and to Carolina Jiménez-Arteaga for the fruitful discussions on millets. This work is part of the RAINDROPS project founded by the European Research Council (ERC-Stg-2017) under the grant agreement 759800. Universitata Pompeu Fabra health and safety measurements have been followed during both the fieldwork and the laboratory work. RAINDROPS has received ethical approval from the Institutional Committee for Ethical Review of Projects (CIREP) at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (ethics certificate n. 2017/7662/I). The work for this paper was carried out when F.D., J.R.P., M.M. and C.L. were members of the CaSEs (UPF), a Research Group of the Catalan Agency for Research (AGAUR SGR 212). |
| Links: |
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
Altmetric
Altmetric